Stepmother Friends Vol. 1

I was a saint in the light, but a sinner in the dark. To the world, I was a good girl marrying a billionaire twice my age. To Arthur Reynolds, I was his "angel", the virtuous bride who would bring life back into his silent mansion. But I wasn’t a saint. I was a secret. For six months, I was the girl on the pole at The Velvet Room. And Ethan Reynolds: Arthur’s cold, predatory, and brutally handsome son was my most frequent customer. He’d paid thousands to watch me, touch me, discipline me, and ruin me. He knew every curve of my body, every lie in my soul, and every scream I could produce. Now, I’m wearing his father’s ring. I’m living under his roof. And Ethan isn't just watching me anymore, he’s hunting me. He thinks I’m a gold-digger. He thinks I’ve played his father for a fool. And he’s determined to punish me for it. "You’re his wife in the daytime, Zola," he hissed, his hand tightening around my throat in the dark of the hallway. "But in this house, when the lights go out... you still belong to the man who bought you first." Arthur wants to own me. Ethan wants to break me. And I? I’m just trying to survive the man I’m legally forbidden to love.

My stepmother, Mary, hated me to the bone. All because when I was little, I went to a classmate’s house to play and forgot to close the courtyard gate. Her son ran onto the road and was hit to death by a car. My father loved my younger brother the most. After learning what happened, he was heartbroken. “Were you jealous of your brother? That’s why you deliberately left the gate open?” I desperately explained that I had closed the gate, but Dad didn’t believe me. He locked me in the basement and raised me like a dog for the rest of my life. Until one day, when Dad went on a business trip, Mary didn’t give me any food for three days. Starving, I crawled upstairs to the kitchen to look for something to eat. That was when I saw Mary sitting on a man’s lap, saying softly, “If you hadn’t forgotten to close the gate back then, I wouldn’t be living in fear every day of my husband finding out… We’re the ones who killed Ethan.” Only then did I understand that I wasn’t the one who had forgotten to close the gate and caused my brother to run outside, but my stepmother’s lover. Just as I was about to sneak back to the basement, my stepmother noticed me. “What did you hear? No! I can’t let your father find out that I killed our own son!” In a panic, she grabbed me and threw me down the stairs, killing me on the spot. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the very day the car hit my brother. I blinked my innocent, childlike eyes and pointed upstairs, speaking in a soft, baby voice, “Dad, I closed the gate. It was the man in Mom’s bedroom who didn’t!”

Leon refused to allow his stepmother to live in his home, which was filled with memories of his late mother. Therefore, he chose to make his stepmother feel uncomfortable.However, everything became chaotic because Leon's actions caused him and his stepmother to become caught up in forbidden passion. What happened?

Summer’s RoadMy name is Ian Memmer, and I've been keeping something from my best friend Summer Quinn for years. I'm in love with her. She breaks my heart over and over, day after day, but I love her. We grew up next door to one another. She's kind and beautifully broken, and she has no idea how I feel. Because of her depression, and since she never showed any signs she felt the same, I've kept silent. Tormented. Wanting her. Becoming the playboy everyone views. I'm her rock. She needs me. I fear she's keeping secrets from me, too. Then a passionate moment between us changes everything, gives me hope. Yet the guy she's been dating wants to take their relationship to the next level.Winter’s PathMy name is Matt Holcomb, and I'm the good guy. The boy next door. I'm the safe bet and I always do the right thing. Then one night two years ago, I made a terrible mistake that caused irreparable damage, and the guilt is killing me. If I'm ever to make the leap and find love again, the woman would have to be perfect. She can't disrupt my carefully constructed control. I met my best friend Jenny Winter as a teenager and have loved her ever since. She's gorgeous and talented. Her voice could make angels weep. Yet she chose someone else and I swore I'd never fall for her again. Until something happens between us and passion ignites.Seasmoke Friends is created by Kelly Moran, an EGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

The housekeeper became my stepmother, and together with her son, they humiliated and murdered me. After being reborn, I exposed a video of her affair with her lover at her wedding, destroying her reputation completely. I watched as she and her son were kicked out. They left with nothing, wandering the streets like outcasts. I smiled and tossed a moldy piece of bread into their begging bowl. “This is all you deserve.”

Rhea Ravelle, heiress of a powerful and influential family, goes against her family's wishes and cuts ties with them. She chooses to marry Carter Jamison, a man with a failing career and two children born out of wedlock. For six years, she raises his children as if they were her own and helps Carter rebuild his crumbling business. Under her care, the kids grow into kind, well-mannered little stars, and Carter's company finally makes it big and goes public. But right at the celebration marking his entry into high society, the biological mother of his two children suddenly shows up. And Carter, who is usually so calm, completely loses it. He begs the woman to stay, making Rhea the laughingstock of the entire city. That night, he doesn't come home. Instead, he takes the children and runs straight back to his old flame, playing house as a happy family. Soon after, Carter files for divorce. "Thanks for everything, Rhea. But the kids need their birth mother." The children's mother also says, "Thank you for taking care of them all these years. But a stepmother will never compare to a birth mother." So blood beats love? If that's how it is, then she's done playing stepmother. However, the children reject their birth mother flat-out, and they don't want Carter either. They declare, "Rhea is our only mom! If you're getting divorced, then we're going wherever she goes!"