Cicero Library Hours

On the day I'm supposed to get promoted as the deputy director, I pick up a 40-pound barbell before breaking my right arm with it. Because of the injury, I missed the only title-evaluating surgery available in five years. Everyone feels sorry for me, seeing as I've practically ruined my own future with my own hands. But I, on the other hand, am so excited about it that I've downed two bottles of vintage wine in one go. Because in my past life, I spent ten hours in surgery and pulled the patient back from the brink of death. But my wife, Megan Reese, immediately accused me of abusing my power as a doctor just to resolve a personal vendetta by killing her first love, Pierre Hopkins, on purpose. She bribed the nurses who were in the same surgery as me. They were adamant that I used the wrong medication purposefully, which led to the patient dying from a rupture. Not only was my career destroyed, but I also became a public enemy, hated by everyone. My mom tried to seek justice on my behalf, only to get cyberbullied by the Internet users, who knew nothing about the truth, to the point that she broke down. In the end, she accidentally fell into the river and drowned. When I received the tragic news, I chose to end my life by jumping off the hospital's rooftop. After I died, Megan spent my assets however she wanted. She also lived happily ever after with Pierre, who apparently "came back to life". When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the day I'm supposed to perform a surgery on Pierre.

I turn down a dream research program at Hefford University just so I can stay and help my debt-ridden boyfriend run a burger stand. This time, he says he's serious. I give him all the money I've saved up over the years, hoping we can build a better future together. A few hours later, I discover he's forgotten two hundred dollars in the drawer. I grab the money and run out, hoping to catch him. What I catch is a scene straight out of a corny movie. The loan sharks who used to beat and threaten him are now bowing and nodding deferentially. "Sir, I guess we don't need to show up at your house anymore, right?" Kurt Saunders rubs his temples and replies, "Yup. Anna gave up her entire future for me. She even turned down an opportunity to study at Hefford just to help me pay off my debts." Before he even finishes, his childhood friend lets out a giggle. "Kurt, that's still not enough. You'll only know if she really doesn't mind being poor if she sticks around through a year of flipping burgers without any complaints." Kurt looks at her sly expression and lets out a helpless laugh. "Alright, we'll do it your way. One more year of pretending. Anna would never leave me anyway." I stand there, listening to the sound of my own heart shatter. Kurt, you think I'm giving up my future for you, but it's still mine, and I can take it back.

Tiana Greene arrives on Lycan Isle with nothing but a suitcase, a scarred past, and a desperate need for work. When she is hired as a maid in the sprawling cliff-side mansion of Ross Lycan – the island’s reclusive billionaire – she expects long hours, strict rules, and silence. What she does not expect is the man himself: cold as the steel in his voice, brutally private, and carrying a shadow in his gaze that keeps everyone at arm’s length. Rumours whisper through the island of former staff fleeing in fear, of Ross’s cruelty, and of the mysteriously vanished brother whose memory haunts the mansion halls. Tiana tries to keep her distance, but every forbidden glance and accidental touch tightens the invisible thread pulling them together. When a near-fatal accident on the cliffs pushes Ross into her life more violently than either of them intended, the dynamic shifts. Ross grows protective yet distant, drawn to Tiana in ways he cannot accept – while she fights her own confusion over the man beneath the frost. As the annual island festival approaches, tensions rise. Tiana becomes a target for the island’s elite women, whose humiliation of her sparks a dangerous, possessive reaction in Ross. Social pressure thickens, rumours spread, and the boundaries of employer and servant begin to blur into something darker, deeper, and irresistibly intimate. But everything changes the night Tiana slips into a forbidden study and uncovers the truth about Ross’s past – a past woven with loss, guilt, and secrets buried beneath the island’s stormy surface. Now she must decide. Can she love a man built from shadows? And can Ross love someone brave enough to walk into the darkness he’s spent years trying to hide?

My husband's parents were stung by an unidentified venomous queen hornet and rushed to the hospital. As soon as I heard the news, I hurried to the entomology research institute to seek help from my husband, who was the director, hoping he could assist the doctors with the diagnosis. Instead, he called for security to block me at the entrance. "I don't handle work matters after hours," he said coldly. "Penny's mother is sick, and I need to go take care of her." I tried to show him the critical condition notice from the hospital, but he tore it up in one swift motion. "People die every day. So what if your dad and mom died?" After my in-laws passed away, I filed a lawsuit against Penny Madison, who had deliberately disturbed the beehive that led to the attack. My husband, who had disappeared for several days, suddenly showed up as an expert witness in court. He fabricated a false professional opinion to exonerate Penny. When I decided to leave the country, he lost his temper. "What do your parents' short lives have to do with me? Is it so hard to understand that after a long day at work, I just want to rest? And now you want to drag Penny into this mess. Just because your own family is broken, you want to ruin someone else's? How can you be so vicious? You deserve to lose your parents!" Watching his brazen attempts to twist the truth, I suddenly realized something. He still didn't know that he had become an orphan.

"All three of us are going to fuck you tonight, omega. Over and over until you're dripping with our cum and sobbing our names. And you're going to take every inch like the good little wife you are." Emerald Ukilah—the unwanted daughter, the pack outcast, the girl no one would miss—is now the wife of the three most dangerous Alphas alive. The Ravencourt triplets don't just want her body. They want her complete surrender. Her screams. Her tears. Every shuddering orgasm they can force from her trembling body. Magnus breaks her with brutal dominance, fucking her until she can't remember her own name. Daemon edges her for hours, teaching her that pleasure is a weapon and he's a master. Cassian pins her down and makes her keep her eyes open while he destroys her—but sometimes, in those brown eyes, she sees something that looks like worship. She was supposed to be a sacrifice. A lamb to the slaughter. But these wolves don't want to kill her. They want to keep her. Own her. Ruin her so completely that she'll never want another touch. ***** Why settle for one when you can have them all? Why Choose is a collection of steamy short stories where one woman never has to make the impossible choice. Four men? Three best friends? Two rivals who would burn the world just to share her? Each story explores a different fantasy, a different heat level, and the same answer every time—she doesn’t choose.Because when it comes to passion, love, and lust… why choose?

Seven years I spent with Jason Shaw, but I never got a ring. Rather, all I received was an invitation to another person's wedding. That day, as a wedding planner, I was at the rehearsal, making last-minute adjustments. Looking up, I saw the man whom I waited every day to reply to my messages, walking down the aisle, arm in arm with another bride. "Her boyfriend had something urgent come up, so I'm filling in for him," he said, standing straight, his tone light, a small smile on his lips. But his eyes couldn't hide the hurt, like a child who lost his favorite toy. As if that wasn't enough, he told me to hand over my wedding plan. He patted me on the shoulder, saying sincerely, "There's no rush for us. We've got plenty of time. I promise I'll give you an even better wedding. Just help me out this time. It's not like I'm not going to marry you." He didn't know that I had revised the wedding plan hundreds of times, even counted and recounted the bouquets seven times. To me, it wasn't mere work—it was a dream I held for five long years. I didn't argue anymore, just quietly stepped aside. Later, I lay alone in a hospital bed, listening to the rain tapping against the window from outside. I counted each drop as the hours slipped through my fingers. Perhaps those who worked so hard to create happiness for others had lost the right to their own happiness.

“ Anika Tara na sa library. Nag hihintay na si attorney enriquez at judge Bala.” Sabi ni Tito loreal “Wait lang po bakit may judge at attorney?” Hindi nila ako pinakinggan dumiretso lang “William follow us” sigaw ng tatay niya. Napatanga nalang ako sa kinatatayuan ko. Hindi rin sumunod agad si William sa parents niya. Umikot siya papaharap sakin. Sobrang lapit niya. Seryoso lang siyang naka titig sa akin. Mas Guwapo pa pala Ito sa malapitan. Kinakabahan na ako mas lumalapit pa siya sa akin habang ako naman na papa atras na. Bumangga ang likod ko sa pader Wala na Akong I aatras. “Alexander What are you doing, you are making me uncomfortable.” “I didn’t do anything. Wait what? What did you called me?” “Alexander?” Kumunot ang noo niya noong inulit Kong sabihan ang pangalan niya. Lumapit siya sakin. Inilapit niya ang bibig niya sa te nga ko. Hindi ako makagalaw sa ginawa niya sobrang tumatambol ang dibdib ko. “I don’t know what our parents are about to, or maybe you already knew and I am not enjoying what is happening!” Bulong niya “ I——don’t know either.” Yon lang ang nasabi ko. Bigla na siyang tumalikod sakin. Iniwan niya akong nakatayo lang doon. What’s with that man? He makes me shivers by his voice. “No! This will not going to happen!” “Tito Enrico do you think I will agree? Of course not!” Pag pasok ko sa loob ng library yon ang una Kong naabutan sumisigaw sa galit si William. May nakita Akong dalawang papel na nakalatag sa lamesa at dalawang singsing. Napatakip ako ng bibig sa nakita ko. Nakatingin silang lahat sa akin Hindi ko alam kung anong nararamdaman ko. Nanginginig ang buo Kong katawan. “I will not marry her. I have a girlfriend” galit paring sabi niya

I was dying from my fear of heights, but my husband, Don Vincent, was busy with his assistant, savoring the latest coffee flown in from Hawaii that morning. "You're a grown woman, Bella. What's the big deal? You're stuck on a roof, figure it out." Then he hung up on me. I collapsed onto the hot tar of the roof, my body shaking uncontrollably before everything went black. It was two hours before building security found me. When I got home, I asked Vincent for a divorce. He rubbed his temples, his patience worn thin, looking at me as if I were a child throwing a tantrum. "Over a cup of coffee? I told you, the heights are all in your head. You’re perfectly safe now. Stop making a scene alright? What's this nonsense about a divorce? I have more important things to deal with. Calm yourself down." I stared at his back as he left, tears already streaming down my face. Something important? Did he really think I couldn't hear his assistant, Sophia, murmuring in the background? Did he think I didn't know he took her to the last family gathering? I had loved Vincent for three years. Everyone knew he was the center of my world. They all thought an orphan like me could never leave him. But now, all the love I had was eclipsed by a profound, soul-crushing exhaustion. I was done. I picked up my phone and dialed a number I hadn't touched in three long years. "Uncle, book me a flight to Seattle. I'm ready to leave Vincent."

Part one: Hidden away, Brianna grows up not knowing what she is. Living a life thinking she was human when in fact, she is not only a werewolf but an alpha's daughter. A world that she is thrust into her senior year of high school when she shifts for the first time and finds her mate, the new heartthrob in school. Or should we say a rogue wolf with terrible luck with pack wolves? The two young wolves are faced with not just one pack but two when Brianna's pack comes for her only hours before a rival pack finds her. Part two: Given away at birth, Alison is unaware of her true parentage. Though in a loving family, life seems to not be in her favor. While on a family vacation, they are attacked. Hidden away, both her parents are killed, leaving Alison in the hands of humans. Sent to live in a foster home. She is labeled a difficult child and is moved from home to home until her sixteenth birthday. The day she shifts for the first time and is attacked by her foster father. With her wolf's help, Alison protects herself before anything bad can happen. Well, other than the death of her foster father. Leading to her spending years in a human prison. With her time served, she is released only to find herself being taken by a wolf pack. While in the hands of her abductors, she finds her mate. Only to find he has already chosen another. Broken, she finds a way out, running free as her wolf for a long time until she stumbles upon a stranger who takes her in and becomes her chosen mate.

Camilla's entire world shattered when her husband Nick Sinclair abruptly ended their three-year marriage, hurling divorce papers at her. His cruel, harsh words still echoed in her ears... "I'm done with this marriage. Get out of my house!" She always knew their arranged marriage was devoid of love, but she had clung to the possibility that he would one day grow to love her. However, the arrival of his first love, bearing a child she claimed was his, destroyed any lingering hopes and exposed the emptiness of their relationship. Fingers trembling, heart bleeding, she signed the divorce agreement. But the shock overwhelmed her just as she stepped outside Nick's mansion and she collapsed. Hours later, she awakened in the hospital, staring into the icy blue eyes of the stranger who saved her. ... Derek Donovan, New York's heartthrob and wealthiest billionaire CEO, had been searching for a way to deflect the media's attention from his status as a sought-after bachelor. In exchange for saving her life, he proposed a contract to Camilla: pretend to be his wife for three years to keep the press and paparazzi off. With no other options and no one to rely on, Camilla felt compelled to accept the proposal and sign the contract. But as they navigated the path of their fake marriage, the lines blurred. Derek's icy facade cracked, revealing a burning passion for Camilla. As Camilla's heart wavered, a shocking truth emerged: Derek's past hid secrets, and she was now entrenched in a deadly game of wealth, power, and deception. Will she risk everything to love again, or will the shadows of her past and the danger lurking in Derek's world destroy her forever? The contract has been signed, but the real stakes are only just beginning...