Such Sheltered Lives

Shhh… They Will Hear Us.. A Collection of Rated 18+ Stories (Mature Content) It always started with a bad decisio, or even maybe just a bad timing. Three years ago, he was living a dream of successful, independent, and settled in a stunning luxury penthouse overlooking the city. And Now, the money is tighter, the pressure is real, and the lifestyle he built is slowly slipping through his fingers. So when his younger sister, Gretta, gets a job in the same city, asking her to move in feels like the only option left he can offer. It should be simple. Just two siblings sharing space. Right? But it’s not. Because beneath the surface of their normal lives lies something neither of them has ever fully confronted,, something that began years ago during a strange, unforgettable night far from home. A moment that separated lines, shifted perspectives, and left behind a silence they both agreed never to break till then. Now, forced into close quarters together again, that silence feels heavier than ever before. The Old memories resurface. Boundaries feel thinner. And the tension between what’s right and what’s felt becomes harder to ignore and argue. Shhh… They Will Hear Us is a bold collection of mature, 18+ stories that explore secrecy, complicated relationships, inner conflict, desires and the consequences of unspoken desires. These stories are not about what’s said out loud but what hidden in the quiet.

After losing his parents in a tragic car accident, young Aaron is taken in by Evelyn, his mother’s closest friend. Thrust into a new home still heavy with grief, Aaron struggles to belong—especially with Evelyn’s daughter, Lily, who resents his presence and keeps her distance. At school, Lily insists they act like strangers, often making things difficult for him. Yet Aaron endures quietly, excelling academically and earning the respect of his teachers, even as he remains invisible to the girl who will shape his future.

Bella Livingston grew up in a world of opulence, surrounded by the trappings of her affluent family's wealth. Yet, beneath the facade of grandeur and luxury, Bella's life was marked by profound loneliness and neglect. Her parents, absorbed in their socialite circles and personal ambitions, had little time for their only child. From the tender age of sixteen, Bella harboured a secret that ignited her heart and consumed her thoughts - her intense and forbidden crush on Reid Carter, her father's charismatic best friend. Reid, a ruthless billionaire with a reputation for turning heads and breaking hearts. He was dashing, enigmatic, and dangerously attractive, despite his always cold attitude which was intimidating for everyone around him. Despite him being cold as ice, Bella couldn't help but be drawn to him like a moth to a flame. As Bella matured into a striking young woman, her feelings for Reid intensified, yet she remained invisible in his world. She always watched him from afar. Reid was a man who lived by his own rules, a man who never committed to anything more than a fleeting affair. Bella knew her infatuation was a forbidden path, one that could shatter her family's reputation and her own heart. Yet, she couldn't help but be drawn deeper into her feelings for him. As Bella navigated the world of privilege and secrets, she discovered that Reid carried his own burdens, his own hidden desires. Their lives became intertwined in ways they couldn't have imagined, leading to a passionate and dangerous love affair that could ruin them both. In the shadows of opulence, Bella and Reid must confront their desires and the consequences that threaten to tear them apart. Will their love conquer all, or will it lead to the downfall of everything they hold dear?

"I didn’t know I was marrying two people. He wore the suit, but she pulled the strings. The day I walked down the aisle, eyes locked with the man I loved, I thought I had found peace. I thought I was finally leaving behind the noise of my childhood, the ache of loneliness, and the years I spent praying for a love that would choose me, only me. But no one told me that some men never truly leave their mothers. They marry, yes,but their hearts remain tangled in an invisible umbilical cord, one that stretches past vows, past bedrooms, past boundaries. I moved into our new home, only to find that the walls had ears, hers. We lived in separate flats, but it never truly felt like my space. My marriage was a room she walked into, uninvited but ever present. Her opinions dripped into our arguments, her eyes followed me from behind lace curtains, and her voice echoed in decisions that should have belonged to me and my husband. At first, I kept quiet. I told myself it was cultural. Respect. Family. Then I told myself it was temporary. Then I stopped telling myself anything at all, because nothing I said made a difference. This is not a story of hate. It’s a story of love, tested by bloodlines, boundaries, and a battle I never asked to fight. This is my truth. The marriage I thought was mine. The home that never really felt like home. And the rules I never agreed to, but had to live by, simply because… I was under her roof".

Forbidden is about two young African-American lovers. It centres on how much one has to fight for what he wants. The story has proven that love is not enough, this can be seen throughout the story through the character's acts of selflessness and respect for the one they love. Vivian Blake and Alexan

Cailen has only one wish. To have a family he could belong to and a home to call his. ***** At thirteen, Cailen had been to different foster homes, each of them returning him for one reason or another. His heart had already taken so much rejection that hopelessness had set in, giving up on himself and shutting down, that even when a family does welcome him and love him, he still has his doubts. When Cailen returns from University to visit his family, he finds himself struggling to keep a secret that he knows will make him lose the only home and family that he has. Will Cailen lose himself? Or will he lose his family?