Columbine Basement Tapes

From bestselling author Emily Goodwin comes the epic start to a sexy and exciting paranormal romance series... Never trust a vampire. I might have learned that lesson the hard way. But when I find myself in a vampire-owned bar, I don’t have much of a choice. With vampires still trying to assimilate into mainstream society, I’ve done Lucas King a favor by stopping one of his patrons from draining a human dry in the basement of his bar. A favor he'd prefer to repay in bed than in kind. Vampires and witches have had more than a jaded history, and when witches start showing up dead in surrounding covens, all signs point to something old and powerful. Something that knows the ways of the witches.Something--or someone--like Lucas. What's worse than trusting a vampire? Falling in love with one.Dead of Night a vampire/witch romance and is book one in the Thorne Hill series.

When the fire broke out, I called my husband, Hector. He didn't answer. Instead, he ran straight into the flames—to save my sister, Emma. They held each other, clinging to life, while I was trapped in the basement, watching my calls go ignored until all hope burned out. Afterward, Emma played innocent, twisting everything. She told him, "Hector, don't blame Sienna. She didn't leave me on purpose... she was just scared." Her lie made me the villain, and everyone bought it. Fueled by hatred, Hector spat, "She's so vicious—why didn't that fire just take her?" Three months later, the police found my body.

I died on the day I was supposed to receive the Pack’s Distinguished Service Award. Three hours after I died, my parents, my brother, and my mate were just wrapping up the graduation party they’d thrown for my sister. While my sister, Ella, was posting a cozy family photo on Instagram, I was locked in our basement, using my tongue to swipe on my phone and call for help. The only person who answered was my mate, Ryan. All he said was, "Sophie, cut the drama. Ella's graduation party is important. Enough with the tantrums!" This was the ninety-ninth time they had let me down. And the last. I lay in a pool of my own blood, my lungs still. They thought I was just throwing a fit, hiding somewhere. That if they taught me a lesson, I’d come crawling back. But they didn't know. I was home the whole time. I was already dead.

Cora’s life takes an unexpected turn and she finds herself torn between survival and betrayal. Devastated but determined to navigate back her life, she colluded with Keith, her once childhood crush and now a successful billionaire. In order to bring down Elliot, Keith's father, she got entangled with Keith in an arranged marriage. However, as their relationship develops, she must navigate her growing feelings for Keith while also protecting herself from the dangers that surround them. Will she be able to protect herself and her developing relationship with Keith while also solving the mysteries laid in front of her. Cora noticed the difference in how Keith acts towards her and that made her set a trap. She discovers he has a twin who lives in the basement of his house and impersonates him. She was in love with Keith but now she has to discern who she is truly in love with. Keith or his twin, Ted. The day Keith was to confess his love to her, she was stopped by Elliot who told her Keith was adopted and that he was the son of that former international smuggling ring who he killed. He also told her he found out who sent the assassins to her before the wedding and that it was Keith himself. He had the whole scene staged. Ted on the other hand also fell in love with Cora and wanted her for himself. Seeing as she chose Keith, he decided to rape her and make her pregnant with his child. That way, she would be stuck with him. Cora got a strange call from her mother. Denouement Cora's mother called to inform her of her father's death. Keith confronted Elliot and told him he knew he was adopted and that he was aware he killed

Morrigan has always been an outsider in her own pack, known for living in the snow-capped mountains of the north and their “survival of the fittest” mentality. Her parents passed soon after she was born, and so she was raised by two very different uncles. Idris, her mother’s brother and Gamma of the pack, has nourished her intelligence and strength, training her almost daily. Oskar, her fathers brother, who temporarily holds the Beta position until Anders, her older brother, is of age, could care less about her, banishing her to the basement of his home and isolating her from the rest of the pack. When she turned eighteen and didn’t meet her mate in the pack, she knew that she had to leave, and she knew just how to do it. Every year, the Royal Guard comes to packs across the kingdom to watch and train the warriors, and if someone impresses them enough, they may be invited to attend Royal Guard training at the capital. Being so difficult to get to, they only go to The Summit Keepers every ten years, and this is the year. When Morrigan gets recruited, it feels like a dream come true, but as she arrives in the capital, she realizes things may not be as they seem. Will this new world truly be like she thought? Or will she run into trouble?

Adrian Cain has no past. At least, not one he remembers. He woke up at eighteen with a name, a guardian, and a carefully constructed identity that led him to build one of the most powerful tech empires in the world. Now, as the CEO of CainTech, Adrian is feared, admired, and emotionally impenetrable, his past locked behind clinical amnesia, sealed files, and a steel wall he doesn't dare breach. Until the suicides start. After two employees from his most classified division die under suspicious circumstances, trauma counselor Sera Vaughn is brought in to assess the psychological impact on staff. But Sera has her own reasons for stepping into CainTech, her older brother vanished fifteen years ago, and the only lead she has left is a face in an old photograph: Adrian’s. But his name back then wasn’t Adrian. It was Daniel Ward. As Sera begins digging into Adrian’s history and as Adrian’s carefully managed psyche begins to crack, long-buried memories start surfacing: a mysterious basement, whispered codewords, and a girl calling his real name. What neither of them knows is that they were both part of a covert experiment known as Project Phoenix, designed to erase identities and rebuild human obedience from the ground up. Together, they uncover a trail of lies, altered files, and fractured lives along with a chilling truth: Adrian may have been programmed to forget what he did… and who he destroyed. Now hunted by the people who created him, stalked by a version of himself he doesn’t remember becoming, and drawn to a woman whose trust he doesn’t deserve, Adrian must face the darkest corners of his past before they both disappear into it. Because some memories don’t stay buried. Some were never meant to.

You... you did say you'd pay me 1,000€ euros for an hour, right?" she asked. "Yes, Allysa, I confirm that's what I said," he replied with a big smile. Allysa lay down on the bed, and the second man approached her. She thought she should be wary, but strangely, the man inspired confidence. "Now, you're going to have to take off your clothes," he said in his soft, warm voice... There are encounters that turn a life upside down, moments when fate knocks at the door with disconcerting brutality. Allysa Moreau never imagined that losing her virginity for 1,000€ euros in a sordid basement would lead her to cross paths with Paolo Mancini, a billionaire and mafioso whose empire extended far beyond her comprehension. Driven from her apartment, desperate and confronted with the relentless reality of poverty, Allysa had made a decision she could never forget. She had sold herself, not for pleasure at first, but as events unfolded, she developed a taste for it, and to prove herself right, she told herself it was for survival. For Paolo, this story was not trivial. Allysa had his youthful features and palpable innocence, a curiosity in a world where everyone wore masks. Their story was not meant to exist. A mafia billionaire and a homeless teenager had nothing in common. But in a world where rules are meant to be broken, Allysa and Paolo would discover that chance doesn't exist. Desire, fear, and secrets would forge bonds.

It was finally the day of the auction "And now we are presented with a human who looks a little unkempt right now, but with a little care from her owner would be as good as new" the hosts voice rang over the speakers in what seemed like a dungeon used for illegal gambling. But I couldn't look much, being locked in a basement for three months without any form of light coming in, and suddenly being on stage where all attention and the center light was on me was enough to just make me shut my eyes and wait for what was to come. "We'll start with $25,000" is that really my worth. Do I really amount to nothing, that I have to be sold at an auction. "$26,000" "$26,500" "$30,000" "$30,000, is there anyone who wants to bid higher? Going once, going twice... This went in for a few more minutes and I gave up hope. This was it, this is where my life journey ends. I will get sold here then if my buyer is an organ trafficker he would probably kill me and sell off my organs. "Five hundred million dollars" a deep manly voice grunted from the corner of the room "Wow that's a very high bid...I doubt if anyone is willing to go higher than that. Going once, going twice, sold. Congratulations Mr Jimmie Hendrix, you just won yourself a hot looking toy...everyone is left to wonder what you will be doing with her tonight." Jimmie who was sitting in a dark corner of the room gave a sinister smirk and uttered under his breath "Found you!!!"

The day Adrian Knight clinched a contract with our biggest client, I "accidentally" tipped a bottle of ink across the paperwork, voiding it on the spot. Because of that single blot, the project landed in Alex Lewis’s lap, and he won Chairman Henry Carter’s favor almost overnight, moving into the Carter mansion as their future son-in-law and watching his net worth rocket into eight figures. Adrian never blamed me. He just laughed that he’d never been executive material anyway and happily brought me home as his bride. Everyone whispered that, if not for my meddling, Adrian would already be sitting in the Carter family’s executive suite instead of scraping by in an ordinary life with me. Only I knew the truth: stopping him from signing that contract had saved his life. When Adrian learned I was pregnant, he locked me in the basement, fingers digging into my throat. "If it hadn’t been for you," he snarled, "I’d be Henry Carter’s son-in-law by now. You’re the reason I lost Rachel, the princess of the Carter family." That’s when I realized he’d been nursing this grudge for years. After he killed me, I woke up, reborn on the very day Adrian first reached for that fatal contract. This time, I’ll make sure Adrian Knight gets exactly what he wants.

Ahhhhh...... Tama na Luther maawa ka, maawa ka sa magiging anak natin... Umiiyak na pagmamakaawa ni Abby ng maramdaman niya na tumama sa likod niya ang latigo na inihampas sa kanya ng kanyang asawa na si Luther. Puro pasa na din ang aking mukha at katawan sa walang tigil na pananakit nito sa akin. Sobrang sakit nito at pakiramdam ko matatanggal pati balat ko tuwing hinahampas sa akin ang latigo na gamit nito. Nakadapa ako sa lapag habang walang tigil sa pananakit sa akin si Luther. May mga bakas na din ng dugo sa sahig na nanggaling sa akin. "Your Slut Abby... Pagbabayaran mo ang lahat ng ito. Alam mong ayaw ko sa lahat ang niloloko ako. Sigaw ni Luther sa akin sabay hawak sa aking mukha ng mariin at sinampal ako. Halos mabagok ang ulo ko sa sahig sa lakas ng impact nito. Nandito kami sa basement ng mansion. Alam kong walang makakarinig sa akin kahit na ilang beses akong sumigaw para humingi ng tulong. Parang mga bingi ang mga tauhan ni Luther sa pagmamakaawa ko. Mariin kong ipinikit ang aking mga mata. Hindi ko na mabilang kong ilang suntok, sampal, at latigo ang tumama sa aking katawan. Siguro kailangan ko ng tanggapin na hanggang dito na lang ako. Marahan kong kinapa ang aking tiyan. "Sorry anak, hindi kita magawang ipagtanggol. Siguro hanggang dito na lang tayo. Pangako mamahalin kita sa kabilang buhay." anas ko sabay pikit.