Dimmed Lights Flicker Novels & Stories

He should have been satisfied. Lucas had dismantled the Montage Empire, reduced its legacy to ash. Arabella Montage had nothing left: no power, no family, no future. Just her name and a heartbeat he hadn’t yet taken. But when he saw her on that auction stage, trembling under harsh lights, something inside him shifted. She was being sold like livestock. A girl once untouchable, now displayed for the highest bidder. He was the architect of her ruin. And still... he bought her. She was the last remaining piece of the empire he had destroyed. And he needed to possess it. To possess her. To own the symbol of everything he had conquered. To fill the aching void that victory hadn't satisfied. She used to be a free bird. Until he clipped her wings. Now, he would remake her. Mold her. Give her purpose again, just so he could tear it all away. Break her. Destroy her, all over again. He didn’t want her dead. Anything was acceptable, as long as her heart kept beating. To her, he’s just another powerful man playing God. But one thing becomes terrifyingly clear: Lucas will keep her heart beating, just so he can be the one to crush it. Again and again

Mira Parker knows just two things very well… how to survive and how to hide her pain behind a seductive smile. By day, she hides behind exhausted smiles. By night, she dances beneath the sinful lights of Sicily as Black Cherry, the woman men crave but women condemn. Every smile, every dance, every teasing touch hides the desperation eating her alive and the dangerous secrets capable of destroying her. But when one desperate decision to save her son throws her into the path of the most feared man in the mafia world, her life spirals out of control overnight. Alessandro Caruso…. a Cold-blooded man. Possessive and devastatingly handsome. A man whose touch burns just as much as his threats. A devil wrapped in expensive suits and dark promises. He looks at Mira like he wants to own her… ruin her… consume every trembling piece of her soul. And the more she fights his control, the more dangerously obsessed he becomes. Now trapped in a world of dark luxury, ruthless power, forbidden desire, and intoxicating temptation, Mira finds herself caught between fear and craving… between escaping the devil and surrendering to the heat of his attention. Because Alessandro Caruso doesn’t chase. He claims. And once the devil of Sicily wraps his hands around you… There’s no escape.

Normani gets back from prison after sacrificing her crown, her freedom for her lover, George O'Neil, she's met not with open arms but with divorce papers and a cheque for a fresh start. Cast aside and mocked by George’s new lover, Becky Finnegan, his boss who joined him to set Normani up. They don't know Normani harbors a powerful secret: she’s a princess of Scotland. She is determined to reclaim her identity and seek vengeance against those who betrayed her. Everything changes when she meets Shawn Matters, a dangerously captivating mafia boss. Their intense connection lights up a passion she never saw coming, complicating her thirst for revenge. Her breath hitches. “You don’t know what it’s like to lose everything.” “Maybe not everything, but I know what it’s like to fight for what matters. Let me help you reclaim your power.” Shawns eyes glowed angrily as he spoke. Normani hesitates, torn between her desire for revenge and the pull of Shawn’s unwavering support. “What if I want to watch them all burn?” “Then let’s burn it down together,” he insists, a fierce glint in his eyes. “But don’t lose yourself in the fire. You deserve to rise from the ashes.”

"You keep saying he died of black magic, but you're not telling me exactly how he died. If what you're saying is true... what happened to him??" I ask her with a raise of my brows. "The magic consumed him. He became power hungry. He started absorbing the powers from members of our coven. He wanted it all for himself. He had to be put down. He had to be stopped" She explains "Mom, what are you saying? Are you insinuating what I think you are? What do you mean he had to be put down??" The windows to her room bang open and cool breeze is rushing in, making the papers in her room fly haphazardly. "Layla, you have to calm down." She motions towards me. "So the coven killed him?? They killed my father and you didn't do anything about it????" I scream at the top of my lungs, the lights still flickering, tears pooling in my eyes and wind blowing in through the windows. "He killed two people from our coven! His eyes were completely black! The magic had completely taken over him. Your dad wasn't there anymore. So yes, we killed him to protect the rest of the coven…"

Since I can remember, I have been a liar. That is the conclusion my mother made about me. After my twin brother, Daniel Benson, and I are born, she becomes obsessed with a so-called scientific parenting method. So, she puts a lie-detecting collar on each of us. Whenever we lie, the collar lights up in red. The moment it turns red, she presses a remote and shocks me. She says it will help form muscle memory to correct the bad character in me. Daniel's collar is always green. Even when he tears my mom's favorite clothes to shreds and calmly claims a dog does it, the collar still glows green. But I am different. Even if I just say, "Mom, I’m thirsty," The collar would suddenly flash a blinding red light. Then, a current shoots through my neck and into my body, making me tremble in pain. At first, I try to explain. But my mom always says the same thing. "The machine doesn't lie. You have to feel pain to learn. I'm doing this for your own good." After being shocked thousands of times, I slowly start to believe that maybe I am truly born a liar.

One drunken mistake, one signed contract. And now, Noelle has to spend one year in the billionaire’s bed. Noelle's world comes crumbling when she walks into her boyfriend of three years fucking her best friend. Betrayed by her ex and suffocated by her parents’ demands, she takes her mother's advice , a blind date with a match she found on a dating app. Noelle walked into a bar looking for revenge, what she found instead was Damian Blackwood: sin in a tailored suit, the man every tabloid loved to hate. A night of whiskey and bad decisions ended with neon lights, a priest’s collar, and a marriage certificate she doesn’t remember signing. Now, she’s Mrs. Blackwood,and the billionaire isn’t letting her walk away. Damian offers her everything she thought she wanted: freedom from her family, payback against her ex, and more money than she’s ever dreamed of. But in exchange, he wants a polished wife on his arm,and a submissive partner in his bed. Noelle thought she was making a deal. Instead, she signed herself into his world of power, pleasure, and rules she never knew existed. And the fine print? It might ruin her, or awaken a desire she can’t escape.

Five years ago, Kamarah Ruse spent one forbidden night in the arms of Zephyr Kane — the ruthless Mafia Don who ruled the city’s most dangerous casinos. She ran the next morning, carrying a secret she swore he would never discover. Now, with her four-year-old son Nevan battling a life-threatening illness and mountains of medical debt crushing her, Kamarah has no choice but to return to the one place she vowed never to step foot in again: Zephyr’s empire. She takes the stage as a singer at his flagship casino, praying the lights and crowds will keep her hidden. They don’t. The moment Zephyr’s cold, possessive gaze finds her under the spotlight, her world collapses. He never forgave the woman who disappeared after one night in his bed. But when he discovers the sick little boy with his eyes is his son and heir — obsession turns into something far more dangerous. Kamarah belongs to him now. Her body. Her future. His child. Zephyr will stop at nothing to claim the family that was stolen from him. Even if it means binding the only woman he’s ever wanted to his side, forcing her to pay for every lost year in pleasure and pain. She ran from the devil once. This time, he won’t let her go.

Just after midnight on my birthday, I quietly went to the banquet hall where Luke Bennett had prepared my party. I wanted to leave the ring there, along with the project contract I had begged my father to approve for him. But the lights were still on. Bright balloons covered the floor. Luke was still tying them one by one. Someone laughed and asked if he was serious about not breaking up with me yet, even dragging Madison Carter over to help set up my birthday party. Luke put out his cigarette and said, "This one is too sensitive. Too much trouble." Madison laughed beside him. She reminded everyone of their bet: whoever dated all twelve zodiac signs first would owe the other a condition. Luke had already reached his eleventh girlfriend. "Of course I will not quit now," Luke said. "I am already looking for the next one. Just wait until I beat you." I watched his cold profile through the crack in the door, threw the ring and the contract into the trash, and turned away. Someone behind me asked what sign I was. "Scorpio," Luke answered. Luke Bennett, of all the signs you chose to mock, you picked the one that remembers.

I'd been married to Joshua Merck for five years, but we still didn't have kids. To stay healthy, I took those pricey custom vitamins he ordered from overseas—never missed a dose. Then my cousin came back from studying abroad, took one look at the bottle, and was like, "That brand doesn't even make custom vitamins." I sent them to the hospital for testing. The lab report hit me like a truck—birth control pills. Powerful ones. Suddenly, all those mornings with Joshua hovering over me, acting so concerned while I took my "vitamins," made sense. The whole thing had been a lie. Five years of lies. Just as I was gearing up to confront him, my phone buzzed—a group chat notification. Shirley Hoare had tagged Joshua. [Honey, I had a prenatal checkup today, and the doctor said I'm carrying twins! Your family's about to get two grandchildren at once—excited?] My heart turned to ash. Everything clicked. Fine. We were done. I pulled out my phone and replied to my childhood sweetheart's message from three days ago: [After watching the northern lights, I still wanted to see penguins in Antarctica.]

“Look at me when I touch you,” Sebastian growled, Mara swallowed hard “this isn't part of the deal”. Sebastian's lips brushed her ear.“Everything about you is part of my deal” pinning Mara against the penthouse glass, city lights blazing behind her. His hand slid possessively between her thighs. “I own your moans, your wetness and every filthy inch of you.” She gasped, nails digging into his shoulders. “You bought my body to save my son. Not my fucking soul.” His lips crashed against her neck “ then I'll take that too until you beg me to keep you forever”. He caught her falsifying figures to steal for her dying son then chained her to his bed with a devil's bargain instead of jail. She was the only woman who never wanted him until desperation made her his sex tool every night. Now Sebastian's obsession burns hotter than ever. He hates seeing her around other men. He starts claiming her publicly. Mara is no longer just the desperate thief warming his bed. She's his obsession, his property, his addiction. And what happens when a medical test exposes a secret buried in the past?