Dance Slow

William hated the mafia more than anything. Haunted by the brutal death of his sister, the young officer accepts a dangerous mission to infiltrate the notorious Tiger Fangs gang and steal a file that could bring the entire mafia empire crashing down. He disguised himself as the secretary to the gang’s ruthless leader, Dante Gordiano. But nothing prepares William for Dante himself. He was mesmerising, ruthless, and far too captivating. William had imagined an ugly beast for such a reputation as Dante’s. Every stolen glance, every heated exchange chips away at William’s resolve. The deeper he goes, the more he risks losing not just his mission… but his heart also. Yet Dante has his own game to play as he lures William into the little stage he has prepared. Enemies close in from every side with traitors hiding in plain sight and allies with knives behind their backs. Lies and deceit weave the chains tighter and William finds himself trapped in a deadly dance of power, passion, and betrayal. In a world where love is a weapon and trust is a luxury, William must decide. Was Dante his ruin, or the only one who could save him?

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

Our Black Friday sales broke ten million. I allocated a budget of $100,000 and told my deputy to organize a celebration dinner for the team. However, after the party ended, everyone in the team looked at me in disdain. I only realized the reason when I heard their complaints in the break room one day. “Ms. Heaton is such a cheapskate. We made ten million in sales, and she treated us with a $3.99 budget takeout for the celebration.” “Seriously, I heard from Ms. Reiser that Ms. Heaton kept the money for herself! She just didn’t want to spend it on us.” My assistant even showed me a post circulating online, accusing me of exploiting employees and lining my own pockets. I summoned my deputy manager, Casey Reiser, to my office. She fell to her knees in tears and confessed everything. “I’m so sorry, Ms. Heaton! My daughter needed emergency heart surgery. In a moment of weakness, I misused the funds!” However, I had clearly seen her daughter sign up for a dance class just yesterday! Since everyone was so quick to judge without knowing the truth, I would retract the team’s monthly budget of one million then!

Isla Romano’s life was shattered the night Antonio DeLuca, the ruthless mafia boss, murdered her father before her eyes. Consumed by grief and vengeance, Isla sets her sights on the one person she holds responsible: Antonio’s son, Dante DeLuca. But as she infiltrates the DeLuca empire, seeking to destroy the man who ruined her life, Isla finds herself entangled in a dangerous game with Dante—one she never expected. Dante is everything Isla hates, yet there’s an undeniable connection between them that pulls her deeper into his world. Her mission was simple: destroy Antonio. But as her obsession with Dante grows, she must decide if vengeance will be worth the cost of losing herself—and the man she never thought she’d desire. In a twisted dance of power, passion, and revenge, Isla’s love for her father’s memory might just lead her into a darker path than she ever imagined, and Dante’s unrelenting obsession with her could either be their salvation or their doom. Will Isla’s thirst for revenge cloud her judgment, or will she finally come to terms with the truth that her heart may already belong to the enemy? ---

Princess Riley of Avarayne watched merchants with ledger, smooth smiles murder her mother at the docks and cast the queen into the harbour's hungry rip. Days later, her grief-numbed father guided by a new wife with colder hands than the sea stripped Riley's birthright and crowned a newborn son in her place. Hounded by courtly poisons and a stepsister who polishes beauty like a blade, Riley binds her chest, hides her hair beneath a bandana, and vanishes into the night as "Rye." Aboard the infamous Gilded Wraith under Captain Kade Thorne, the Wolf of the Azure. Rye learns knots, storms, and the language of survival. A slow, impossible pull grows between captain and "boy," even as she steers the crew through sea monsters, rival pirates, and raids against the royal fleet hunting them. But when a bounty bearing House Morcant's seal surfaces, Riley glimpses the conspiracy that began the night her mother drowned. Captured and unmasked to save Kade's life, Riley is dragged back to a palace that would sell her in marriage to silence the truth. To free the man who became her compass and claim the justice denied her, she must choose: reclaim a crown salted with blood or burn the lies that built it.

He’s supposed to protect him. Not fall for him. Not break him. Not save him. Noah Cross doesn’t believe in second chances—not for himself, and definitely not for the spoiled billionaire brat he’s been hired to protect. Cold. Dangerous. Untouchable. That’s how Noah survived the battlefield, and it’s how he plans to survive this assignment. But Adrian Vale is nothing like Noah expected. Behind the designer suits and reckless scandals hides a shattered man with too many secrets and not enough people he can trust. Secrets that could get them both killed. When a failed assassination attempt forces Noah and Adrian into close quarters, sparks fly where bullets once did. Enemies turn to reluctant allies, bodyguard turns into something much more dangerous… and hearts begin to betray them both. But loving Adrian means crossing lines Noah swore he’d never break again. And protecting him? Might cost Noah his life. 💥 Enemies to Lovers 💥 Billionaire x Bodyguard 💥 Forced Proximity 💥 Forbidden Romance 💥 Slow Burn, High Heat 💥 Hurt/Comfort, Found Family 💥 HEA, but not without bloodshed Love was never part of the job. But Adrian Vale just made survival impossible without it.

His hands gripped my hips, steadying me as he moved, each slow thrust driving me closer to the edge. I whimpered, my body straining, every nerve on fire. “The way you’re trembling under me is driving me insane,” his Uncle whispered to my ears. *** When Zara Devereux woke up in another woman’s body, she had only one mission, vengeance. The man who murdered her, Cassian Blackwell, had built his empire on blood and power. But now, she had his wife’s face, and a perfect chance to ruin him from within. What she didn’t plan for was Sterling, Cassian’s enigmatic uncle, a man who saw through her façade long before she confessed the truth. Their attraction became a dangerous secret, blurring the line between deception and desire. Zara discovers the elite world she now inhabits is darker than she ever imagined. In a society built on power, lies, and blood oaths, she must either play their game, or lose everything all over again. Can she unmask the truth before it consumes her... or will she become the next casualty behind the mask?

In Black Salt, love is a sickness you can’t hide—a slow gnawing beneath the skin that leaves you hollowed, grayed, and eventually gone. No one stays long enough to see it through; they leave before the rot finishes its work. It’s what the town teaches you: when it starts, you run. You look away. You survive by pretending not to feel. But Atlas is tired of pretending. The halls of Black Salt High are full of kids pretending they don’t see each other’s bruised hearts, pretending their bones aren’t already whispering warnings. Still, he can’t forget the weight of a father who stayed—not out of love, but because he never felt it deep enough to decay. That truth lingers in Atlas like a second shadow. And then there’s Nova—the outsider with a storm in her bones. And Wren, all sharpness and fight. Milo, who cracks jokes to keep the silence at bay. Luce, who wears her thorns like jewelry. Together, they don’t know how to stop the rot. But they’re learning how to sit with it, how to name it, how to refuse the small, hollow deaths of pretending not to care. In a town where love is a death sentence, staying might be the bravest thing of all.

“You hate me, don’t you?” Dante murmured, lips ghosting over mine in slow torture. “More than anything.” “Good.” The smirk on his face was sickening. “It’ll make it that much sweeter when you beg me to ruin you.” _ To escape a marriage to a tyrant, Amara Vitale makes a reckless bargain with a devil she’s hated all her life. Dante DeLaurentis. Her rival since childhood, sworn enemy to her family, and the man who would burn down whatever stood in his path to ash if it meant getting what he wants. The plan is simple: A fake engagement to save her from her father’s brutal alliance. But every lie they tell themselves, every kiss they fake, and every dangerous night in his world blurs the line between pretense and obsession. Soon, her greatest enemy becomes her fiercest protector, but also the man who could break her heart or ruin her family forever. In a world where blood and betrayal rule, love isn’t something she can afford. When enemies threaten to ruin everything she holds dear, Amara must decide if surrendering to Dante will save her…or destroy her completely.

Nine years into my "non-cohabiting partnership" with Simon, his father passed away. The first condition in his will was simple: Simon and Ella had to conceive a child. On the day the child turned one month old, Simon would inherit his father's fortune. Simon told me this himself—the night I walked in on them tangled in our bed. Afterward, as he took a slow drag from his cigarette, he murmured, "Lily, just wait a little longer. Once I get the inheritance, I'll marry you." But he went back on his word. From then on, every time Simon planned to meet Ella at our house, he would hang a string of bells on the door. Since his father's passing, those bells had chimed ninety-nine times. After the ninety-ninth, the news arrived—Ella was pregnant, and their engagement party was set. My daughter saw the invitation, hesitated, then softly asked, "Mom, is Daddy's name on this?" I forced a smile and gently smoothed her messy hair into a neat ponytail. "Daddy is marrying the one he loves," I said. "And I'm taking you home." Simon never understood—I never cared about that marriage certificate.