Does Naofumi Go Home

There are monsters in this world. And they used to be us. Now it's time to euthanize to survive in a hospice where Emily, a woman haunted by her past, only wants to do her job and be the best mother possible. Post-infection Chicago. Christmas. Inside The Hospice, Emily and her fellow nurses do their rounds. Here, men and women live out their final days in comfort, segregated from society, and are then humanely terminated before fate turns them into marrow-craving monsters known as ‘Smilers.’ Outside these imposing walls, rabid protesters swarm with signs, caught up in the heat of their hatred. Emily, a woman haunted by her past, only wants to do her job and be the best mother possible. But in a world where mortality means nothing, where guns are drawn in fear and nobody seems safe anymore – at what cost will this pursuit come? And through it all, the soon to be dead remain silent, ever smiling. Such is their curse. It won't be long before that snow-speckled ground will be salted by blood. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

I was with Ivan Knowles for seven years. Despite the rumors that always swirled around him, he never gave me a reason to doubt his loyalty. He let me check his phone and even welcomed me to join him on business trips. I never found anything suspicious until our engagement day. The host had just shared how Ivan flew in my favorite white roses from abroad when the big screen, meant to play a video celebrating our seven years together, instead showed a hospital room. The cry of a newborn rang out. Ivan sat on the bed holding the baby. His secretary, Alba Lawson, leaned on his shoulder, wearing the same diamond ring as mine. Tearfully, she explained to me that it was a misunderstanding. "Alba is a single mom," Ivan excused. "I'm just helping her out as her boss. Don't make a big deal out of this." The room went quiet, everyone waiting for me to flip out. I didn't. Instead, I calmly slipped off my ring and handed it to him. "Of course not. I just wish you happiness."

He broke her heart and let her walk away. Five years later, ruthless billionaire Sebastian Blackwood wants her back. Liliana Dawnson has rebuilt her life, becoming a force to be reckoned with. She never planned on looking back. But Sebastian doesn’t take no for an answer. With a cunning business contract, he traps her. He forces his ex-wife to become his event planner, dragging her back into his world of luxury and danger. He says it’s professional. But his burning gaze tells another story. He says it’s about work. But his searing touches tell a different tale. Sebastian is determined to get a second chance, no matter the cost. But Liliana has sworn never to give her heart to the same man twice. In this dangerous game of love and power, who will be the first to kneel?

I leaned over her, brushing a kiss on her lips. “One last thing. Do you want me to gag you, or are you good?” She tilted her head, smirking. “What, are you worried my moans might be too loud for your neighbors?” I laughed outright. “Honestly? I don’t give a damn how loud you get. In fact, I want you to be as loud as you want. The louder, the better and that means, I’m doing a good job.” I winked, then moved past her, settling between her thighs. ***** In a marriage reduced to cold silence, Lena Marsh’s anniversary ends with an empty chair and a breaking point. Then Adrian Blackwood steps in, her billionaire boss’s dangerously seductive brother. His gaze strips her bare, promising to ruin her with slow, filthy touches that leave her trembling and soaked. One forbidden night, and she’s addicted to the way he claims her body like it’s his birthright. But obsession has eyes everywhere. Her boss watches with possessive hunger, his stare dark and unyielding, and he wants her locked away from everyone, especially his brother. And when her husband Noah finally wakes up, he fights dirty to reclaim what he ignored, his renewed passion bruising and desperate. Caught between three men who crave her in wildly different ways, a reborn husband, a reckless lover, and a controlling boss, Lena isn’t just tangled in lust. She’s the match. And when secrets ignite, she could burn their entire empire to the ground.

On my sweet sixteen, my three brothers came home with a girl named Sylvie. They said I have to treat her like my family. I didn’t think much would change. But years later, everything did. Jace, my youngest brother, shoved me down the stairs for her. Asher—the oldest, who once promised he'd protect me forever—told me to get out. So I left. Quietly. They thought I was just acting out. So they took Sylvie to France, didn't even bothering to check in What they didn’t know was that I’d signed my name on a contract—one that aligned me with our family’s biggest rival by becoming their youngest chemist. Written in black and white, I could never go home again. The night they found out I was really gone for good? They broke. Every last one of them.

Liora Lythorne had lived in hiding far from the ruins of her fallen pack and the secrets buried with it. Her wolf never came. Her past erased, forgotten and her heart bound to a mate who barely saw her. Aldric Vayne —uncaring, cold and ruthless— once saved her life. But fate chose them anyway. Their bond had grown bitter, and when a public betrayal transpired, Aldric rejected her in front of the entire pack. Broken and humiliated, Liora found herself drawn into the arms of another—someone unexpected and dangerous. But knew what Liora doesn't. As the truth about her was unveiled. Enemies closed in. But Liora was forced to choose between the mate who destroyed her and the man who helped her in her broken time.

My husband, Adrian Cross, was a high-profile lawyer. We'd been married for seven years. I'd always wanted a child of our own, but he had never touched me because his heart belonged to someone else. Not long ago, I got into a car accident trying to save him. He promised he would grant me any wish. Everyone assumed I would ask him to have a child with me, but I calmly asked for a divorce. Adrian laughed, a cruel, public sneer on his face. "Don't pretend," he mocked. "I've never met anyone as shameless as you. You'd risk your life for me, yet you think you could ever leave me?" My heart, long hardened, turned even colder. He had no idea that I had been given a second chance. … In my previous life, I finally became pregnant with his child. But his obsession, the one he couldn't forget, took her own life. All his rage fell on me. On the day I went into labor, he locked me in the basement and forced me to swallow a massive dose of abortion drugs. As blood gushed from me, he laughed like a madman. "Ella died because of you and that wretched child you're carrying. For the pain she endured, you will pay twice over!" I died from hemorrhaging. And he went on to hold a wedding at the grave of his lost love. But reborn, I returned to the day of the car accident, ready to see their doomed love come to its bitter end.

It was hard for Charlotte to let go of her best friend, Dalton, the boy she fell in love with since she was nine years old, to make way for her sister, Caroline, who happens to be in love with him too. It was hard for her but in order to make someone happy, even if it meant sacrificing her own, she was willing to let go. It all happened around her senior year, where she let go of the only thing that mattered to her and after graduation, she moved away with no intention of going back. Four years later, on her college graduation day, her parents rather demanded her to come home with a reason that shocked her senseless.

A young girl called Flo fleeing her country due to war, in search of a new home. Flo encounters joy and lots of sadness along with love and loss. Will Flo ever find home and a place of safety and comfort in this world of war and chaos.

I met him, the man of my dreams. On the worst day of my life. Catching my boyfriend out was bad. Coming out of the club in a daze, I stumbled upon a situation which was worse. Much worse. And it would have been deadly too, If he wasn’t there to save me. My unsuspecting hero. He was rugged, wild and powerful. The way he looked at me set me on fire. He was wrong for all the right reasons, a bad man with a good heart. And I fell, way too hard. Things started to go amiss and pieces of the puzzle are missing. Why was he there that day, who is he really? I’m so confused. My head and heart are in a battle to the death. Do I leave with my head. Or stay and love with my heart.