Closed Doors

WARNING] This story is not the typical childhood tale where the princess will be saved by her prince, and they will live happily ever after. This tale is about the princess who made her happily ever after- and to do that, she needed to be wicked like her stepmother. ------ "Run!" Snow doesn't have the choice but to follow prince Arthur. She closed her eyes and ran into the dark and dense forest. "Awoo..." Snow's quick run was stopped when a loud howl echoed through the forest. "What should I do? I can't go back...the queen soldier is all over the place and this is the only place they won't dare to go..." she uttered. Although her whole body was trembling, Snow continued her walk but she made a full stop. "Grr..." Snow's eyes widened as the cold sweat broke out on her forehead. " It looks like I can't escape death tonight..."

Renata never imagined her entire academic future would collapse overnight. Her scholarship had been revoked, expulsion was looming over her, and her little sister, Alea, needed a fortune to survive a rare illness. Just when Renata thought she had nowhere left to turn, Dominic Sinclair appeared—a young professor known for being the coldest and most powerful figure on campus—offering a proposal she could not escape. “Become my secret girl. You don’t need to be smart. Just be beautiful, obedient, and available whenever I want you. Your grades and living expenses will be taken care of.” Renata knew it was madness. Immoral. Dangerous. But for Alea—for her sister’s life, for her own future—she walked into Dominic’s office at exactly three in the afternoon. Wearing a mini skirt. And the moment that door closed behind her, Renata’s life changed forever.

At eight months pregnant, I was hit by a car and gave birth early. But unexpectedly, I regained my hearing. Outside the operating room, my husband was talking to the doctor. “Mr. Griffin, the baby is fully developed and stable. A normal delivery should be possible—” Albert Griffin cut him off immediately, “No, induce the labor now! I promised Summer that I would let our child rightfully join the Griffin family. Paulina is almost a month old. If she gets any older, people will figure out the truth. “If this baby doesn’t make it, that’s fine. She can always have another one. But this is the only way she will truly believe that Paulina is her own child.” I closed my eyes tightly and forced myself to stay calm. He thought his lies were perfect, but he was wrong. I heard everything. And if he could lie and pretend, so could I.

After a regrettable one-night stand with the school’s golden boy, Roman Knight, Reyna’s world turned upside down. When Roman denied ever knowing her, she was left heartbroken, bullied, shamed, and forced to watch her reputation crumble. Giving her first time to someone who tossed her aside made everything worse. Years later, Reyna Styles is no longer the shy, broken girl, she’s the most sought-after fashion designer in the country, exuding confidence and power. When fate brings Roman back into her life, he acts friendly, but Reyna brushes him off, coolly pretending she doesn’t remember him at all. Now that she’s the one in control, the tables have truly turned. But has Reyna really closed her heart to the boy who once shattered her, or is there still a flicker of old feelings hiding beneath her icy exterior?

Excerpt: "Kaleb I am still married to Roman. There is nothing that I want to say right now other than yes to you...but the marriage certificate binds me to your brother," I voiced out, lifting my hand to touch the side of his face. His eyes were still closed, but he leaned on my touch. ************** Barely a year into her marriage, Ayla, an orphan, does not expect to be cheated on by her husband, or to be forced into working as a maid to repay the money used to fund her wedding. Within just a blink of an eye, her life changes for the worst, that is until her husband's stepbrother, Kaleb, comes into it. He is a forbidden fruit, but she struggles to stay away from him. Rivals are made, sides are taken, battle lines are drawn, crimes are committed and secrets are revealed. Will Ayla jump over every hurdle thrown in her way with the help of Kaleb, will they manage to stay away from each other, or will they get swallowed by the traps of their rivals?

Eidolon Avenue: Where the secretly guilty go to die. One building. Five floors. Five doors per floor. Twenty-five nightmares feeding the hunger lurking between the bricks and waiting beneath the boards. The sequel to Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast (“a great read...powerful and jarring” - Cemetery Dance) returns to the voracious Eidolon as it savors The Second Feast. A narcoleptic man in apartment 2A battles a vengeful past determined to rob him of everything as he runs from the barbaric disaster of a delusional love. A woman in 2B, reinventing herself to please a callous boyfriend, discovers the horrors that wait in the shadows of her self-renovation. The man in 2C, a teacher at the nearby Catholic girl’s school, collapses beneath the brutal consequences of his lecherous desires. An older woman in 2D, after decades dedicated to the church, is cornered at last by the grisly carnage beating at the hollow center of her faith. And a college student in 2E, hungry to escape an ignored life of invisible anonymity, finds herself captured between the pages of a ravenous book. All thrown into their own private hell as every cruel choice, every drop of spilled blood, every silent, complicit moment of cowardice is remembered, resurrected and relived to feed the ancient evil that lives on Eidolon Avenue. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

A 22 year old Cheryl Garcia finds herself dropping out of college and moving back to the Upper East side of New York all because of a crazy night with her high school sweetheart, Enrique Gomez. She believes that he only wants the family business as that’s what the previous men in her life wanted. However as soon as she gets home she is forced to work for the new CEO of her fathers company. She finds that she can’t escape Enrique. She finds a way to let Enrique in for a while and she’s happy until she receives a message that her ex boyfriend, Leandro is on his way to get her . All her past trauma comes rushing back, opening so many wounds she thought she closed . She gets nightmares, panic attacks and loses her memory from time to time. Will she ever let Enrique know how she truly feels ? Will she finally open up to him? Will they take down their enemies together?

He killed their marriage on a stage. She faked her death on the road. Five years ago, Cassian Wolfe—a man who never believed in love—married Leah Quinn to close a deal. On their anniversary, he closed their marriage. Publicly. Brutally. Hours later, she was “dead.” But Leah didn’t die. She vanished—helped by the last person Cassian would ever suspect: his elder brother. Now she’s back. Not as Leah. But as Raven with a new face, a billion-dollar company, and a son Cassian doesn’t know exists. Her mission? Burn down everything with the Wolfe name. When Cassian meets the mysterious new CEO of a fast-rising rival firm, he feels an inexplicable pull. He doesn’t know she’s his late wife. But when the truth slowly unravels—piece by piece—he realizes what he lost… and that he’ll do anything to get her back. Even if she hates him. Even if she’s engaged to his brother.

Sapphire, the ancient sentinel fairy broke out from a sealed crystal after a long hibernation of thousands of years. She has been keeping the gates of hell closed from the demons that threaten to wither the life in the Mortal World. Along venturing with the new generation she's not familiar with, Sapphire is overwhelmed by the changes that happened after thousands of years of being held inside the crystal. There, she meets the handsome werewolf twins, Phillius and Xeno, the son of the Alpha in the city of New York. Losing her memory, Sapphire has no idea about her purpose and why she was imprisoned inside a crystal for millennia. Under the care of the Clarkson Clan, she's forced to marry Phillius, the heir of the Clarkson Clan. Although Phillius is a perfect guy anyone could wish for, there’s an evil side hidden behind his perfect face. Even after she was chosen as the next Luna, Sapphire still refused Phillius because she is slowly developing feelings for Xeno, who hates her for a certain reason.

Kendrick Harrold was supposed to be dead. At least, that’s what the world believes. For two years, he’s lived like a ghost—broken, hidden, and forgotten after the accident that stole his freedom. But when a stranger with storm-grey eyes slips past his fortress walls, everything he’s buried begins to stir. Rose shouldn’t be here. Yet she is. Rose doesn’t have the luxury of distractions. With her sister’s life on the line and a debt that could crush them both, she’s bound to a future she never wanted—a loveless marriage and a cage of her own. The last thing she needs is Kendrick Harrold. But from the moment their paths collide, she can’t stay away. He’s searching for answers. She’s desperate to escape. Neither of them expected the fire that sparks between them. But secrets have a way of clawing their way to the surface. And one act of compassion could ignite a bond neither of them can control—one that’s as dangerous as it is undeniable. In the shadows of a grand estate, behind the silence of locked doors, a voice calls her name. A presence lingers between the shelves of the vast library. She should run. She should forget she ever saw him. But Kendrick has other plans. Because she found him. And now… he might never let her go.