Take What You Need

In my previous life, I was eight months pregnant when my mother-in-law and husband forcibly dragged me to grab decorative gift boxes from the Christmas tree. I told them there was nothing inside, but my mother-in-law slapped me across the face while my husband pulled me into the crowd. A stampede broke out. They clutched their gift boxes and fled to save themselves, while my child and I were trampled to death. They eagerly tore open all the gift boxes with high hopes, only to find exactly nothing, just like I'd warned them. But as I lay dying, I noticed something in the final gift box. A Black Widow spider with an hourglass pattern on its belly crawled onto my mother-in-law's hand. This spider carries deadly venom. Anyone bitten either dies or suffers permanent disability. When I open my eyes again, I'm back on Christmas Day. This time, watching my mother-in-law and husband gear up to fight over those Christmas gift boxes, I won't try to stop them!

The things we want are so very rarely the things we need. Clifton Heights, a modest Adirondack town, offers many unique attractions. Arcane Delights sells both paperbacks and hard-to-find limited editions. The Skylark Diner serves the best home-cooked meals around, with friendly service and a smile. Every August, Mr. Jingo’s County Fair visits, to the delight of children and adults. In essence, Clifton Heights is the quintessential small American town. Everyone knows everyone else, and everyone is treated like family. It is quiet, simple, and peaceful. But shadows linger here. Flitting in dark corners, from the corner of the eye. If you walk down Main Street after dark, the slight scrape of shoes on asphalt whispers you're not alone, but when you look over your shoulder, no one is there. The moon shines high and bright in the night sky, but instead of throwing light, it only seems to make the shadows lengthen. Children disappear. Teens run away. Hunters get lost in the woods with frightening regularity. Husbands go mad, and wives vanish in the dead of night. And still, when the sun rises in the morning, you are greeted by townspeople with warm waves and friendly smiles, and the shivers pass as everything seems fresh and new... Until night falls once more. Handy's Pawn and Thrift sits several blocks down from Arcane Delights. Like any thrift store, its wares range from the mundane to the bizarre. By daylight, it seems just another slice of small town Americana. But in its window hangs a sign which reads: We Have Things You Need. And when a lonely traveling salesman comes looking for something he desperately wants, after normal visiting hours, after night has fallen, he will face a harsh truth among the shelves of Handy’s Pawn and Thrift: the things we want are rarely the things we need. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

What happens when you find yourself addicted to your professor, willing to do whatever it takes to do just have her, not caring she is married, but then she turns out to be your aunt, meaning it's a taboo. Can you fight it or you are just going to give in?

She was set up for murder, betrayed by her ex and her best friend... Framed, broken, and left to rot in a hospital bed. Sally had no one left… Except him. Dante 'Doom' Castillo. He was feared by the underworld, worshipped by the mafia, he was her father’s brother, her forbidden obsession. The one man who swore to protect her but not out of love, he wanted something she never even knew she had. A key. To a secret so dangerous, it shattered everything she thought she knew about her life. The fake murder, the betrayal, the inheritance, and the seduction was all a carefully orchestrated game designed to make her run straight into his arms and she did but Sally was done being played, because now she knows what he’s hiding. What he became the moment she shattered the one thing he needed most... Now he’s unstoppable and unkillable. And the worst part? She still wants him.

Vance Haidezo, a charismatic journalist guy. He was assigned for a private TV station project that he was working on. Where he will make a documentary film for the daily life of a billionaire heir. Vance did not expect that the alleged mysterious heir to be is Steven Kiazxon. Steven who was a heartthob, bad boy and his boyfriend when they where in college, whom he still loves dearly. Vance waited Steven after he promised to come back but suddenly disappeared three years ago. Now they meet again. He thought his wait was over but it wasn't because Steven didn't know him anymore who had amnesia. What should he do to make his boyfriend remember him? How would he do that if Steven had already forgotten his true identity? That he can also love and dream of a man like him. "Steven, it's me your Vance. If your mind doesn't remember me, I'll remind you of it in your heart. I feel like you feel that I'm important to you so I'll wait for you to remember me. I read in your eyes that you still love me so I won't give up." What mystery will Vance discover in the incident three years ago that caused Steven to lose his memory?

What would you do if your fiancé's sister hijacked your wedding and became the bride? Life, as they say, is unpredictable. Victoria never imagined that her eight-year union with Brandon would end this way. After legally marrying in court a long time ago, they wanted an open wedding this time to celebrate their union, but things took a sour turn. Victoria decided to contact her lawyer for a divorce despite being pregnant. To her surprise, Brandon willingly signed the papers, convinced that she was never pregnant and had a plan to separate him from Elese, his acclaimed sister. What unfolds after Victoria makes the toughest decision of her life, leaving her comfort zone for a new city to rebuild herself and heal from the betrayal? Will Brandon and Elese find happiness together, or will he come to realize his mistake and seek Victoria's return? Will Victoria be willing to take him back?