Effective Immediately

When I miscarried due to a car accident, Aidan Brown drove past my car with his Beta. He glanced at the blood on the ground in disdain and covered Seraphina Gross’s curious eyes. “Don’t look at this horrible sight. It’s bad luck.” I tried to use mind-link to call him when I saw his car. However, he did not respond to me, and his car disappeared from my sight. That night, I saw the lipstick stain on his shirt collar and smiled bitterly. I felt pain shoot through my heart. I immediately understood what it meant. I called the Alpha of the Valoria pack. “Kieran Wesley, I’ve thought it through. I’ll join your company next week.”

At three in the morning, the class monitor, Hayden Clark, suddenly posted a message in the group chat announcing that the graduation photos would be taken the morning after next. He then sent a payment QR code in the chat, where each student had to pay 50 dollars for the graduation photos. I told Hayden that I had my thesis defense scheduled for the morning after next and asked if the time could be changed. He immediately snapped back at me, “Is your time the only time that matters? If you can’t come, then get lost!” Wanting to keep the peace, I paid the money and went through great trouble to rearrange my schedule. But when the day for the photos finally arrived, Corin Vale told me, “The graduation photos were already taken yesterday!”

David Kennedy, an art student and part time tattoo artist, meets the shy and beautiful Tina Spencer at a party at the college he attends, after she asks him for a tattoo. He is immediately enthralled by her. Something doesn’t feel right though, especially when he sees the nasty bruises covering her arms. Then Tina goes missing. The years go by, and he still thinks about her. Then one day, fate intervenes, and he finds himself face to face with the beautiful woman he tattooed all those years ago. But she has some devastating secrets. Where has she been this whole time? Will David ever get the chance to heal her? Will they get the happily ever after she needs?

They're said to be the spirits of unearthly beautiful women. So beautiful, the men who get a sight of them fall in love and die. So beautiful, women get insane and commit suicide, unable to comprehend the existence of women so celestial. Their voices pour like honey in your ears, leading you to your doom. Their dance is a blessing for your eyes and is the last thing you will see. All places and characters in the story are pure fiction, work of the author. Any resemblance to real places and events is a strong coincidence. One thing is not fiction, though. Beware of the woods the next time you go. If you hear the melodic laughter and the tender singing somewhere far in the distance, hidden in the darkness of the night, know to run. Leave immediately, or know you'll be their next victim.

[You can now catch Mercedes, Sedar and Neriman appearing in, Hidden Secrets: A Screwed Up Love Story. Thanks!] Mercedes Winterburn awoke in a stranger's bed to discover she was married to him; she immediately demanded a divorce and walked out of his hotel suite without looking back. A few days later, she demands a large sum of money in exchange for agreeing to stay married for one year to Sedar Ozturk, a Turkish billionaire with a past that comes back to haunt him, plunging Mercedes into a world of chaos. What began as a contract marriage evolved into something far greater than either of them could have imagined. What will the Turkish billionaire do to save his wife when they are thrown into a world they are both unfamiliar with time and time again??

As the quality control supervisor of an import company, I need to finish up the storage of the final batch of king crabs before the Independence Day festivities. Just after entering the subzero freezer, the door is immediately locked shut. The alarm system also fails. When I realize I'm starting to lose body heat, I immediately take out the hand warmers from the emergency kit. However, the moment I apply them, a chilling sensation makes me instantly realize something is wrong. I scream from the cold, and the walkie-talkie transmits the boisterous laughter of my fiance, Martin Clay. "We're live-streaming and challenging the company's 'Ice Queen' to be locked in the freezer. Let's see how long she lasts!" The flirty voice of his female colleague, Lilian Saunders, also comes through, "Sierra, smile for the folks in the live stream! The number one donor wants to see it!" I instantly understand that they're live-streaming a prank on me. Not only did they lock me in the freezer, but they've also replaced my life-saving hand warmers with cooling patches meant for fevers! I grit my teeth, trying hard to stay calm as I call out to them for help. "The spare… spare hand warmers… Give them to me!" My fiance's voice rings out from the walkie-talkie, sounding unconcerned, "Oops! Lily gets cold easily, and it's her time of the month. The spares are all being used to keep her belly warm! "You're so healthy that you can just jump around a little and you'll warm up! You might even get some tips from the number one donor!" I stop arguing with them. With frozen hands, I pull out the signal flare gun and aim it at the most valuable and mysterious cargo in the freezer—a tube of frozen sperm worth 200 million dollars.

Cory Sullivan, my ten-year-old son, joins a swimming class organized by his school. A bunch of his fellow students end up pinning him to the drain of the swimming pool. I spot the streak of red in the water and completely lose my mind. I immediately dash over to save Cory, but by the time I do, his face has turned swollen and blue from the suction. Blood trickles from his mouth. He's no longer breathing. Andy Webster, the ringleader of the trio who hurt Cory, arrogantly declares that he won't be criminally prosecuted because he's a minor. "So what if I did it? He started getting on my nerves ages ago! Now that he's dead, no one else can compete with me to be the top in our class." Andy's father, Greg Thompson, condescendingly throws me a debit card. "There's 100 thousand dollars in there. That should be enough to make up for your son's worthless life." Outrage, I demand justice, but my wife, Sheryl Lowe, stops me. "Andy's just a kid himself. Are you going to force someone else's kid to lose his freedom just because your own son is dead?" I stop at nothing in the pursuit of justice, but Andy simply gets sent to a juvenile detention center. That's nowhere near enough for me. Eventually, I lose all hope. I lie down at Cory's grave and swallow a bottle of sleeping pills. Suddenly, my eyes open again. I've returned to the day I took Cory to the swimming pool. I immediately drag him off to take him back home before anything happens, but alas, a young boy still ends up losing his life at the pool.

Born into an extremely influential family in the Far West of the United States, Janis Walter, of course had every right to throw her weight around in every way she could. She possessed characteristics most people believed was supposed to be for the male gender, and unfit for a feminine goddess like her. But you know what? They were wrong. Janis considered them all wrong and they dared not challenge her. On the opposite side was Jax Storms. Not wealthy, not poor...Just in between. Sure, like every western man, he was masculine, but what happens when he comes in contact with Janis who was overbearingly domineering? And in the most unlucky way too. They had a one night stand! ~. .~ Janis gasped in shock when she saw Jax, after haven not seen him since that night. Memories from that night immediately hit her and her cheeks flushed red immediately. He didn't look like he did the last time she had seen him; he looked very different, and more sophisticated. To her surprise, he turned out to be the CEO of the corporation that was closely in competition with hers. "Hello." Janis spoke and his eyes narrowed immediately, before giving her a fake smile that didn't even reach his eyes. "How are..." "I didn't come here for a reunion." Jax cut her off. He didn't like how she smiled at him, he believed it was fake and she was just like her younger sister, who looked down on people who had no status attached to their name. "Then what did you come here for?" She asked, unable to believe that the CEO standing in front of her had been the Uber guy who got her pregnant. "I want custody of my child." He deadpanned and the smile drained from her face.

I kept on running with Kay as we manoeuvred our way through the messy crowd. Kay pulled me through and we finally got out of the club. We couldn't take the main entrance because Yoshim's men were there. We were running through the dark alley, panting and gasping for air. Relief washed over me when I realised that I finally left that hell hole. We kept on running when I heard a gunshot. I immediately halted and felt a warm liquid trickling down my arm. I looked around and saw no wound, I glanced at Kay and my eyes widened. I immediately brought my hand to my mouth trying to suppress the scream that wanted to come out. Kay held his arm as he bled profusely, he groaned in pain and fell on his knees. “Oh my God, Kay are you alright? Ugh, what am I going to do.” I said while hyperventilating. I heard footsteps and looked up only to be met by those same devilish eyes. He wore a grin on his face. And to his left was Gail who clung to him like a barnacle. How did he even know I escaped? “Haha, I overheard your little conversation with the guard, so I told Yoshim.” She smiled while talking. “Gail, what the is wrong with you?” I said with anger and tears in my eyes. She shrugged her shoulders and her mouth curved into a smile. I pressed my hand on Kay's wound to stop the bleeding, he groaned in pain and I couldn't stop my tears. “I should've gotten rid of you a long time ago.” Yoshim said while pointing a gun to my head. I closed my eyes and waited for him to pull the trigger.

I am enjoy swimming, I don't know how long Marco has been gone. I didn't realize that I had reached the bottom of the waterfall because of the hot weather and the feeling of the cold water on the body feels really good that I even thought if I sat at the bottom of the waterfall to let the water pour over my almost naked body. I've only been there for a minute when I felt my brassiere come off my chest! It's because there's no lace and the brassiere I am wearing is in tube style. I was shocked by what happened and confused what to do first, how to cover my naked breasts. Should I jump off the water again to get my brassiere before the water washes it away, or should I stay here in the falls to get help from the water to cover my naked body. I looked around first to find Marco for help but he wasn't there! He is nowhere to be found! Shit! I immediately went down to chase after my brassiere when it was being swept away by the water. Now I am not sure if Marco not being here is a good or a bad news, but as I think of it realized that I would really faint if he sees me naked right now! Good thing I know how to swim so I got my brassiere at the right time. I immediately breathed a sigh of relief. "Great! Just in time!" I said to myself while holding my brassiere. Of course, my breasts are exposed, well I'm the only person here so it's okay anyway. "Wow, nice breasts. Round and big!" It was as if my soul left my body when I heard an unfamiliar voice from somewhere.