Armin Eat Bertholdt

Joshua Thompson, Rain Zimmer’s husband, had a deceased ex he could never get over—Lily Smithson. Rain always hoped that there would come one day where she could replace Lily’s presence in Joshua’s heart. In the eighth year of their marriage, Rain accidentally destroyed a bowl Lily had bought on a whim for Joshua, and Joshua yelled at her, “Get out! I don’t want to see you!” At that moment, Rain finally came to realize that she could never win against Rain’s ex. This time, she quietly drafted the divorce agreement and left, but Joshua panicked.

By our sixth year of marriage, Derrick hadn't touched me in three months. Said he was swamped at work. Always tired. After everything, I still believed him. Then on my birthday, I caught his friend talking in Garmenian—a language Derrick didn't think I understood. "You cut off the side piece yet? You were with her nonstop. Surprised you didn't drop dead. Your wife cool with that?" Derrick let out a smoke ring. "Haven't touched Audrey in months. Sabrina's insane in bed—I'm not over her yet. Sucks she got pregnant. Audrey doesn't want kids, so I gave Sabrina some cash. She'll have the baby overseas." My hands curled into fists. Silent tears streamed down my face. He glanced over, nervous. "What's wrong?" I smiled. "The cake you made is amazing. I'm really touched." It was sweet—but when you understand Garmenian, all you taste is betrayal.

The fate of the world rests in the hands of four dysfunctional teenagers and a bunch of oddball adults. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

Everyone in the company fears Killian Vale—the ruthless billionaire CEO of ValeCorp. He doesn’t speak unless necessary, fires employees without blinking, and has a face carved out of stone. He built an empire on logic and power, not emotion. Then she walks in. Emery Quinn—a soft-spoken, stubbornly independent woman with zero interest in corporate games—takes a job as his executive assistant out of desperation. She needs money to save her younger brother from a dangerous situation. She expects to hate Killian. He expects her to quit. What neither expects is the tension that builds between them—the dangerous, slow-burning tension that starts behind office doors and seeps into stolen glances, late-night calls, and locked conference rooms. But Killian doesn’t do relationships. He doesn’t do feelings. And she’s too smart to fall for someone like him. Until the day he finally snaps and says: “You're the only person who's ever made me feel anything, and I hate you for it.”

She lost her memory. He lost his chance. Now she's his greatest regret—and someone else’s everything. Naomi Swift gave Kael Rhodes everything—her love, her loyalty, even her name. He gave her cold stares, divorce papers… and walked away. But fate has a twisted sense of humor. After a car crash, Naomi forgets the betrayal—and the face she sees, Atlas Knox, her childhood crush, feels like home. Atlas plays along. This time, he won’t let her slip away. As Naomi rebuilds her life with Atlas, Kael watches the woman he discarded rise higher than ever—stronger, freer, and completely out of his reach. But secrets have sharp edges. And when the truth begins to surface, Naomi must choose between the love she thinks is real… and the one that truly is. A love once lost. A heart reborn. A revenge served beautifully cold.

PART THREE- THE SECRET THREAT After an intense battle to protect his home form the Ghoul menace both Brandon and Ezekiel emerge from multiple skirmishes with hearts that are heavy with unspoken words, unrevealed truths, and unrequited passions. After the events following Ezekiels poisoning and short term Amnesia the two beings attempt to determine the consequences of their previous actions. Brandon is frightened of what is coming. He is trapped beneath the darkness that follows him, but in Ezekiel he has found light....and kindness, but as Brandon's secrets suddenly start coming out, as an hunger and a need to powerful to be denied is revealed.....? How will Ezekiel and the rest of the Guardians react? As the walls around both Brandon's and Ezekiel's desires for each other begin to crumble beneath the strain of a hidden power...and emotions run high.... A dangerous foe reveals himself to the Clan....a black beast out for blood and vengeance. Will Ezekiel be able to protect Brandon....from himself....and from the evil that follows him?

Loving Murphy Townsend was a secret Gemma Kirk could never share. Murphy was not just anyone—he was her uncle. She was the cherished rose he nurtured, but he was the forbidden love she could never confess to.

In the late stages of her pregnancy, my wife slipped away into the mountains with her childhood sweetheart, seeking some reckless thrill under the open sky. Fate, however, had other plans. She suffered a massive hemorrhage, and the two were rushed to the hospital. As a doctor, I took one glance at her condition and instructed the nurse to prepare for the cremation. In my previous life, I had risked everything to save her. On that very operating table, she and the child inside her perished together. Her childhood sweetheart, overcome with grief and fury, rallied others to accuse me of seeking personal revenge. Their rage was relentless, and they broke my hands. "A butcher like you, without medical ethics, deserves nothing less than eternal damnation!" they shouted, their words burning like brands on my soul. Yet I distinctly remembered—the surgery had been a success. Her vital signs had stabilized. Clinging to hope, I begged my in-laws to conduct an autopsy, to uncover the truth buried beneath the accusations. Instead, they called the police, who swiftly charged me with performing surgery under the influence of alcohol. Stripped of my rights, I was thrown into prison, where suffering became my only companion. Years later, upon release, I stumbled across a sight that tore what was left of my heart to shreds—my wife, alive and well, behind the wheel of a luxury car, accompanied by her childhood sweetheart and their child, living off the fortune I had worked tirelessly to build. Their betrayal didn't end there. Coldly and methodically, they lured me into a trap, casting me into a cement mixer to erase every trace of my existence. When I next opened my eyes, time had rewound itself. I was back on that fateful day, the one when her hemorrhage began.

When I was ten, I bugged my brother to come home for my birthday. He died in a plane crash that day. They never found his body. After that, my parents saw me as a total screw-up. They blamed me for his death. Every year on his memorial day, they forced me to kneel at the cemetery and repent my mistakes. I did that for eight years. I figured I'd spend my whole life paying for it. But on my 18th birthday, some creep stalked and murdered me. Right before I died, I tried calling for help. But my mom chewed me out. "I bet you're just dodging your duty to make up for James. You're full of crap. If you hadn't forced him to come back, he would have been alive. This is what you deserve." She hung up, leaving me staring at the dead screen. My last hope was dashed. She was right. Someone like me meant nothing but bad luck to those around me. I didn't deserve to exist. But then, eight years after his death, James showed up with his pregnant wife. When they heard I was gone, they fell apart.

Victor and I were nothing more than a pair of sworn enemies married inside the camp. He hated me for handing over my frail sister to the research institute, all so they could extract the antiviral serum from her blood. And I hated him for never seeing anyone but her, even in the apocalypse, when she could barely lift a metal rod. For the ten years of the apocalypse, the words we said to each other most often were, "Die a miserable death." … However, when the zombie horde finally broke through the last line of defense, he chained me to the modified mech truck and went out alone to face it. "Live…" I watched as the tide of corpses swallowed him whole, the crack of breaking bones mixing with the sound of flesh being torn apart. On the edge of death, he pulled out my sister's faded photo and placed it over the one clean spot on his chest. "This life is yours. But if there's a next one, don't go near her again." … That night, when I returned, I blew up the camp. When I opened my eyes again, I went to the zombie king. His razor-sharp claws closed around my throat, and I smiled as I took hold of his hand. "Let's make a deal. Give humans five more years, and I'll willingly be your queen." Last time, he gave his life to save me. This time, I'll be the monster—so they can all get what they want.