The Retreat

Zia wakes up in a tent on a beach in Hanalei, Hawaii, convinced she is eighteen years old and on a family vacation. However, the reality is a nightmare: she is actually twenty-five, her parents and brother have been dead for years, and the handsome "stranger" sleeping beside her is actually Clayton, her husband of three years. Zia suffers from a recurring neurological condition—triggered by a past trauma—that causes her memory to "reset" to her eighteen-year-old self.

The company booked a lodge at Osprey Lake for the Labor Day weekend retreat. All 35 other people in the company were invited, and I was not one of them. My team lead even posted a group photo from their kayaking trip in the chat, captioned with "One less person and the boat rides lighter." I did not reply. I turned off my phone, bought some tamales and a beer, went back to my apartment, and slept for 15 hours. When I woke up, I had 203 missed calls. The latest voicemail was my team lead, practically in tears. "Please, man, I'm sorry! Just pick up the phone!" I grabbed another slice and took a bite. I took one weekend off. How was the company already falling apart?

Though overworked and overwhelmed, Addyson has the perfect life. She is the owner of a successful company. She lives in the city of her dreams and her best friend is her business partner. While on a forced vacation planned by her bestie she finds the one thing she never knew she wanted.

Lee, Simon, Hans, Elliot, Dylan, Karlisle, and Steffan are close friends ever since they were in middle school. But as they became mature and grew as sought-after and eligible bachelors in the society, it was extremely hard for them to see each other and get together.Lee then thought it would be a wonderful idea if they take a week-long vacation, just so they could enjoy themselves, become reunited, and chill while far from the stress and noise of the city.However, this same week-long getaway will become the beginning of the romantic and steamy relationships between some of them, waking up their desires towards each other that have been bottled and unbeknownst to them for some while.The hidden love and desire they hid from each other will slowly be revealed, and with this, will they all stay as friends?Or will completely take over?

No Escape is a gripping werewolf hybrid romance centered around Aspen, who finds herself bound to four powerful brothers. While three embrace the bond, Dimitri resists, hiding a dark secret. As passion and conflict collide, Aspen must navigate a treacherous path filled with danger and betrayal. Can love and loyalty overcome the challenges, or will their fragile union be torn apart? Dive into this intense tale of destiny, secrets, and the unrelenting pursuit of acceptance.

Three days before the long weekend, the Department of Labor called me. "We got an anonymous complaint saying your company is forcing employees to go on a holiday retreat..." I went still. Then I checked social media. Yep. There it was. An intern who'd started a month ago had shoved me onto the local trending page. [Greedy boss turns holiday weekend into mandatory company retreat. Employees are basically free entertainment.] [They say it's optional. Yeah, right. Who's brave enough to say no?] Thousands of comments rolled in, absolutely roasting me. Except our retreats had always been elite. Fully paid. No cheap corporate nonsense. This time, I was paying out of pocket. Seven days in the Maldives. Everything covered. A $2,000 travel stipend each. Senior employees could bring family. But apparently, a free luxury vacation was oppression now. Cool. I told the labor officer, "We'll fully cooperate." Then I dropped a notice in the company group chat. [Per Department of Labor guidance, the long weekend company retreat is canceled. Everyone should take the holiday off as usual.] [The travel stipends and retreat budget will be moved into this quarter's employee benefits reserve.] The second I hit send, something slammed into a desk outside my office.