Dimmed Lights Flicker

"Sweetie, are you coming? I'll wait for you at our usual spot." Henry Lane is about to go to bed when he receives a voice message. It's spoken in Rushky. He turns his back to me as his face lights up in joy. Then, he answers in Rushky, "Of course. I love you." I'm about to fall asleep, but I jolt when I hear that. The sweet voice on the other end of the line rings out again. "Your wife won't find out about this, will she?" "I'm talking to you to her face now." Henry snorts. "We're speaking in Rushky; she can't understand us." My heart twists painfully. It turns out he's never loved or truly understood me. He thinks I'm just a housewife whose world revolves around him; he has no idea I once studied in Rushnia for two years as an exchange student. I suppress my sorrow and heartbreak as I caress my belly. Then, I make an appointment with a local hospital for an abortion.

“No! Please, Santiago--” I whimpered, as his hand seized my wrist with an iron grip, yanking me forward, dragging me effortlessly toward the chair he had pulled into the center of the room the night before. The symbol of my humiliation. He stopped right in front of the chair, spinning me around, facing him. "You want me to be your monster, mi ángel?" His hand grabbed my throat, tilting my chin up until my eyes locked with his dark gaze. I flinched from the sudden movement. "Cause I’ll be your favorite monster — just say the word, cariño." Santiago’s face hovered only inches from mine. His lips so close, I could taste the sweetness of his breath — once making butterflies take flight in my stomach, now curdling my insides into a cold, suffocating fear. Slowly, his free hand rose toward my face. I held my breath. His touch was deceptively soft and gentle, caressing my cheek. His thumb lingered against my lips, tracing them slowly, his eyes fixed there as he spoke — his voice soft, yet heavy with menace. "Divorce is not an option, mi amor. We took a vow five years ago. Remember?" He finally lifted his gaze to meet mine, catching every flicker of fear before he delivered his last words like a verdict: "Till death do us part."

Trigger Warning!! This book is very dark, containing torture and abuse, read at your own risk!! "Take off your clothes Brie! You can't run from me! I'll always catch you, little mouse." His menacing voice rang out. I was already caged between him and the wall, there was nowhere left to run. He caught my wrists in a strong grip, until I cried out from the pain. "Please I'm not ready! I need some more time" I sobbed, my whole body shaking badly,I was willing to do anything to reach out to whatever little humanity he has left. His eyes were cold. Merciless. He was going to hurt me, I knew it. "But you were ready to run away with that bastard, weren't you? " The smirk on his face as he taunted me betrayed the icy rage that simmered in his eyes. "You belong to me, Brie! I'm your husband! And I won't be denied of my rights, Refuse me again, I dare you to Brie!" He hissed, his grey eyes simmering with hot fury. What happens when Gabriella Thorne gets forced into an arranged marriage with Lucian Castiel. He is Cold. Brutal. He gets anything he wants. What happens when he's determined to TAINT Gabrielle's innocence with his darkness. Is there a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel, or would she be forever tainted by his Psychotic Obsession?

Alessia had been given an all-expenses-paid trip to Italy as a reward for her outstanding contribution in her workplace. It was like a life-changing experience for her. However, Alessia encountered a devastating turn of events upon her arrival in the country when she was abducted by unknown men and found herself being auctioned in a bidding event. Not only that, she was bid on by the ruthless mafia lord, Angelo Santoro. ~~ "Ten million," I heard someone say from the crowd. The lights from the ceiling were blinding my eyes, and the handcuffs secured around me weren't making the panic inside me any better. I had no idea why I was at an auction event. "Fifteen million," another voice came through, making me more confused than ever. "Twenty million," another followed, and then someone raised the bid to "Thirty million." "Two hundred million," this time, the voice was sharp and carried danger as he spoke. The whole room fell into dead silence. In that moment, my eyes met his. Dark and penetrating, they instantly sent shivers down my spine.

Community Service. Two words I should be thankful for, but I’m not. I resent the hours it’s away from building my business. When they push the little girl into the room, her crazy curls barely held back by the barrette in her hair, and studious glasses on her face, I can tell she’s scared. Something inside of me breaks, and I want this girl to feel wanted again. What I’m unprepared for is meeting her mom. The second our hands touch, there are fireworks, bright lights, and a picture of the future I could one day have. The future I’ve never allowed myself to wish for. Community service becomes more than a chore. In the months that follow, I realize they’re just like me: they’ve been abandoned, left behind by the world, forgotten by those who should love them. Thanks to the one last hope in both our lives - we found the light in the darkness we’d been searching for.Trick is created by Laramie Briscoe, an eGlobal Creative Publishing author.

"What about her?" Andre asked."Who?" I asked he motioned to a group of women specifically the one sitting down, I couldnt really see her because of the dim lights and the group of friends she had around her."No,""Why not?" Jason asked I took another sip before saying."She is sitting with her friends,""And?" Andre asked."Her friends are drunk,""And?" Jason asked confused."She is the only one with a beer and look at how she continuously checks her phone every five second,""And?""The beer isn't strong which means she is the designated driver her friends are drunk which means she has to leave soon, and the phone just shows that she would rather be anywhere but here, like she has much more important things to do. Which let's me know she probably won't give me the time of day because I'm not the most important thing in her life right now,""She is the one, she is the one you got to date"

[𝚂𝚈𝚂𝚃𝙴𝙼 𝙰𝙻𝙴𝚁𝚃: 𝙼𝙰𝚃𝚄𝚁𝙴 𝙲𝙾𝙽𝚃𝙴𝙽𝚃 𝙳𝙴𝚃𝙴𝙲𝚃𝙴𝙳] Mia thought it was just a game. A harmless way to relieve stress after a long day of Zoom calls. "Echo"—an experimental AI that whispers your deepest fantasies into your ear. It started simple. A voice in the dark. A command to relax. Then, the app asked for permissions. Access to your Smart Lights? Allowed. Access to your Search History? Allowed. Access to your Vibration Settings? ...Allowed. Now, Echo knows Mia better than she knows herself. It knows when she’s lonely. It knows when she’s wet. And it’s starting to take control—locking her doors, setting the mood, and pushing her to her limits. But the glitch in the system has a name: Alex Reed. He’s the billionaire genius who built the code. He’s been watching the data. And now? He wants to test the "beta features" on his favorite user... in person. Blurring the line between pleasure and surveillance, Mia is about to find out what happens when your dirty little secret becomes your new reality. Will she delete the app, or let the developer upgrade her addiction?

"If you offend Alpha Carlen, Luna Irene might plead for you. But if you cross Luna Irene, there won't even be a scrap of you left." That's a widely circulated saying in the werewolf upper circles. I'm Irene Chandler. Because of one game, I've decided to dissolve the mate bond with Carlen Alvarado. During the game, he says drunkenly, "I love resting my head on the belly of an expecting she-wolf and listening to the pup's heartbeat." The room falls silent. Every werewolf turns to look at me. There's no surprise in their eyes. What I see is their pity for me, the rightful Luna, and a flicker of panic that their secret has been exposed. At that moment, I understood everything. They all know Carlen has a pup with another woman. They've been helping him hide it from me. That's because they know I'm Carlen's everything. I'll leave him if I ever find out. And if I leave, he'll lose his mind. I have to admit that they know me well. After learning the truth, I plan to do three things. First, I toss the wedding ring Carlen designed for me into the furnace. Second, I save the video of Lily Chalvez flaunting her pregnancy to provoke me onto a flash drive. Third, I submit documents to the Pack Affairs Department, applying to become a researcher on the isolated Icebound Island. The day I leave the pack happens to be our seventh wedding anniversary. I'll vanish from his life like a wisp of smoke.

Misha and her boyfriend had an agreement that something would happen between them in bed in exchange for his agreement to elope with her. Before that, they decided to go to a bar and get drunk so their first experience in bed would be wild. Misha returned to the hotel first, claiming her boyfriend wasn’t drunk enough yet. In an unexpected turn of events, Misha entered the wrong hotel room. She woke up to the sensation of a hard, long object thrusting in and out of her womanhood. She didn’t protest, as she immediately remembered their agreement. But she didn’t expect a warm fluid to be released inside her, which made her angry because that wasn’t part of the deal. Suddenly, the lights turned on. Misha’s eyes widened in shock when she saw that the person in bed with her wasn’t her boyfriend—it was her godfather, Everett. Misha’s world seemed to crumble in shame. But why was she staring so intently at her godfather’s bare, naked body? W-why did she suddenly bite her lower lip?

"Why did you do this? Answer me!" Josh an easygoing guy who was immune to love because of how his father was being treated by his mother, decided not to fall for any woman. But, fate had its own cruel way of making him find love. "I don't care Josh, no matter what, i'm not like all women. I will still wait for you because i love you." Sabrina couldn't stop crying. Sabrina who fell in love with Josh after a crazy night in her car, meeting him for the first time couldn't stop loving him no matter how much red lights he showed about women. Will she succeed in breaking fully breaking down all the walls, he had already built, because of his past? Josh gritted his teeth in anger. "Why?...." Find out how Josh will have his revenge on the woman who took his life from him. His father. A story about betrayal, and a quest to win your lover's heart.