Before We Drowned Novels & Stories

The fifth time we went to the courthouse, James Ceasar and I still weren’t officially married. We had picked a good day for it, but right before it was our turn, he got a call and rushed off in a hurry. With my eyes turning red, I pointed at the screen showing the waiting numbers, trying to stop him. “We're next. It won't take more than ten minutes. We can get it done fast. Once we’re officially married, you can go and deal with whatever’s so urgent. It won’t take long.” James was the CEO of his company, so he had full control over his schedule. That was why I said it like that, not thinking it would be a big deal. However, he just glanced at the screen, handed me the ticket with our number on it, and looked annoyed. “I can marry you anytime,” he said. “But right now, I’ve got something I need to take care of. Don’t make a fuss.”

A gas explosion kills both me and my wife, Riley Sawyer. When I open my eyes again, we have both returned to our lives before we ever got married. In our previous life, Riley and I grew up together. We were inseparable as kids, and after we married, our relationship only deepened. People envied how well we got along. But in this life, she doesn't choose me. She accepts the romantic pursuit of Benjamin Prescott, the son of the wealthiest man in the city. I quietly erase every trace of her from my life and act as if she never existed. Five years later, the two of them announce their engagement in the grandest way possible and invite all our former classmates. When I show up wearing the same custom suit Benjamin has on, a diamond ring in hand, Riley's face tightens with anger. "Jared, it's been years. Why can't you let me go?"

The Kingdom of Acantha was once ruled by Shadow Wolves and Daughters of the Moon, but the oppressed race of humans staged a revolution, killed all the Supernatural creatures, and took the Kingdom for themselves. Centuries later, the Kingdom changed, drowned in poverty and corruption. Elora is next in line for the throne, but her insubordination to her Father caused her to be banished and forced to join The Hunt, a deadly tradition meant for those who want to gain honor by killing beasts. During her journey, she stumbles upon the last pack of Shadow Wolves. . . . And she's trapped in the arms of their Alpha.

"You'll sleep with my husband, vanish before he glimpses your face. He believes I'm untouched, and we must maintain that facade." Trapped in my sister's sinister plan, enter Victor's room under the cloak of darkness, desire dancing with secrecy. As the night unfolded in forbidden passion, we shared hidden moments, but everything started falling apart. I was ensnared in my sister's plot, and the morning light exposed the truth. Victor's stern voice demanded, "What are you doing here?"

Friends to lovers never felt so good! Will true love get a second chance? Trevor Willis is sexy, sweet, and oh so fun. He’s also my best friend’s brother-in-law. That should mean he’s off-limits—or that I should be off-limits to him. Someone probably should have told us that before my best friend married his brother, before the morning of the wedding when we woke in each other’s arms, before I woke with gaping holes in my memory. They didn’t. We did. *** Shana Price is that one woman. Usually shy and awkward, I want to be more for her—and in her presence I am more. I don’t even have to try. She’s my one. I knew it the moment I first met her. The problem is the little hassle of the thousands of miles between us. Now, everything has changed. Shana is back in the United States—all I have to do is make her see that her job isn’t the only reason to stay.

"Every one action led to undesirable future, where outcomes were always vague, that was always the consequences." When Paul Simons lost his childhood friend during the last days of September, he was devasted and put himself in great grief. Wishing to wake up from the nightmarish, horrible reality of September, hoping to meet Serina Green again that died due to an odd case of suicide, The case itself was suspected to be a murder by Paul, and it further flames the anger on his heart. Drowned by agony and anger, Paul woke up another day only to realize he came back to the first week of September, where both Serina and him promised to have a concert at the September Ends, which will happen at the end of the month. Determine to fix the tragedic future, and to find the one who is responsible, he prepares himself to investigate the town before September Ends, but, Is the town and the incident as simple as it seems? Is the knowledge about the future is enough? Venture as the suspense of the lurking mystery was surfacing in the town, what did happen to the horrible tragedy of September Ends, what was the cause, who is the culprit. September End was a story mixed with romance, music, and thrill, every chapter will make you question; What really did happen? what lies around the fog of town, its dark secrets, and finally, The lurking shadow that was needed to get caught until it kills the one you love.

My sister's best friend borrowed 20 thousand from me, saying it was for her mother's medical bills. As a cop, I lent it to her. I figured if I could help, I should. When it was time to pay me back, she didn't return a cent. Instead, she showed up at my precinct holding a baby and accused me of indecent assaults. After a paternity test, the baby turned out to be mine. She went on livestreams, crying about how I broke the law despite being a police officer. She used the scandal to make herself famous. The force treated me like a disgrace and fired me. I tried to explain, but no one believed me. I went from a model officer to a criminal overnight. My parents were cyberbullied; with nowhere left to turn, they both drowned themselves. My wife was also beaten in the street. She suffered a miscarriage from the attack and died from massive blood loss. As for my sister, guilt drove her insane; she was hospitalized before vanishing from the public eye. After my family fell apart, I hanged myself one night. Then I opened my eyes again. I'd been reborn. Facing my sister's evil friend, I vowed to fight back.

Damien Sterling is evil. He is so evil he wants me to pretend to be his fiancee before he can help me find my missing sister. The same woman he claimed to be his first love. "Call it what you may. I'll only help you if we work together on something." Me? Work together with Damien Sterling? "What do we work on?" "You mean, what are we working on?" A beat of silence. Then, he spoke. "We are going to get engaged. I mean, you're going to act like we are engaged. For six months." "Ha!" I cackled, face blank of expression. Then, a burst of laughter escaped me. While he watched me like I was crazy, I just kept on laughing. "Are you crazy? I'll be playing house? With you?" "I'm serious." While playing house with the billionaire devil, I must let go of my dream to be the top investigative journalist of Westmore Times and avoid falling for my missing sister's first love. Will this be possible when we are stuck in the same building, filled with heat and forbidden passion crackling between us?

Before the mission, I ask Ryan Jamison one last time, "Will you marry me?" He pauses for a moment before saying, "Alright." The system and I freeze. "Oh no," we say in unison. I'm told that once I get rejected a hundred times, I'll return to the real world. Turns out, it's nothing but false alarm. In my final mission, I accidentally become the stand-in for his first love. Ryan spends three days with her before he finally remembers me. But by then, all he hears is that I've died in the line of duty.

"You know this is wrong," I whispered. Lucas looked at me the way he always does right before he closes the distance between us. "Yeah," he said. "I know." He kissed me anyway. We are stepbrothers. Our parents sleep down the hall. Every single thing about this is a disaster waiting to happen. But Lucas Hart has been living in the room next to mine for four months, and somewhere between the late nights and the secrets and the way he looks at me like I am the only person in the room who is actually real to him, this started feeling like the only thing that was real. I was not supposed to fall for him. He was not supposed to want me back. We told ourselves we would stop. We lasted four days. Now the walls are closing in. People are starting to notice. Our parents are happy and we are about to destroy everything they built. But I have spent my whole life disappearing to make other people comfortable. Lucas is the first thing I have ever wanted to keep.