Crooked Novels & Stories

In the coastal quiet of Baler, a studio is born—not of architecture, but of intention.* Founded by Yam, a poet whose words cradle pain gently, and Franc, an artist who paints tenderness into walls, the studio becomes a refuge for those learning to stay—with grief, love, longing, and themselves. As visitors arrive, they leave behind more than footprints: a sigh recorded in bamboo, a poem tucked into the “Found Letters” shelf, a mural painted in crooked lines. Through zines, tea, silence, and sketchbooks, the studio teaches softness as revolution. Ren creates the *Window of Soft Returns*, an installation of anonymous voice recordings—each whisper forming a community of echoes. Drew builds the *Staircase With No Wrong Turns*, inviting people to walk through emotions without shame. Franc offers brushstrokes as brave work, and Yam curates writing circles that map healing in half sentences. Together, they host festivals that feel like hugs, and they begin traveling their archive, letting softness cross oceans. Even those who once left—like Miguel—return, discovering that some doors never truly close. Others, like Tala, capture the studio’s sound and turn it into a podcast of breath and becoming. Over seventy chapters, the studio transforms into something larger than itself: a mural of memory, a sanctuary for second chances, a place where return is sacred and voice is proof of survival. In the final bloom, the studio stands not as a monument—but as a reminder: > *“Staying isn’t easy. > But chosen together, > it becomes home.”*

"Am I your first, little flower?" the Alpha asks me. "Well, I won't be your last." He wears a crooked grin as he gestures to the bed. I bite my bottom lip and comply because I have no choice. My father has sold me to the king, and now, I must entertain the four candidates to become the next Alpha King. I am, after all, their breeder. As he climbs onto the bed, I hold my breath. He's unbelievably sexy, but he's just the first of the men I will be getting to know better, the first of four vying for the title of Alpha King. What if I fall in love with him? What if I fall in love with all four of them? *** Rose's parents insist she enter the contest to become the new Breeder because they need the money. They never thought she'd win. Because of her unique anatomy, Rose is the perfect candidate to take on the four Alphas. What Rose doesn't know is that the current Alpha King isn't really in this for the right reasons. In fact, he may not want a new heir at all. As she finds herself falling in love with all four of the men, she realizes not only is she in danger, but so are they. Will Rose and her four Alphas succeed in making babies and claiming the throne, or will the evil Alpha King prevail?

“He pressed me to the wall with one hand tight around my throat, the other sliding beneath the thin silk clinging to my skin. I should’ve been begging for help. Instead, my knees went weak when he leaned in, his mouth hot against my ear. ‘Does it hurt, darling?’ he whispered. I shook my head, even as his fingers left bruises. ‘Good. I like it when you take it.’ God, I hated him. God, I wanted him to never let go.” A DARK, EROTIC TALE OF OBSESSION, HUMILIATION, AND HUNGER. They called him the Devil, a sadist with a crooked smile and hands built for breaking men. In the underworld’s most perverse auction, Luca Ruelle is nothing but trembling prey, sold for a price no soul should fetch. Silk-wrapped, bare, choking on shame and smoke, he should be praying for rescue. But Kain Astor doesn’t rescue. He claims, corrupts, and devours. He teaches Luca how it feels to be owned. How pain can bloom where fear lives. How pleasure is just another kind of cruelty. Every command is a dare, every punishment a promise. Under Kain’s hands, Luca learns the exquisite agony of surrender, and the terror of how badly he needs it. He should be fighting for his life. Instead, he’s sinking to his knees, eyes glazed, lips parted, whispering the one word that seals his fate— “Please.”

After my father-in-law's mouth started twisting to one side, my mother-in-law came back with a whole sack of venomous snakes and scorpions. According to her, it was some kind of folk remedy. Soak the creatures in alcohol, let him sit in it, then give him acupuncture. In three days, he’d be as good as new. When she explained it, the whole family froze. Some looked stunned, others outright terrified. I was the only one who clapped my hands like I approved. "Yeah, that sounds like a great remedy. You can tell it works just by hearing it. We should listen to Lucy. This way, we can treat Edward and save money. Isn't that perfect?" My mother-in-law shot me a disdainful look and let out a cold snort. "Look at you, finally behaving. Aren't you usually the one who loves to argue with me?" I just smiled and said nothing. In my previous life, the moment I saw my father-in-law's crooked mouth and unfocused eyes, I knew it wasn't simple facial paralysis. It was a stroke. However, my mother-in-law refused to believe me. She even accused me of wishing him dead. I tried to rush him to the hospital, but he shoved me hard. I tumbled down the stairs. Even as I lay there, bones broken and bleeding, they refused to take me to the hospital. They said I was faking it. That was how I died at their hands. Now that I've been given a second chance, I looked at my father-in-law with a bright smile. "Edward, this is just facial paralysis. Use Lucy's remedy, and you'll be fine in a couple of days."

As I turn to march out of the room, my feet stop and my breath hitches. "Bryanna. Why…” I whip back around and glare at them. "You aren't to use that name in public. Only when we are in private and alone.” Jacob flashes me a crooked smile. His eyes sparkle as he waves his finger around in the air. “We are alone. It is only us three in here.” He rests his arm on the table and gives me a cheesy grin, almost daring me to slap it off him. His t-shirt stretches tight against his muscular chest and accents his well-defined muscles. He has a true alpha body. The sparkle in his light brown eyes shimmers as he leans forward. In a deep, husky voice, he adds, “We know all your secrets. Plus, we can see your true self. The one nobody else can see because of the magic spell. Should I go on?” My heartbeat echoes in my ears as I stumble forward. How could he act like this? Bryanna, the heir to her pack, is forced into a contract relationship right before her eighteenth birthday which her father claims to be the best for both her and the pack. However, as she gets older, she soon realizes the contract relationship may not be the best choice for her, but it was a great choice for her father. When Bryanna and the contract are on the verge of falling apart, she faces a choice only she can make. Does she fight for the mate she can't detect at the risk of her secret coming out? Or does she sacrifice her happiness for the pack and her father's wishes while also keeping her secret buried?

“I stood by you when all your family members were against you, when your family members mocked you because the doctor said our child cannot be born I still took the risk and went under the knife to give you a child, you have forgotten who stood by you all these years and just because of a crooked lie and confusion you became so blind and stand before me to threaten me with a divorce paper, I'll sign these papers but I promise you that you'll regret this action someday and for your family members that did this to me, time shall tell” Sarah’s husband’s family teamed up and set her up on bed with a stranger, forged a fake DNA result which says that the child she had for her husband is not his, and lastly they succeeded in causing her husband to Divorce her. He wrote her a cheque of one million dollars as a settlement for their eleven years of being together, but Sarah rejected the cheque and left, she stumbled across the cold, egoistic Army General of the Country and they ended up striking a deal, to be his Acting bride while he gives her power and authority. With these two worlds apart, a heartbroken single mother that's looking for a shield and a roof over her head, a cold powerful Army General who only cares about country affairs and power, what happens when they start developing strong feelings amidst their fake marriage, and Williams comes back to claim his wife and his son. watch as the rich rivals against each other, and power against power, who will Sarah end up choosing a husband she once loved, or the cold General who's slowly stealing her heart.

The seventh time Dante Moretti served me divorce papers, I was sitting with my son in a cheap diner on Chicago's South Side. I forced a smile and brushed my hand over my son's hair. "Just wait a little longer, sweetheart. This time, Mommy will get custody of you." He stayed quiet for a long moment. Then he looked up and asked, “Mommy, how much do you need to sell me for before you're happy?” Before I could answer, he pulled a handwritten divorce agreement from his backpack and pushed it toward me. "I know you keep fighting Dad for me because you want more money from him." "I wrote the agreement for him. Please sign it. Dad is already tired. Stop making his life so hard." His handwriting was crooked, but every word had been written with care. Dante would give me three million dollars. At the bottom, in my son's childish scrawl, was one more line. [After you take the money, don't bother me, Dad, and Serena anymore. Let us be happy.] Serena was Dante's childhood sweetheart. The woman he trusted more than his own wife. For five years, I had stood against Dante's family, his lawyers, and half the Chicago underworld just to keep custody of my son. For him, I would've walked away with nothing. But the child I had raised for eight years had already chosen another mother. So why shouldn't I give their perfect little family exactly what they wanted?

Emily’s world wasn’t just broken. It was strategically dismantled. Three years of love. One devastating betrayal. A single moment that would leave a scar forever. The day Emily caught her boyfriend Jaden and her best friend Mika tangled in bed, something inside her died. 2 years later, she has worked to be everything Jaden said she could never be— a star actress, loved by many. As Emily climbs the treacherous ladder of the entertainment industry, her betrayers return with a sinister plan. Mika, consumed by jealousy, doesn’t just want to compete – she wants to annihilate. Even if it meant becoming an actress herself. And Jaden? He’s the perfect weapon in her arsenal. But in the entertainment industry, Power surpasses power. And there he was, Noah. Noah. The king of the entertainment industry. Feared by many and had the lives of many wrapped around his fingers. He met Emily 2 years ago for the first time, snot mixing with tears, her broken glasses sliding down her face- she kept screaming at him “You can’t die! Not today!”. She saved him, and he owes his life to her. But now, she doesn’t remember him. Also she has changed. She almost looked nothing like the ugly woman he saw that night— Mascara streaking down her blotchy cheeks, glasses bent and crooked, hair disheveled, looking utterly destroyed, a walking catastrophe of raw, ugly pain, far from what he was seeing now— who is this woman? This isn’t a love story. This is a war. And Emily? She’s the prey. Would Noah be her Prince Charming that saves her?

This is my first time meeting my partner's family as their future daughter-in-law. A few minutes after taking my seat, my future mother-in-law, Joana Carrell, suddenly speaks up. "I've conducted a premarital test on you, but you've only scored 30 points. You have no right to marry into my family!" I never expect that I'll be tested, to begin with. The results leave me feeling shell-shocked. But Joana continues prattling on and on. "When you walked through the front door, the stool at the doorway was crooked, but you never readjusted it. You got ten points deducted for that. "The trash can in the living room was full, but you ignored it and never took the initiative to empty it. That'll be 20 points deducted. "When you washed the fruits in the kitchen, you saw a pile of dishes in the sink, and yet you didn't wash them. That's 40 points lost! "Altogether, you scored 30 points, which means you've failed the test. Hence, you aren't worthy of becoming a daughter-in-law of the Yarrow family!" I turn to look at my boyfriend, Anthony Yarrow, subconsciously, hoping that he'll defend me. But he keeps his head lowered and pretends to not hear anything. His reaction catches me off guard. But soon, my temper starts flaring. It turns out that the Yarrows have already plotted to put me through a trial that tests my submissiveness as soon as I walk through the front door. That's why Joana has been assessing me like I'm their future maid. Since they care about points that much, then I suppose they can kiss the million-dollar wedding gifts, the marital home located in the city center, as well as the businesses under my family goodbye.

At the entrance of Marriott International, Kellan walked out of the revolving door in a white suit. The wind lifted a corner of his shirt, revealing the cufflinks of his custom-made shirt. This time it was a diamond-studded Suzaku, exactly the same as the one in the presidential suite five years ago. Eva's breath missed a beat until Rosie suddenly screamed, "Dad, you're so handsome!" The carriage froze instantly. Kellan raised his eyebrows and looked at the passenger seat. The little girl was clinging to the seat, her eyes shining like stars: "You look like the prince in my painting!" She had just drawn an "ideal dad" in kindergarten yesterday. In the crooked lines, there was a tall man wearing a neat suit, his cuffs gleaming. Eva's face flushed red, and she hurriedly explained, "The child is just talking nonsense..." But when she looked up, she met Kellan's eyes—he was staring at Rosie, and his dark eyes were filled with tenderness that he himself didn't even notice. This man who made the whole business world tremble, at this moment, raised the corner of his lips towards the child, although it was only a very shallow arc, but it made the temperature in the car rise quietly. When the car arrived at the destination, Kellan suddenly said before getting off the car: "Your daughter is very cute." *** Imagine your child calling a stranger “Daddy”… and neither of you realize he’s actually her real father — the man who got you pregnant years ago before fate tore you apart deciding you won't see his face or know him. Now he’s standing right in front of you, powerful, untouchable, and staring at your daughter with a tenderness he can’t explain....