A Thousand Heartbeats Novels & Stories

My back hits the cold glass of the penthouse window, the city glittering a thousand feet below us. Sebastian’s hand is at my throat—not tight enough to hurt, but enough to remind me who I belong to. “You were talking to him,” he says, voice low, dangerous. His other hand is braced beside my head, caging me in. “You smiled.” “It was just—” “Don’t lie to me, Ocean.” His thumb brushes the hollow of my throat, and my pulse jumps so hard he feels it. “You’re mine. Every glance. Every breath. Every inch of you.” I should be furious. I should tell him I’m not his property. But then his mouth is on mine—rough, consuming, tasting like the whiskey he hasn’t let go of since the gala. I moan before I can stop myself. That’s all the permission he needs. His hand slides to my waist, fingers digging in as if he’s afraid I’ll vanish. The heat between us ignites like dry kindling. It’s dangerous. It’s too much. It’s everything. When he finally pulls back, his eyes are dark enough to drown in. “One year,” he murmurs. “That was the deal. But you… you’re making me want forever.” And in that moment, I know the worst truth of all— If Sebastian Velez decides to keep me, I won’t even try to run.

I am the biggest female drug lord in Riverdale, who gets shot in the head during a crackdown operation. As soon as the news breaks, the entire internet celebrates. People even crowdfund to take over a giant screen in the city square to display my obituary photo. They say I filled Riverdale with drugs and single-handedly destroyed countless families. They accuse me of leaking operation routes, causing the deaths of my ex-husband's 13 anti-drug force teammates. Hundreds of thousands sign a petition demanding my ashes be crushed and turned into tiles for public restrooms. To calm the overwhelming public anger, my ex-husband, Tyler Lowell, who is now captain of the anti-drug force, decides to launch a public hearing across the internet to livestream my entire life of alleged crimes. On the day of the trial, people thronged the city square. "A woman like her deserves to be cut up into a thousand pieces! How many families are destroyed because of the drugs she sells?" "I hear she is ruthless. She would even stoop to making a three-year-old do her bidding. She is inhumane!" "She got so many anti-drug officers killed. I want to see her end up in hell!" Tyler presses the start button with a blank expression. The crowd's furious curses come crashing down like waves. It is as if they want to tear me apart and condemn me forever. But in the next second, what appears on the giant screen is me in a uniform, standing under the national flag and taking a solemn oath. In that instant, the entire square falls silent.

On the day of our tenth wedding anniversary, my wife, Cara Dempsey, jumped from ten thousand feet in the air after hearing that her first love's plane had crashed. It was only then that I finally understood the only man she ever truly loved all these years was Luthen Waltz. When we were both sent back in time to relive our teenage years, she wasted no time making a grand, public confession to Luthen, completely cutting ties with me. I just stood there, watching the two of them kiss like they couldn’t bear to be apart, and in that moment, my heart felt nothing. From that day on, we were over, and we lived our separate lives. Ten years later, we crossed paths again at a five-star hotel in Harbor City. She, who had become a celebrity adored by the world, was wearing a gown, laughing in Luthen’s arms. When she saw me wandering through the hotel, searching for someone, she thought I had come looking for her. “George, stop wasting your time! Even in ten years, I will never choose you!” I didn’t respond. Instead, I looked toward the little girl running toward me, calling me Dad, and gave her the warmest smile. Cara’s expression froze. Tears welled in her eyes as she choked out, “You lied to me, didn’t you? You said you hated kids and that you’d only ever love me.”

I was raised in another country since I was a kid. Mom is worried that I might find her a wife who's of foreign descent, so she quickly finds me a beautiful and talented fiancee based in Bellevue and tells me to return to the country just to proceed with the engagement. So, I head over to a fancy boutique to pick out my suit for the engagement banquet. That's when I notice a black suit with dark patterns woven into the material, which I quite like. But when I'm about to try on that suit, the man next to me glances at it before telling the sales assistant, "This suit is pretty stylish. I'd like to try it on." The sales assistant rips the suit from my hands immediately. I retort angrily, "Hey! Ever heard of 'first come, first served'? I have my eyes on this suit first! You're being unreasonable right now!" But the man just looks at me in disdain. "This suit is worth 188 thousand dollars! You really think a broke guy like you can afford this? "I'll have you know that I'm very close to Yvonne Gardner, the CEO of Gardner Group. She dotes on me as if I were her brother. The Gardners are the ones ruling over Bellevue, you know!" What a coincidence! Isn't this Yvonne woman my fiancee? I call her on the spot. "Hey, your so-called brother has stolen the suit I plan on wearing to our engagement banquet. How do you think we should resolve this situation, hmm?"

“I’m sorry, Dam,” she said softly, her voice smooth as silk. “I shouldn’t have walked away. I missed you.” My heart clenched. She stepped closer, her fingers brushing against his beard like she’d done it a thousand times before. He didn’t pull away. “Selene…” Damon said again, this time lower, almost breathless. Every inch of my body burned with disbelief. I had to look away to stop my tears from falling. Selene’s eyes flicked toward me, and for the first time, she seemed to notice I was there. Her expression didn’t falter. “And who’s this?” she asked, her tone casual, almost bored. Damon hesitated. “That’s….” “Aria,” I cut in, my voice sharp. “His Luna.” Her eyes widened slightly, then her lips curved into a slow smile. “Luna?” she repeated, like the word was a joke. “Oh, you’re the omega Luna?” I felt my wolf stir inside me. Let me out, she growled. ******* Aria Silver, betrayed by her father, Alpha Xander, fled her home pack and hid in the Silver Moon Pack hiding as an omega. She built a small gym house and made a life for herself, until fate turned cruel and tied her to the very man who despised her kind. Now mated to the cold Alpha Damon Black, who hates anything below a gamma, Aria must fight to prove her worth… or be crushed by rejection. Will she survive the heat, or will love burn her down completely?

The company had been losing money for two consecutive years. That year, with our biggest client suddenly going out of business, we lost nearly ten million dollars in receivables. On New Year's Eve, I sent out a company-wide apology email after much deliberation. The email stated, "At this moment, I regret to inform that we can only increase each employee's monthly salary by 20 dollars this year." An intern named Ingrid Little took a screenshot of the email and posted it online. In no time, her post started trending. The entire internet criticized me for being fake and pretending to be poor. They said that my shameless act was a blatant insult to my employees' hard work. "20 dollars doesn't even cover commuting!" "Why hasn't this garbage company gone under yet?" Ingrid replied to each comment with the same line: "I don't care about the money. I just feel insulted. I'm quitting tomorrow." The next day, I walked into the office with bloodshot eyes and turned on the company-wide broadcast. I announced, "Since some people believe I've insulted their dignity, you may submit your resignation immediately. However, you will no longer be entitled to the year-end bonus of 20 thousand dollars." Everyone gasped in disbelief. Ingrid turned completely pale, and some workers even rushed into my office impulsively. "Boss, this has nothing to do with me! I stand with the company!" After all, my company had increased salaries for 37 consecutive years and given an average raise of over 2,000 dollars each time. They wouldn't find a company like mine elsewhere.

Evelyn Larson's nephew, Maxwell Larson, has been staying at my home for 12 years. On top of sponsoring everything he has in life, I even view him as my own son. Heck, I'm the one who paid the down payment for Maxwell's new family home. But on the night we're having a holiday dinner, he throws me a list in front of everyone. "Uncle Lawrence, I've already hashed out the details with my fiancee's family. We'll be giving her family 700 thousand dollars as a wedding gift. You've raised me for so many years, so you need to prepare this amount for me." I frown instantly. "Didn't I just settle your down payment for you? Besides, Tiffany's about to get married soon. I need to save some money for her own wedding gift." But Maxwell instantly smashes a plate out of anger. "Since she's marrying into another family, that means she's no longer a part of this family! Are you saying that you're willing to give your money to an outsider rather than your own nephew? "If you refuse to agree to my terms, I'll make Aunt Evelyn divorce you right now!" I turn to look at Evelyn out of instinct, only to see her pulling out a gift agreement that she has already drafted. "We don't need to prepare any wedding gifts for Tiffany, seeing as she's the one marrying into another family. Max, on the other hand, is the only son of the Larson family. You should give your money to him instead."

His hands covered her boobs and she began to tremble. “You are so beautiful." Knox said with his eyes on her just studying her body. "Knox...I think we...shouldn't...” Eretia paused. "Do you want me to stop?" Knox asked. Eretia stared at him. Her nipples going hard and her belly quivering. "Why do...you want...to do this?" “I want you to have a desire to comeback here when you return to your world." Knox answered with sincerity in his tone. “But—“ He brushed his mouth against hers cutting off her intended words. His hands gently cupping her breasts. “This is your first right? Or am I wrong?" He asked amidst kisses. “No...no...I haven't...done it with anyone.” Eretia stuttered. “Same here." Knox coaxed. Meet Knox Martins, a billionaire and who also happens to be a big time celebrity. You see, Knox Martins is stone-headed and cold-hearted. He hates to hear the word “love.” He despises his mother for just one reason - he believes that she killed his father even though he had crashed in a plane that had killed a thousand of people. Eretia, a mermaid, a lady of the ocean who has special singing powers that is enough to hear the words of the sea. She washes up to the shore of a sea, injured and alone - far away from home. She is found by a young surgeon who is kind enough to bring her into his home. And soon enough, Knox Martins meets Eretia who happens to be a hired maid by his mom after she makes a deal to reconcile both mother and son. Will the relationship between the earth and the sea ever get the chance to bloom? Or will it whither away when they are apart in their separate worlds.

In order to maintain peace among the packs, the Nightshade Pack of the north and the Emberclaw Pack of the south decide to form an alliance and dispatch their diplomats to each other's packs. On the day before the pack-exchange application is due, I accidentally discover a request that will transfer me to the Emberclaw Pack, which is a thousand miles away. Lucas Ashworth is the one who has made said request. Not only is he the Alpha of the Nightshade Pack, but he's also my boyfriend. I feel chills running down my spine. My body starts to tremble as I reach out to Lucas through my mind-link. Based on the sensations drifting from the mind-link, I can clearly feel how relaxed and pleased Lucas is at the moment. After hearing my choked-up voice, he merely replies casually, "Oh, Lily was the one who submitted the request. She said she was just pulling a prank on you and wanted to see when you'd notice that request. "Now that you've noticed it, you can just cancel the application." Lily Cross is Lucas' new secretary. She's an Omega whose wolf has just awakened within her. My wolf and I fall silent for one whole minute. It turns out that others can easily pull pranks on me, Lucas' girlfriend as well as a warrior of this pack. Instead of kicking up a fuss or getting into an argument with Lucas, I just pack up my things calmly and travel to the Emberclaw Pack as scheduled. But Lucas gets alarmed soon enough. He asks, "Didn't I tell you to cancel the application? You didn't do that?" I nod in return. "Yeah."

"Did you kill him?" The detective asked again."I've already answered you like a thousand times... Yes, he was a monster. Yes, he beat me up a lot but I didn't do it. I didn't kill Jude!" Amanda replied."I'm sorry. I know what it's like to be a victim of abuse and all that, but you need to understand that murder is a serious case too. You'll have to forgive us for asking you continually it's just that you were the closest to him we've got here.""I wasn't. There was someone else he was seeing that knew a lot about him than I ever did," Amanda replied.*******The night was growing colder and the rains seemed to have agitated in full force. Amanda sat on one of the soft leather chairs that squeaked with her every move in the living room with tears in her eyes as she watched the rains drop on the floor forming small pools and waited for Jude to come back. She was worried sick about his whereabouts even though all his presence caused her were pain and more tears. The protruding bump on her stomach, made it quite difficult to move around at ease so she was stuck with calling his busied line while she watched the clock tick its way into the midnight mark.*****A heart rending story told differently. Stronger than Pain captures a dysfunctional Nigerian home where a callous man, beats his wife on a daily basis. Time flies and now he is dead. All the characters have a reason to kill him, but she's their number one suspect. The Question still remains, who pulled the trigger?