Crossed Out Words Novels & Stories

She liked her world like this; controlled, immaculate, and hers. Her assistant had just left the report on the collaboration between Duval Holdings and CrossTech, and Clarisse skimmed it with the cool efficiency of a surgeon. Numbers, timelines, projected returns, upcoming brief, it was all there. Damon Cross, as always, delivered results with a surgeon’s blade.

The rest had sunk into old age; the bird gleamed like it had recently landed. I brought the page closer to the lamp and hunted the pressure of the stroke. Different nib. Slightly heavier hand. The original word could have been the same. Could have been visitor if you were generous and morally blind. But no—the cross on the t cut low and hard, the way my mother did when she was annoyed. The rewrite just made it angrier.

Words that now might cost me more than my job. The rain outside hit harder, like the sky was hammering on the windows. My heartbeat matched the rhythm — fast, uneven, scared. I whispered into the quiet, “What have I done?” Because this wasn’t just a line crossed. It was a line redrawn. Around me. Against me. And maybe, just maybe — finally by me.

The alliance depends on it. I stared at the words, then added another line before I could stop myself. ‘I miss you.’ My hand hovered over the paper, pen ready to cross it out. It sounded too vulnerable, and honest. It revealed too much about how I was feeling. But my heart was already aching with longing. The bond between us pulled constantly, a reminder of what I’d left behind. Pretending otherwise seemed pointless. I debated for long minutes, the pen trembling in my hand. Finally, I crossed it out. Drew a thick line through those three words until they were barely visible.

De Santos. I sink down onto the nearest box and stare at the words. My pulse roars in my ears as I flip page after page. Legal language, names, dates. Then—black ink. Whole sections crossed out, lines smudged so deep you can’t even tell what they once said. My chest goes tight. Somebody wanted this buried.

Across the bottom, written in the same handwriting as the note inside my pocket, were seven words that made every answer we'd found feel meaningless. This isn't the first time they erased you.

Not Merryn. The child. As if my mother had been afraid to write my name. I kept reading. You must keep her ordinary. Please. If they discover what her blood can do, they will make her… The sentence ended. I frowned. I turned the page over. Nothing. I checked the next letter. Nothing. I checked the envelope. Nothing. The final word had been cut away. Not torn by age but cut. I ran my finger along the bottom edge. Someone had deliberately removed it.

It's like he's still teasing Wright because he's the one Reid wants to play with. "SURRENDER! Do you know how to play that? It's like a hangman." Reid handed the paper and pencil that were on the table by the side of Wright's bed. The rules of the game SURRENDER, there is a word you have to guess. You will provide an alphabet to complete the word and when you mention an alphabet that is not in the word to be guessed, each letter of SURRENDER will be deleted. Surrender has nine letters meaning you have nine lives. Anyone can guess, it's okay.

We hadn’t just crossed a line. We had obliterated it. And there was no going back.

O crap… XXX I saw him before he saw me. Those light grey eyes searching the woods he didn’t belong in. His head suddenly lifted and I knew that was my cue. I went into attack mode and without hesitation rushed towards the guy. He turned his head just as time as my canines connected to his neck. XXX My parents were definitely not happy about me running into the woods. And when I had come back with the dumb dried blood on my arm, they did not leave my side for one second. And I know I had to get out of here.