Cryptic Messages

A car accident leaves me unconscious for a full three years. When I wake up, my family bursts into tears of joy. They care for me with the utmost attention. But from their behavior, I sense something is wrong. There are women's clothes in the house that don't fit me. My mother's shopping cart is filled with mysterious baby items. My father's friends send congratulatory messages about a new child, and my husband is always working overtime. When my husband once again leaves me alone under the pretext that there is something urgent at the company, I secretly follow him. Inside a warmly decorated house, my parents and husband sit around a table. A woman who looks almost exactly like me is holding a baby just a few months old, gently coaxing the child to call my husband "Daddy".

After I turn five years of age and have my very own phone, I start receiving strange messages every single day. For some reason, the sender keeps referring to me as their mom. At 3:00 am, they send me another message. "Mom, I saw you in my dreams again. The rain is seeping into the attic. My stepmom told me to use a rag to soak up all the water, but the rag is too small. Even though I tried to wipe it up all night, it still wouldn't dry. Mom, I'm so cold and hungry. I miss you so much…" I tilt my head, looking at the rain pouring outside the window. I then earnestly reply, "Don't be scared, sweetheart. Where are you right now? I will bring you something yummy!"

While my boyfriend, Caleb Lawson, is in the shower, I grab his phone on a whim and drop a message in the group chat he's in with his friends. "Guess who I'm with tonight." I expect them to say my name, but their reply blindsides me. "That freshman who used to chase you when you were a sophomore? She's obsessed with you. She's definitely easier than your girlfriend. Want us to swing by tonight?" My gut tells me he's hiding more than an affair. Just as I start scrolling through his messages with the freshman, a notification from her pops up. "Caleb, I agree to the threesome. I'll do anything you want." Seconds later, another message appears in the group chat. "Just be careful this time. We don't need another body on our hands."

Ashley Wilson has been married to her childhood sweetheart Justin Wilson for three years. Despite the constant maltreatment and insults she received from her mother-in-law because she was a poor countryside girl. All she got from him was a cryptic complement and a divorce papers and Ashley decided that she was done with the sham of a marriage. Getting her liberty was one thing, but she was indeed a poor orphan until she got discovered by her grandfather, making her realize that she wasn't a nobody but the granddaughter and future heiress of the Manchester Family Empire. A family filled with popular and powerful doctors and surgeons. Four years after the divorce, Ashley returns as a famous doctor.. Ashley Manchester, is back!

"You're mine Cassie, mind, body, and soul," he declared with a dangerous growl, "I'm the prison you can't escape." ******* A cryptic letter from her father leads Cassie Michaelson directly into the path of Lorenzo Giovanni, an infamous Mafia boss. Lorenzo, initially targeting Cassie to draw out her father, quickly uncovers a shocking truth: Cassie is his Fated Mate. Abducted and thrust into a perilous world of Mafia politics and werewolf lore, Cassie must reconcile her growing feelings for Lorenzo, the very man who murdered her best friend the night of her abduction with the dangerous allure of his half-brother, Leonardo. As she struggles to survive, a mysterious organization emerges from the shadows, intent on destroying Lorenzo, placing Cassie at the epicenter of a brewing war.

Emilia Rutherford thought she left her haunted past behind, until a car crash, a cryptic warning, and a bloody trail bring it roaring back. Now, in a town that feels too quiet and eyes that watch too closely, she’s pulled into a world she never knew existed. Shifters. Blood feuds. Secrets buried under generations of silence. Asher, the quiet farmhand with eyes like gold, knows more than he says. And Victor... the ruthless Alpha with a claim on Emilia’s soul will stop at nothing to make her his. But fate has its own plans. And Emilia may be the key to unraveling everything. When destiny collides with survival, only one truth remains: THE ALPHA MUST DIE!

It all began with a single post about canceling a food delivery order. Overnight, I became the internet's punching bag. Thousands of vicious messages flooded my inbox, filled with photoshopped memorials urging me to die. They doxxed my family, plastered my personal details across shady websites, and used AI to create obscene images of me, spreading them in vile chat groups. They spread lies about my income, claiming it came from illicit sources, and accused me of carrying diseases. I didn't call the police or block the messages. Instead, I read every hateful word before singling out the 100 worst offenders. Every day, I sent each one a luxurious meal: Boston lobster, Australian wagyu, the works. Each delivery came with a simple note: [Thank you for your hard work.]

Two days before her wedding, my elder sister, Sophia, vanished into thin air, leaving behind a cryptic note. She was supposed to marry the most influential man in the country, Mr. Vaughn Slade - a man rumored to be old, ugly, and disfigured. The whispers were that no woman wanted to marry him, and now my parents were demanding that I replace Sophia as his bride. I was horrified. Not only was I already in a loving relationship with my boyfriend, Julian, but I also knew that Vaughn Slade had specifically chosen Sophia. Desperate for help, I turned to Julian, who happened to be Vaughn Slade's nephew. But what I found was shocking - Julian in bed with my cousin, Rachel. My world was shattered.

My health was not good, but I had always wanted a child. My husband, citing concern for my health, avoided intimacy with me for a year. Then I stumbled across his private messages with another woman. [You'll spend Valentine's Day with me, right? You're not going to touch her tonight, are you?] [You know I don't like doing it just to make babies. Got you some lingerie. Wear it for me tomorrow.] That ill-fitting lace lingerie he was talking about was on my body. I'd slipped it on while he was in the shower, thinking it was a Valentine's Day surprise from him. Turned out, he hadn't bought the wrong size. He had just sent it to the wrong address. I clicked on the woman's profile. Her latest video showed her at the beach, hand in hand with the person filming. I recognized her hand instantly. It belonged to my best friend.

It was a godforsaken dare. If anyone asked Knox why he created a fake profile to mess with the most insufferable bastard alive—his emotionally constipated, tyrannical military captain, Victor Wallace—he’d blame his roommate. Stupid dare. Simple mission. Pretend to be a woman, reel the bastard in, and wreck him. Easy, right? Wrong. What started as a joke spiralled into late-night messages, dangerous vulnerability, and a slow-burning obsession Knox didn’t see coming. Victor wasn’t supposed to open up. Knox wasn’t supposed to care. And yet—here they are, stuck together in a steel tomb of chain-of-command and unchecked tension, where one wrong word could start a fire. It was supposed to ruin Victor. Now it’s ruining Knox. Because when you play games with monsters, don’t be shocked when one starts looking back in the mirror. This was never just a dare. Now it’s war. Read and find out.