Face Time With Eight Novels & Stories

Eight months into my pregnancy, my husband finally makes time from his police duties to go to a prenatal checkup with me for the first time. The moment we step into the hospital, his satellite-encrypted phone buzzes urgently. The caller ID flashes briefly, and just like that, the man who's always calm and collected panics. "Honey, it's a red alert. Another international fugitive just crossed the border. I… I'm sorry…" He's clearly anxious, yet his tone is firm, leaving no room for argument. After apologizing, he rushes off. As I watch his SUV speed out of sight, my fist clenches tightly, crumpling the prenatal checkup sheet. I flag down a cab, slide into the car, and swiftly instruct the driver, "Follow that car. Don't lose it." A Red Notice for a fugitive? What a joke. My father, who works at the National Security Agency, barely catches wind of a notice like that. Yet, somehow, a mere police chief who only assists with cases is suddenly tasked with catching a high-priority criminal. Fine, then. I can't wait to meet the superior who's given him such an urgent assignment.

At the award-giving ceremony of the end-of-the-year gala, my boss, George White, suddenly announces that he will be adding a bonus round on a whim. "This is the annual department evaluation! The department that comes last shall come onto the stage and receive a tiny encouragement from me!" The huge screen lights up at that moment. The sales achievements accumulated by all departments are being shown in a ranking system. The sales department is ranked first. The operations department comes second, and the marketing department gets third place. As for the administrative department, the sales achievements shown on the screen are none. After all, that department has no KPI to achieve at all. George beams at us from the administrative department. "Everyone from the administrative department, come on up and receive your prize!" Two people can be seen carrying a basket of brooms up the stage. Everyone bursts into laughter instantly. "Come now, sweep away your bad luck with the brooms! Try not to come up as the bottom-ranked department again next year!" George personally thrusts the brooms into our hands. Camera flashes go off beneath the stage—people are clearly taking photos of us. The people from the sales department are the ones laughing the hardest. "Finally, the peeps from the administrative department are getting the recognition they deserve!"

Grace is a beautiful, fun-loving girl who lives for partying and drinking. She has a tight-knit group of friends who are always down for a wild night out. Recently, she got fired from her job after getting into a fight with a co-worker. Her friends, ever loyal, supported her decision to stand up for herself,even if it meant throwing punches. Still drowning in anger and sadness over losing her job, her friends decide to take her clubbing to cheer her up. But the night spirals out of control. Grace drinks far more than she can handle and, in a haze, ends up going home with a complete stranger. The real shock comes days later, when she starts a new job, hoping for a new beginning—only to discover that her new boss is the very same man she had a one-night stand with.

Orphaned at 15 Sara is left in the care of her evil aunt and her new husband. Sara has to try and survive the next few years without the support of her family. She makes friends with her new step-cousin and makes a vow. If neither of them find love they will marry. What Sara doesn't know is fate is listening closely to promises made.

Kathryn Rodriguez loved Mo Co for 3 years, married him for 2 years, but what she received was only lies and suffering. He coerced her, forced her to donate blood to the one he loved, did a lot of evil and unethical things,... Because of him, she ignored many other precious feelings, from her best friend to hers; her family, and most importantly... is the person who truly loves her - Elwyn Holland. After paying off the debt that the other people caused her, she decided to free herself from this painful life, but unexpectedly, she was reincarnated and returned to the time when she was in high school.

That moment when you are being stood up by your lover on your special day. When you are standing at the altar feigning smile at the one you ought not to marry..the one that fills the space of your beloved.. "Do you take .......to be your lawfully wedded wife" the priest asked. It was not meant to be her nevertheless for reputation, he obliged.. "Yes...I do" ### Clarissa is left with no other option than to fill the space of her run away cousin. Little did she know she was playing a game of fate and reality. Story turning, secrets unraveling, she finds out a truth, a truth that gets her to fall deeply in love with her story but at another end, the mistake of another causes her trouble.

My ex-husband is getting married. and.... I’m the one hired to plan the wedding. My name is Arabella Paloma Garcia. Five years ago, I was arranged to marry an Italian heir with an angel’s face and the personality of something between a blizzard and a natural disaster: Rafael Vittorio Ricciardi. We spent one year of marriage arguing hard enough to make a lawyer retire early. Then his ex came back, and I left with a divorce bracelet on my finger… and a pair of babies in my belly. Now I live in San Francisco. I own a wedding planning company, I’m a single mom to two demon twins, and I’m very, very proud of the fact that the name Ricciardi doesn’t appear anywhere in my life. Until one email lands in my inbox: Ricciardi–Marino Wedding. Groom: Rafael Vittorio Ricciardi. Bride: Alessandra Marino… the woman who once became the reason I got kicked out of his life. I should’ve said no. But Alessandra is infuriating, and I want to prove I’m over Rafael. So I take the job. But he walks in with a cold stare that sends my stomach straight to the floor. No recognition. A helicopter crash two years ago wiped six years of his life. Including me. Including our marriage. Perfect. I’ll plan my ex-husband’s wedding, send him down the aisle, and go back to my life. The plan goes smoothly. Right up until the wedding day. The bride disappears. The guests are waiting. The media is already rolling. And Rafael closes the bridal suite door… drops a bomb that earns him my fist in his face: “You’re the one who going to walk down the aisle with me.”

I'm an Omega born without a wolf, the lowest existence in the werewolf pack. However, I can hear the voice of my Alpha mate's wolf, Jack. As an Alpha, Dante Wagner is steady and reserved, and he's not good with words. However, by listening to Jack speak, I know that he loves me deeply, along with many of his little secrets. I hear his wolf ask him, "Is the bonding ceremony the day after tomorrow ready? Remember to use blue roses for decoration at the bonding ceremony. She loves blue roses the most!" It's no wonder he has been working late so often recently. He's preparing for this. I'm overjoyed. But just two nights before the bonding ceremony, Dante brings his longtime friend back instead. Before I can even react to why he'd bring another she-wolf home, I already hear Jack roaring in fury. "What the hell are you doing? Isn't Ember supposed to be your mate in the bonding ceremony? Why is it Nova now? "Have you even considered Ember's feelings? If she finds out that you're bonding with someone else after years of you two dating, she'll become angry and leave! "Even if you mark her, I won't acknowledge it. Your fated mate and Luna can only be Ember!" Only then do I realize that I've been deluding myself. The surprise isn't prepared for me at all. In that case, there's no need for me to tell him that I'm with pup either. I pretend to know nothing. On the day of the bonding ceremony, I leave the pack completely.

Abigail, a struggling writer, time-travels to 19th century France, landing in the lavender fields of Provence. There she meets Vincent, a solitary artist with a mysterious past. Together, they explore the land and inspire each other's work, leading to a passionate, yet doomed, affair. As the hourglass drains, Abigail must choose between her modern life or her love for Vincent in the past

My husband, Alex Carter, is a top AI engineer. He one day gets drugged by a new intern at his company, and one night of chaos follows. He calls me the next morning, his voice hoarse from a hangover and filled with unfamiliar panic. "Em, I messed up. But don't worry. I gave her enough money to disappear from this city." After ten years together, I believe it is just a momentary lapse in judgment. Six months later, Alex's company suffers the worst cyber attack in its history, with core data hanging by a thread. I rush back from a fragrance exhibition in Astral, only to witness a scene at the data center entrance that sends me into shock. Alex stands outside the tightly sealed door, his face showing a weariness and guilt I have never seen before. The doctor says that the intern, Brooke Anderson, is three months pregnant and has spent 72 hours with him in the high-radiation server room. Now, she shows signs of miscarriage. Later, Brooke gives birth to twins, a boy and a girl. The entire Carter family is ecstatic. I remove the wedding ring that has accompanied me for ten years, my fingertips turning ice cold. I dial the number saved with only one letter "S" and say, "Mr. Sullivan, I accept the collaboration you proposed last time." A low, soft laugh comes from the other end of the line. "Ms. Emma Shaw, that's a wise decision."