Eight O'clock

My stepson pushes me down from the second floor, all because I accidentally break a bowl. He stands over me, looking down with a cold, emotionless gaze. "You're just a stand-in my grandfather forced on us. Don't even think about replacing my mother!" I stare up at the boy I've raised for eight years, and his indifference cuts deeper than any wound. Blood slowly trickles down from my forehead. Fighting through the pain, I dial a number. "Whatever debt I owed has been paid. It's time for me to leave." Coincidentally, I already have the divorce agreement that his father has signed.

At six in the evening, Allen Bennett prepared a perfect dinner, with each dish carefully chosen to match Sarah Foster's preferences. By seven, he had run her bath, adding lavender essential oils and rose petals to the warm water, filling the bathroom with a calming fragrance. By eight, he placed her comfortable slippers by the entrance, awaiting her return. At nine, the front door finally opened. Sarah walked in, and Allen immediately went to greet her. With practiced grace, he helped her out of her coat and placed her slippers before her feet, then hung the coat in the entryway closet. Turning to her with a gentle smile, he asked, "Would you prefer to have your bath first or would you like to eat?"

With a large pack and the duty of the gods on her shoulders Drew is becoming all her parents had ever dreamed, a leader, an enforcer, a punisher. Heavily set in her role and the responsibilities of her pack, Drew is not one to relinquish her control, at least not without a fight. Arden is no stranger to being walked on, over looked, and taken for granted, but eight years ago, he made a decision that would change the course of his life. Now a rogue from the Tracker pack; the world, the forest, is his to roam. Finally free of the shackles of conformity and a degrading caste system, Arden is set on a track that will intertwine his path with an overachieving, strong willed, stubborn Alpha female. Can they grapple the challenges one another bring forth and become one of a whole as the goddess believes, or will they destroy one another trying.

Eight months pregnant, my family threw me a loving baby shower. When fire broke out, my parents instantly shielded my blood-cursed sister and fled, leaving me behind to die. My husband, Lysander, rushed into the flames to save me. His back was scorched raw, yet he only cradled my belly, whispering, “You and the baby must be safe.” I thought that was love. Until I accidentally saw his messages to my sister— “Once she gives birth, the cord blood will save you. Just hold on a little longer.” I touched the life kicking inside me and smiled silently. The next day, I scheduled a termination. And on the day of the procedure, they stormed into my hospital room with sedatives and restraints.

“He broke my heart. Now I’m here to claim his soul.”~For three years, Danielle Foster Harrington had everything—a loving husband, an adorable marriage, and a perfect life.Then, with the cold swipe of divorce papers, Elijah Harrington shattered it all, casting her aside for his ex-lover, Sorayah Gates.Abandoned and heartbroken, she discovered that she was pregnant and terminally ill. But her world ended in a fiery car crash—she died that day.But death was merely a disguise.Now Danielle is gone. In her place stands Davina Thorne—a ruthless, influential CEO with a face that isn’t hers and a heart hardened by loss.Back in Los Angeles, Davina has a singular objective: to dismantle Elijah and Sorayah’s lives, piece by painful piece.Armed with a new identity, a ticking clock due to her illness, and a devastating secret, Davina must navigate a treacherous game filled with love, lies, and loyalty.Would she reclaim what was stolen and find healing before time runs out? Or will a shocking secret unravel everything, including his mistake? Her revenge? Their impossible future?

NOEL DIDN’T JUST KISS ME, HE TRAPPED ME. AND AS I STARE AT THE FILE, I REALIZE THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS JUST BECAME A COUNTDOWN TO MY OWN PERSONAL DISASTER. When Anahera Kallio agreed to take on a high-profile client during the holidays, she never expected it to be Noel Rautio—the scorching-hot hockey star who is her brother’s sworn enemy on the ice. One stolen kiss under the mistletoe was bad enough, but now he’s got her cornered with a secret recording and a devilish ultimatum: stick with his therapy sessions or watch her career go up in flames. As the 12 Days of Christmas tick by, every heated session pulls them deeper into forbidden territory. Noel’s walls are cracking, Anahera’s resolve is melting, and the line between professional and passionate blurs into chaos. But with loyalties to her brother, hidden scandals and a ticking clock threatening to expose everything, this holiday fling could shatter more than just the ice. Unless they rewrite the rules and turn disaster into desire. Will Anahera escape Noel’s trap…or surrender to the ultimate holiday score?

Our place was hit by an earthquake. I was crushed by a slab of stone, but my wife, leader of the rescue squad, abandoned me in favor of her true love. She said, "You're a soldier. You can live with a little injury. Felix can't. He's always been weak, and he needs me." I was saved, eventually, and I wanted to leave my wife. I agreed to the chip research that would station me in one of the National Science Foundation's bases deep in the mountains. My leader was elated about my agreeing to this research. He grasped my hand tightly. "Marvelous. With you in our team, Jonathan, this research won't fail! But… you'll be gone for six whole years. Are you sure your partner's fine with it?" I nodded. "She will be. I'm serving the nation here. She'll understand." The leader patted my shoulder. "Good to know. The clock is ticking, so you'll only have one month to say your goodbyes. That enough for you?" I smiled. "More than enough."

Getting married to an old man when Athina Papageorgiou clocked eighteen isn't what she planned for, on the day of her wedding she ran away from home. Establishing a business which soared isn't what she expected but she accepted with a good fate, coming back from her business trip she met him Colton Martakis. The mistake she made was believing she would get married to an old man, what she never knew was that the old man actually came to take her off for his nephew, Colton Martakis. Colton knows what belongs to him and was ready to go for it, he was angry that she would leave him stranded at the altar, he would go to any length to have her as his. Even after seven years of searching for her, he never gave up, only that the timing was a little bit late. Would he still be able to change the hands of the clock, which had turned her into something else, or would he make it a whole lot of baggage on her?

In a family of eight, six of them being children, all off the same gender, female, each one of them never had to make decisions by themselves and their actions and deeds were thoroughly supervised by their father. How-be-it, when things go south for the third child of the family and her world is shed apart, the young woman makes a difference amongst her siblings as she boldly refuses to heed to the commands of her beloved father and takes a valiant Step by leaving Florence, Italy her home town. Along the way, she faces many quagmires but eventually happens to fall in love with her boss. Things go bad again after she receives a phone call from home, and the young woman begins to think that leaving home was a grave mistake.

After Cynthia Musich causes a surgical accident, my husband of eight years, Xavier Goodwin, forces me to take the fall for her. "Being suspended won't have any effect on you, but Cynthia's just starting out! Leaving a mark on her record this early in her career will ruin her!" The accident victim's family cause a scene and stab me thrice in my pregnant belly. I call Xavier and beg him to save me, but he says coldly, "Cynthia was stabbed, and her life is at stake, so can you please stop making trouble? Just come out on your own." Later, when my dead body is brought to his department, Xavier loses his mind.