Fading Lines Novels & Stories

For five years, I played the ghost in my own marriage. I pressed Julian Daniel’s pristine suits, matched his cufflinks, and sat by the window like a loyal dog, waiting for the "Ice King" CEO to look at me with something resembling desire. Instead, I received clinical kindness and a box containing a gold watch. Every anniversary, the exact same script. It was his way of checking a box - a tax he paid for a life he felt obligated to support. I sacrificed my career as a prima ballerina, shattering my legs to push him out of the path of a speeding car. He didn't marry a wife; he locked away a debt. The anniversary script burned to ash on our fifth year. Standing outside the bathroom door, I heard the raw, unbridled passion Julian had denied me for half a decade. He wasn't breathing my name into the steam. He was choking out the name of his high school heartbreak: Penelope. The betrayal didn't end in our bedroom. It followed me to a high-end restaurant where Julian hosted a private lunch. Pushing open the heavy wooden doors, I didn't find a husband willing to defend his wife. I found his childhood friend dragging his foot in a cruel, mocking circle, mimicking my limp to a room erupting in roars of laughter. Penelope doubled over in delight. And Julian? He sat at the head of the table, watching my humiliation with a look of pure, unbothered boredom. “I owe her,” his voice cut through the fading laughter, calm and tired. “I am just trying to pay back a debt.”

In the Valenti Family, you're born with a chip. It's fused into the bio-watch on your wrist, its digital face counting down every second you have left to live. Everyone could see the numbers ticking down on my twin sister's watch. And on mine. They all knew she would die on our 18th birthday. So Vivian became the untouchable princess of our brutal world. Every diamond-stitched gown was hers. The rarest jewels were hers. Even our father's last shred of humanity was hers. That single sliver of warmth he showed only after his gun was holstered. I used to pity her. Her time was running out. But God, I envied her. She had everything I never did: our parents' love. Then, the night of her 18th birthday party. My parents worried I'd make a scene. That I'd piss off the Don of an allied Family. So they locked me in the cellar. Damp. Cold. While a deadly fever burned through me. I pounded on the heavy oak door, my voice cracking. "Mamma, please! Let me out! I'm burning up. My head is splitting open…" Outside, my mother's voice was a steel trap. "Enough, Sienna! Today is your sister’s 18th birthday. Her last day alive! Stop the theatrics! Can't you suffer in silence for the Family's honor?" "But I'm really sick..." Her footsteps clicked away, fading into nothing. Then the darkness swallowed me whole. And on my wrist, the bio-watch was flashing a critical alert. CRITICAL ALERT: Vital signs mismatch. Paired chip data incompatible. Please verify user.

We had agreed to spend the New Year with our own families, but at the last minute, my husband, Drake Murrell, changed his mind and insisted I go back with him this year. I agreed, planning to take this opportunity to finally tell him the truth about who I really was. When we first got married, my parents told me to keep a low profile so that Drake, who came from a single-parent household, wouldn’t feel pressured. So I hid the fact that I was the daughter of the richest family in the capital, the Thorntons. When we returned to his hometown, I specifically bought my mother-in-law, Diana Murrell, a pair of gold bangles. She accepted them with a beaming smile, praising me again and again for being such a thoughtful daughter-in-law. However, the next day, as I passed by the old oak tree at the edge of Willow Creek, I overheard her talking about me with a group of people. "Oh, you have no idea. My daughter-in-law is absolutely ridiculous!" My hand froze midair, still holding my phone, as I instinctively ducked behind a haystack. I heard her continue loudly, "She bought me a pair of gold bangles this year. The moment I touched them, I knew they were fake! I’m telling you, they’re probably those cheap online knockoffs, like the kind that cost next to nothing and start fading the moment you wear them!" I was stunned with anger. She called pure gold fake? Looks like the million-dollar New Year gift I had prepared for her wasn’t necessary anymore.

Leon, drink up. Finish every drop in this glass." As my wife, Alice Carr, holds a glass of warm milk, she keeps staring at my Adam's apple intensely. Every night, she needs to watch me finish the entire glass of milk. At first, I think this is Alice's way of showing me her love. That is, until something occurred last month. Back then, my neighbor's fire alarm blared extremely loudly due to a fire breaking out. Yet, I had slept like a log the whole time. Only then do I realize that something is wrong with the milk. Last night, I pretended to go on a business trip. When I secretly go home in the middle of the night, I find out that my bedroom door is locked. When I peek through the gap in the door, I feel my hairs rising on their ends. It turns out that Alice isn't asleep at all. She's standing on the balcony while holding my pillow and burying her face into it. Then, she inhales the scent deeply, as though she were a drug addict. Her shoulders keep trembling violently the whole time. It's one thing if Alice is madly addicted to my scent. The thing is, the pillowcase is a part of the bedroom set that my mom has dug up from my childhood home last week. I never have a chance to use that pillow, so there's no way my scent lingers on the pillowcase. Suddenly, Alice halts in her actions and raises her head. She looks up at the moon while licking her lips in an euphoric haze. Then, she mumbles softly, "Your dad's scent… is fading away…"

Briella Hart has spent her entire life fading into the background. The quiet girl with an alcoholic mother and an absentee father who ditched them years ago without a backwards glance. Gossip and mockery follow her wherever she goes. She learns early on that dreams do not come true for people like her. Especially not the dream that she has secretly carried for years. Ryder Landon is untouchable, powerful, and everything that she can never have. The Alpha heir to the Crescent Moon pack, everyone either wants to be him or be with him. He is known. But beneath the hardened exterior, he’s a guy who feels everything too deeply. The weight of leadership, fear of failure, and constantly needing to balance what his pack needs with what his heart wants. Then one devastating night at the Full Moon Festival changes everything. Humiliated and heartbroken, Briella disappears without a trace, leaving behind only a note echoing Ryder’s cruelest words—and a secret that could destroy them both. For five long years, Ryder searched for Briella, but the trail always turned cold. When their paths cross again, she is different. No longer the timid girl who moved about unnoticed. Quickly, Ryder realizes three things. One, his heart still belongs to her despite the distance. Two, there is a little boy named Liam who has her hair and his eyes. Three, someone wants her dead. Now, with enemies closing in and someone determined to see Briella dead, Ryder realizes he is running out of time. Because losing her once nearly destroyed him. He will not survive losing his family twice.

King Lucien Draven rules the United Packs with cold iron strength. He has crushed every rebellion and refused every mating alliance. Lycan law demands a king produce heirs with a royal female or face challenge to his throne. Male omegas are disposable tributes, never equals. Then Caelan Ashford arrives as tribute from a fading noble pack. The quiet, scarred omega expects death in the royal palace. Instead, his scent ignites the ancient mate bond the instant their eyes meet. The pull is raw, immediate, and utterly forbidden. Lucien fights the bond with ruthless control. He confines Caelan to the lower halls, assigns him to brutal training, and buries desire beneath duty. But every stolen glance and accidental brush erodes his restraint. The bond grows stronger, darker, impossible to ignore. Caelan hides a deadly secret: royal blood from the dynasty Lucien’s ancestors destroyed. His silver collar dulls his true scent, yet it cannot hide him from the king or from Prince Rowan Draven, Lucien’s charismatic and dangerous younger brother. Rowan sees Caelan as both prize and weapon. He offers protection and power in exchange for loyalty, circling like a predator while court intrigue thickens with assassination plots and rising rebellion. Torn between throne and heart, Lucien must decide how much he will risk for his forbidden mate. Caelan, trapped between two lethal alphas, navigates betrayal, awakening power, and a bond that could destroy the kingdom or remake it. In a slow-burning dance of denial and surrender, where every touch courts war and every refusal cuts deeper, one forbidden connection threatens an empire and two wounded souls who were never meant to find each other.

It was supposed to be just a deal. Mandy would pretend to be Landon’s devoted fiancée. In exchange, the powerful alpha would give her everything she needed—security, shelter, and satisfaction between the sheets. No emotions. No complications. Just play the part and keep things simple. But the lines start to blur the moment Mandy steps into Landon’s world. The way the alpha touches her, looks at her, and protects her—none of it feels fake. And that’s the most dangerous part. Because Mandy knows she's not the kind of omega Landon should want. She’s damaged, used to surviving rather than dreaming. Falling for Landon? That was never part of the plan. Now Mandy has a choice: walk away with her heart intact or risk everything for a love that was never supposed to be real. *** Note: This is a non-shifter omegaverse steamy romance book.

She came home for the holidays… and walked right straight into hell. Her toxic ex humiliated her in front of everyone and her family pushed her back into his arms like it was a game. Then Xavier stepped in....her ex’s quiet, dangerous uncle. A dominant biker who demands complete obedience. He offered her a deal: Sixty days as his. Sixty days of raw possession. Sixty days of filthy “Yes, Daddy” nights. Sixty days to burn her old life to the ground and in return her wedding with his nephew will be dragged and her sweetest revenge on him will be exacted. But when the lines between revenge and real feelings merge, Nora discovers one truth. Once the Biker Daddy claims you, he never lets go. Forbidden, Filthy and Slutty. How many days would you last??

Descended from two lines of assassins, Alina Istrati is one of the most prolific assassins in the world. Always taking pride in her work, the cold nature of her crimes paired with her modus operandi earned her the alias, Blackheart. A new contract that should have been a simple job proves to be more than she bargained for when she finds herself the target of the person who hired her. On top of that, she's stuck babysitting her former target, who intrigues her at every turn. Alina will be put to the test as she fights to uncover diabolical plots and uphold obligations in the assassin underworld while trying to maintain her Blackheart status around the man she was assigned to kill. Follow ADB_Stories on IG for series updates. Codename: Blackheart is the first book in the Codename trilogy.

Warning:
 This book contains mature adult content. It is intended for mature audiences only. Reader discretion is advised. Step into a world of unrelenting desire and forbidden temptation with LUST AND RUIN: A HOT COLLECTION OF FETISHES. This steamy anthology delivers raw, heart-racing stories that explore the darkest edges of passion—where shy outsiders harbor powerful secrets, best friends cross dangerous lines, and ordinary nights descend into unforgettable surrender. From secret cravings and forbidden encounters to explosive power exchanges, dominant lovers brought to their knees, and hidden rooms where fantasies come alive, each tale drips with tension, heat, and irresistible pleasure. Whether it’s a boss yielding to unexpected dominance, a virgin drawn into wicked games, or a housewife overwhelmed by desire, these stories will pull you deep into a world of sensual confession and leave you breathless. No fantasy is off-limits.
 Dare to enter… Leno As