58th Street Library Novels & Stories

Housing prices collapsed. My parents ran a real estate business. They and their long-time family friend, the Goodwin family, went into bankruptcy. My parents had me and my younger sister draw lots to decide who would marry into the Goodwin family to fulfill an old engagement. In my previous life, I drew the short stick. From that moment, I became a slave to both families. During the day, I needed to work to pay off the Goodwin family’s debt. At night, I needed to deliver food to cover my parents’ financial losses. I survived on scraps and slept in the cold. I continued to work even when I coughed up blood. That day, I went all out and finally secured a multimillion-dollar business deal. My heart burst with excitement. I was eager to tell them the good news. Across the street, I saw my parents get off a Rolls-Royce with wide grins. They dressed up in luxury brands from head to toe. Then, I saw my husband, Alfred, gently wrap one of his arms around my glamorous sister’s shoulder. I wanted to rush over and question them. But a speeding truck slammed into me and sent me flying away. I lay in a pool of blood while staring at them indignantly. I heard them chuckle softly. “What a pity… She was so close to enjoying a good life.” When I opened my eyes again, I returned to the day I drew the lots. Since they liked to pretend to be broke, I would make it a reality!

" This is merely transactional," I said, his hand snaked around my neck, stealing my breath. He pulled me close. So close that I couldn’t see anything but him. His scent flooded my lungs leaving me breathless and for some reason, I liked it. " There's nothing transactional about the things I want to do to you, Srce moje," He said, his cold fingers brushed against my clit. **** Genevieve Henderson, CEO of H.Tech, loses everything in a single night—her company, her marriage, and the family she thought she could trust. Betrayed by her husband and cast aside by those who once called her their own, she is left with nothing but heartbreak and fury. Broken and desperate, Genevieve stumbles into the street—and straight into the path of her greatest enemy. Kade Petrović. Her business rival. A ruthless billionaire. The last man she should ever depend on. After saving her life, Kade makes her an offer she can’t afford to refuse: a one-year marriage in exchange for revenge. He will help her reclaim everything stolen from her—power, wealth, dignity—but the price is high. Trusting him means stepping into a world ruled by lies, contracts, and dangerous desires. She never planned to trust her rival. She never planned to fall for her husband. But in a marriage built on vengeance and secrets, love may be the most dangerous weapon of all. Will their alliance bring justice—or destroy them both?

My husband's childhood friend, Ayna Sweeney, has a compulsive sexual behavior disorder. To maintain her pure image, she secretly uses black magic to transfer part of her desire onto me. She seduces my husband, Eric Morgan, and has an affair with him, while I am overwhelmed by uncontrollable urges. I grab men on the street and beg them to sleep with me. Meanwhile, she is praised across the internet as a pure and innocent lady. After my disgraceful behavior is caught on camera and spreads online, Eric is furious and turns the blame on me. He scolds, "I've been busy lately and haven't been home much. Yet, you, the wife of the richest man, have no sense of shame at all!" I cry and tell him I've been set up by Ayna, but he dismisses it. He retorts, "Ayna and I grew up together. I know her better than you do! Just because you're jealous, you come up with such ridiculous accusations. How evil of you!" But every time the two of them secretly meet up, I lose control and desperately seek out anyone to quell my thirst for intimacy. I become a woman despised by everyone in high society. At a lavish banquet, I even start taking off my clothes in public and end up beaten to death by furious high society wives. When I open my eyes again, I am back to the day they first begin their affair.

After I left prison, my best friend and I opened an auto repair shop together. He provided the money, while I brought the skills. We agreed from the start to split the profits seventy-thirty. Thanks to my talent for performance tuning and custom car builds, our shop quickly became the talk of the local wealthy car‑enthusiast scene. In our first year alone, we cleared a net profit of eight million. When I went to collect my share at the end of the year, my so‑called brother handed me a check for only one hundred thousand. “The business is doing well because I became friends with those rich kids,” he said with a dismissive laugh. “Anyone can modify cars. Do not tell me you actually think you are someone special.” He looked at me with open contempt. “Most repair shops pay their mechanics six grand a month at best. I am giving you ten. You should be grateful.” I stood there in stunned silence, and anger rose in my chest. I had trusted him like family, only to discover that my loyalty had been repaid with lies and betrayal. I quit on the spot without another word. I rented the workshop across the street and opened a repair shop of my own. Six months later, he showed up at my door with all his arrogance gone. “If you come back,” he pleaded, “I will pay you five hundred thousand a year. That should be enough to keep you with me this time… right?”

My husband Preston smashed up the solo art show I'd spent three years building for Vivian, the poor girl we had sponsored through college. "Chloe! What the hell did you send Vivian?!" "She read your goddamn text and suffered a depressive episode! She nearly jumped off the rooftop!" I looked at his furious face and the whole thing struck me as absurd. "Preston. What exactly did I send? I told her that today was the opening of my show and asked her not to call you during it." "She's sick! Why do you have to make every little thing a fight! If anything happens to her because of you — I'll never forgive you." With that, he didn't even glance at me. He turned and bolted back out into the storm. I didn't cry. I didn't even have the energy to be furious. I turned to leave, but in the rain, I ran into Rowan—a classmate from college. He used to be the most popular guy at our school — sweet and hot. But now he was severely injured. The torrential rain had soaked his shirt, revealing his perfect abs beneath. Without hesitation, I took him back to my apartment. Preston showed up pounding on the door, eyes red with rage. "Chloe — I'm gone for an hour and you drag some guy off the street into our bed?" I sneered and stepped in front of Rowan. "If you can play free therapist to some other woman, why can't I try being a philanthropist?"

17-year old Star Sullivan was no stranger to loss, having recently endured the heartbreaking passing of her parents. Struggled to come to terms with her grief, she found herself uprooted from her familiar surroundings and thrust into a new town under the care of her godparents. The weight of her sorrow hung heavy on her shoulders casting a shadow over her once bright spirit. Star navigates the unfamiliar street and faces of her new home, a glimmer of intrigue caught her eye - a student with eyes as silver as moonlight, a captivating mystery etched in every glance. Drawn to this enigmatic figure, she found herself unable to resist the pull of curiosity that tugged at her heart. His mysterious past whispered secrets that beckoned to be unraveled, a puzzle waiting to be pieced together. With each passing day, Star found herself entangled in a web of intrigue and emotion, her heart torn between the allure of the unknown and the safety of familiarity. As the threads of secrets began to unravel, revealing truths that shook the foundation of her newfound life, Star stood at a crossroads, her heart torn asunder. Would she choose to stand by her new friends and family, embracing the complexities of their intertwined destinies, or would she heed the call of uncertainty, fleeing to the safety of the hills, away from the tumultuous storm that threatened to consume her? Only time held the answers to the questions that plagued her restless mind. The clock ticked away, each passing moment a reminder of the choices that lay ahead, the paths diverging into the unknown. In the quiet of the night, as the stars whispered tales of destiny and fate, Star found herself standing on the precipice of a decision that would shape the course of her future.

On my birthday, all because I spent ten bucks, Dad drags me out to kneel in front of the store owners. "Go beg them to give us a refund!" Tears burst from my eyes, but he doesn't give me a chance to fight back. Just like that, he forces me to kneel my way down the street, from the candy shop at one end to the stationery store at the other. Piece by piece, we return everything until we get the ten dollars back. A crowd gathers around us, pointing and whispering. The color drains from my burning face. Once we get home, Dad pulls out a yellowed bankbook and points at the balance with a blank stare. "Read it. How much is that?" I grit my teeth and force the words out. "T-Twelve dollars." Dad finally snaps. He slams the bankbook against my chest as his voice cracks with bitter disappointment. "Then do you have any idea how long it takes your mom and me to save the ten bucks you blew today? Joshua Kirkland, you are a massive disappointment! We are poor. Don't you ever forget that!" I sob and tell him I understand, promising never to spend another dime. The next day, I cough up blood at school, and the school doctor asks if I need to go to the hospital. I squeeze the bloody tissue in my hand and choke back a sob. "I can't go. My parents don't have the money…"

It took me ten years to become the right hand to Damian Costello, the Consigliere of the Costello crime family. From a nobody to the woman wearing his engagement ring. But two weeks before the wedding, I decided to throw that ring away. Everyone in the family knew how hard I had fought all these years just to stand by Damian's side. I gave up the chance to become a top trader on Wall Street, willingly becoming Damian's assistant, his shadow. This man was infamous for his coldness and exacting nature, keeping everyone at arm's length. So I hid my sharp edges, spending a decade wearing down his icy exterior with gentleness. I cleansed the blood from every dollar he made. I became a necessity to him, as essential as the air he breathed. I thought that after ten years, I had finally made my presence indispensable. And finally earned what looked, to outsiders, like a glimmer of his affection. The family's notoriously aloof genius actually remembered my birthday. He even made an exception, letting me spend the night in his private study when I was unwell. He didn't even push me away when, emboldened by wine, I pressed a kiss to the side of his neck. If the Don's daughter, Isabella, hadn't returned from Italy, I might have kept playing my part, clinging to that false dream forever. But sadly, there are no ‘ifs’. I am going to give up everything here and leave you.

Xenia Lewis, the nepotism junior, is eager to craft an image of herself as a prodigy. To prove her talent, she requests to take the lead in court. But when confronted by the plaintiff's attorney's sharp questioning, she falters. Our defense unravels, instantly putting us at a disadvantage. After the verdict is announced, Xenia tearfully throws herself into the arms of my fiance, Zayne Scott. Her voice trembles with excuses. "The plaintiff's attorney was too harsh. It was my first time in court, and I was just too nervous!" Due to her incompetence, the defendant, who could have been acquitted, ends up behind bars. Yet, Zayne and my junior colleague, Hugo Wilkinson, indulge her with comforting words. "Don't be upset. No one wins every case." "With your cleverness, Xenia, you'll surely hold your own next time." Furious, I snap, "The court is a place to seek truth and uphold justice. It's not a playground for make-believe. Because of your mistake, an innocent person has been wronged. How can you live with yourself?" Feeling humiliated, Xenia breaks down, sobbing and threatening to harm herself. Resentful that I've hurt her, Zayne and Hugo distort the truth, shifting all the blame onto me. I end up as the scapegoat for her mistakes. Not only am I forced to resign in disgrace, but I also face disbarment. With nowhere to turn, my spirit shatters. While crossing the street, distraught and distracted, I'm hit by a car and killed. Then, when I wake up, I find myself reborn on the very day Xenia and I are set to appear in court.

On the day the Cole family went bankrupt, Adrian Cole left behind a suicide note and went alone to the snow mountains to end his life. I chased after him without hesitation, searching for him in the snow for a full ten hours. Just as despair hollowed me out completely, I saw his secretary, Zoe Bennett, livestreaming Adrian's proposal on social media. One of his friends joked in the comments, "You're about to be a groom. Aren't you afraid your woman will get mad?" His reply was icy cold. "I only promised her the title of Mrs. Cole. She shouldn't even think about anything else." Another comment followed. "She's marrying in with ten billion in investment. Is she really willing to swallow that kind of grievance?" I could almost see Adrian sneering as he typed, "She got ten billion for the position of Mrs. Cole. She's not losing out. If it weren't for her, Zoe wouldn't have been forced to go abroad. These last few days are my compensation to Zoe." My fingernails dug deep into my flesh. Calmly, I burned everything that had anything to do with him. On the day of the wedding, he went mad searching for me everywhere. In the upscale venue across the street, I had just slipped on a diamond ring given to me by another man, Julian Cross. Unbeknownst to him, while he was calculating the countdown to our breakup, I was also preparing to marry someone else.