Deku Smile

On campus, Karl is untouchable. The Golden Boy of the campus.Swim team captain. Record breaker. No one notices the benchwarmer—the quiet swimmer who never competes, the one always left behind after practice. Until one night, he returns to the locker room and see’s something he was never meant to see. Karl isn’t human. Caught between fear and fascination, the benchwarmer is pulled into a secret that could destroy both of them.As strange incidents begin to plague the campus and Karl’s control starts to slip, survival becomes a game of silence, trust, and dangerous attraction. Because some monsters don’t hide in the dark. They wear gold medals—and smile in the daylight.

Three years ago, Alpha King Dante Russo rejected me as his mate. Called me weak. Worthless. Unworthy. Now he wants me back—not for love, but for a contract. Six months as his Luna. Bear his heir. Twenty million dollars. But I'm not the helpless omega he remembered. I'm a Silver Wolf with ancient powers that could reshape our world. I'll play his game. Share his bed. Smile for his pack. But when this contract ends, he'll finally understand what he lost. Unless the mate bond we thought was broken destroys us both first.

Robin leaned close to my ears and whispered the words that only made me stiff and froze my heart. He leans back but while doing so, his lips brushed against mine and a smile escaped his lips, he left my chin and walked away whistling to himself. I just couldn’t move, the touch of his lips that were on mine yet again clouded my mind and the words he whispered in my ears just kept on resounding as silence filled the air where I stood, only the words he had just said arrogantly, yet sweetly, played on in my head. You belong to me and no one else!

After saving my girlfriend, Tiffany Swain, I suffer from a concussion, leading to me getting rushed to the hospital. That's when I decide to play a prank on her. "Who are you?" When I see Tiffany's expression freeze on her face, I almost burst out laughing. But Tiffany suddenly points at her best friend, Janet Emery. "I'm your fiancee's friend. That's your fiancee, Janet Emery." This time, my expression freezes on my face. Janet approaches me at that moment. "That's right. I'm your fiancee." I squeeze out a smile at her. "Let's go home, then."

At my 25th birthday party, my childhood sweetheart got down on one knee, holding a diamond ring. "Diane, will you marry me?" I nodded, my eyes misty with tears, but just as I reached out, he slipped the ring onto my best friend's finger instead. The room went silent for a beat before erupting in laughter. "Just kidding!" Livio Becker laughed. "You didn't take it seriously, did you?" I forced a smile and looked over his shoulder at someone. "I bet he would propose tonight, and I was right. You lost the bet, so tomorrow we're getting married for real."

Her body went still. Then his voice dropped lower, laced with venom and promise. “By the time I'm done with you, you'll wish you never said …I do.” Angelo placed his hand on the small of her back, pulling her closer in… closer than fear, closer than escape. He leaned in, his smile picture perfect for the cameras. “Now kiss your groom,” he murmured. Then…. His breath ghosted over her lips before sealing the moment with a kiss… cold, calculated and final. This wasn't marriage, nor love. Rather, it was war. It was the beginning of her sentence. Millicent felt it in her bones, the quiet threat beneath his touch. She hadn't just married a man. She had stepped into the arms of her executioner. “Smile for the crowd, Mrs. De Angelis,” Angelo whispered in a low and poisonous voice. “Because soon… they'll be watching you burn.” *Click* The cameras flashed. ~~~~~~~~ To save her brother, Millicent Romano agreed to marry the one man her heart never forgot, Angelo De Angelis. But he isn’t the boy she once knew. He’s a Don now. A powerful and ruthless Don who was hell-bent on revenge. To Angelo, she’s nothing more than a pawn, poisoned gift from an enemy empire. The wedding was never about love… it was about war. But desire doesn’t play by the rules of vengeance, and neither does the past they share. As vengeance dives deep, obsession dives ten times deeper. As secrets unravel, there's only one question left…. When love is laced with blood, someone's bound to bleed. In a world where loyalty kills faster than bullets.... Who will fall first?

By a twist of fate, my husband, Morgan Lancaster, and I perish together in a sea of flames. When I open my eyes again, I find myself back on the very day we received our marriage certificate. In my previous life, we appeared to be a loving couple in the eyes of others, yet Morgan refused to share a bedroom with me the entire time we were married. It was only moments before our deaths that I discovered I was merely a substitute for his first love and that he had chosen to remain chaste for her for life. After getting another chance at life, neither of us mentions the past. Instead, by mutual understanding, we file for divorce that same day. From that point on, we go our separate ways. Eight years later, Morgan shows up arm in arm with his childhood sweetheart, Freya Springer, at a business summit. He is now a prominent and celebrated rising star in the business world. Seeing me dressed in a plain outfit, he approaches with a glass of champagne. His tone drips with mockery as he asks, "Ms. Smith, even if you still have feelings for me, there's no need to dress like a waitress just to get close to me. You aren't hoping for a reconciliation, are you?" I say nothing and simply smile as I wave at someone in the distance. My son, Theo Coltrane, toddles over and tugs at the hem of my shirt. "Mommy, Daddy says that he's tired from waiting so long. When are you coming home with us?" The smile on Morgan's face freezes instantly, and he nearly loses his grip on the glass in his hand.

'All men are same', were the words Starr lived by, pushing every man that came her way away. Until, Christopher Chariton walked into it, with his big smile and caring heart. Starr Hart is a fierce working class woman, who owes a publishing firm and was hurt by love a long time ago. Physically, psychologically, emotionally and mentally hurt, she vouched strongly against feelings, pushing everyone around her away. But then Chris Chariton, an author of love and romance, walks into her life and falls for her, without knowing about her vouch. He wills to do everything within his power to make her feel love again.

"They were entwined with each other, luxuriating in the throes of passion, the man's robust body..." I was hiding in my office, secretly penning the next development in my story, when a voice from behind me began to read my words aloud, one by one. It was the new intern, a young man. I trembled, pleading with him, "Please, don't tell anyone." He adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, his hands bracing the edge of the desk, trapping me between his arms. "So, this is what you like?" His throat bobbed, and a smile played on his lips, "Then, why don't we... try it out, just the two of us...

At Bridgehall High, Charlotte Tilbury was the picture perfect queen, top grades, a flawless Instagram, a handsome boyfriend, dreamy sex life and a legion of admirers. But a midnight dare on a secret dating app leads her to Sophie, the new girl with a hidden past and a smile that feels real. But when Sophie walks into her school as a transfer student , everyone’s secrets, her best friend’s, her boyfriend’s, and her own, start to unravel. And a rogue gossip page turns the school into a battlefield of lies, Charlotte’s carefully curated world begins to crack. When the truth about Max, Maya, and the mysterious “Lottie” finally erupts, will anyone be left untouched?