Flug X Black Hat Novels & Stories

Richard Franklin has left his Midwestern roots behind to live on the coast of Maine with his family. But in the autumn of the year 2000, he must return to his Illinois birthplace on a sorrowful journey. His wife Michelle has been killed in New England by a hit-and-run driver who is never found, so back home he comes with her cremated remains, to fulfill a final wish and on her birthday scatter her ashes in the park along the river in Blackwater Valley—simply Blackwater Val to locals—the small town where they both grew up and fell in love. With him he brings his six-year-old daughter Katie who still grieves for her lost mother: Katie, who can sometimes guess who’s going to be on the phone before it rings. Who can stop all the clocks in the house, and break up clouds in the sky with her mind, and heal sicknesses, and who sometimes sees things that aren’t there...people who are no longer alive. All gifts she inherited from her mother. Only something isn’t quite right in the Val. Sinkholes are opening up, revealing the plague pits the sleepy hamlet was built over in the 1830s, when malaria and cholera outbreaks ran riot. Mysterious bird and fish die-offs begin to occur, and Katie can see ghosts of the dead gathering all around. But what she can’t see is the charred, centuries-old malevolence which has been waiting for her, and wants her for its very own. Or the pale Sallow Man who haunts the town’s nighttime streets...or the river witch—another Blackwater Val, of sorts—each of whom will be drawn one by one into the nightmarish bloodletting about to take place. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

“You really think a chrome leash makes me yours?” Timothy’s voice was a jagged shard of glass, his pulse thrumming frantically against the cold metal of the Blackwell collar. Kan leaned in, the scent of expensive bourbon and gunpowder clinging to him. He captured Timothy’s chin, forcing those defiant lavender eyes to meet his own. “It doesn’t make you mine, little ghost. It just keeps you still long enough for me to show you why you’ll never want to leave.” Behind him, Gideon’s shadow fell over them both, heavy and suffocating. “Careful, Kan,” the enforcer rumbled, his knuckles still stained with the blood of the men who’d tried to stop them. “He’s a reaper. He doesn't want a home. He wants a body count.” One Ghost. Two Predators. No Escape. Timothy Gal is a shadow. A high-level operative for the Nash Rebellion, he’s spent his life as a nameless tool in the war-torn Sopttyi District. He doesn’t feel, he doesn’t miss, and he certainly doesn't belong to anyone. But when a routine surveillance mission in Saati Town goes south, he catches the eye of the two most dangerous men in the Blackwell Mafia. Gideon Blackwell is the muscle—a man of controlled violence and territorial hunger. Kan Nelblack is the mind—a predator with a silver tongue and a taste for absolute submission. They don’t just want Timothy’s secrets. They want his soul.

Evelyn Carter swore she would make Alexander Kane pay. The ruthless billionaire destroyed her father’s company, shattered her family’s life, and left her with nothing but hatred burning in her chest. So when the chance came to marry him, she didn’t hesitate. As Mrs. Kane, she’d be close enough to take everything from him including his company, his reputation, and maybe even his cold, unfeeling heart. But Alexander Kane isn’t the man she expected. He’s darker, sharper, and far more dangerous. He claims to know her every secret, every move, and makes it clear that in his world, she’s the one playing with fire. Every stolen glance sets her heart racing. Every heated argument leaves her breathless. And every time he touches her, the line between love and hate blurs until she can no longer tell which one will destroy her first. He’s her enemy. He might be her obsession. And if she isn’t careful, he’ll become her downfall.

When struggling teacher Sienna Carter takes a last-minute nanny job for Grayson Pierce, a ruthless billionaire and single father, she has no idea what she’s getting into. Grayson is cold, demanding, and emotionally distant, more interested in boardrooms than bedtime stories. His daughter, Lily, is quiet and withdrawn, having lost her mother in a tragic accident. Sienna, with her warm and compassionate nature, clashes with Grayson at every turn. He sees her as an inconvenience, while she finds him insufferable. But as Sienna slowly breaks through Lily’s walls, she unexpectedly starts to unravel Grayson’s, too. Hate turns to fiery tension, tension turns to stolen glances, and before they know it, the icy walls between them start to melt. But just as love begins to bloom, secrets from Grayson’s past resurface, threatening to destroy everything. Will their growing love be enough to survive the storm? Or will Grayson’s fear of vulnerability cost him the one thing he never knew he needed?

Lia lives a quiet life in a small two-bedroom home on the outskirts of a major city. Between playing piano at a piano gallery, waitressing at a high-end restaurant, and her never ending love for books, she never thought there would be anything more to life. She was content. At least she thought so. It wasn't until she went out with her best friend and had a hot encounter with a large and sexy stranger. One moment they are flirting in a booth, the next she's rushing out of an expensive hotel room after waking up naked beside the handsome stranger. After living through her first one-night stand, she decided to leave it at that. But what she wasn't expecting was to be hunted down by the most dangerous man in the country. Turns out, the man from her one-night stand held more mystery than she thought. Now she must determine whether to find some way to be comfortable with his lifestyle and embrace the kind of love she only seen in her romance novels or to stick with her morals and let this relationship go. That is, if he lets her...

Seven years ago, my mafia husband, Sergio Wexler, had me committed to a psychiatric ward. On the day I was released, I changed my name, cut my hair short, and vanished like a ghost. Seven years later, we meet again at the grave of my brother, Luca Lorusso. The bouquet in his hand falls with a soft thud. Sergio clenches his fists tightly, barely holding back emotions that threaten to break through his usual calm. "Janella, why the short hair? I almost didn't recognize you. Where have you been all these years? After that fire at the psych ward, I pulled every string I had, but I never got any leads on you. I've been looking for you for seven years. I even thought you were… dead." When I stay silent, he rubs his red-rimmed eyes. "You're avoiding me, aren't you? Do you still hate me for having you locked up? Believe me, I had no choice." I let out a bitter laugh. Sergio killed Luca to become the Don. He slept with Luca's woman and locked me in that dark, windowless "special ward", nearly erasing me from existence. And now, here he is at Luca's grave, playing the victim. To me, any love and hate I had for Sergio died long ago in that tiny, suffocating ward. Now, he's just a stranger to me.

When everything could possibly go wrong it does. She finds out that she’s in labor and her stepmother is forcing her to take her along with her. In the process because of the way that her stepmother had acted she ends up needing emergency surgery. That’s when her father accidentally found out through a blood test that he wasn’t her biological father. The stepmother finally has her revenge and manages to get the girl kicked out of the hospital that night. If it wasn’t for a handsome stranger coming to save her in the front of the hospital who knows what would’ve happened to her.

For ten years, Lily was the anchor. She worked three jobs, endured a repressive upbringing, and poured every cent into a future with Thomas, the man she believed was her soulmate. But when Thomas finally returns from abroad, the "happily ever after" Lily bought and paid for is revealed to be a meticulously crafted lie. The betrayal cuts deeper than infidelity; Lily discovers that her ex best friend has been a part of Thomas’s double life. As she uncovers dark truths about their history and the real reason Thomas was there for a decade, Lily realizes she was never a partner—she was a pawn. Stripped of her illusions and fueled by a cold, simmering rage, Lily realizes that to destroy people of their influence, she needs a power she doesn't yet possess. Enter Julian Vane, a mysterious and formidable figure with his own vendetta against the same circles that ruined Lily. Together, they strike a bargain: a marriage built on strategy rather than love. As Lily steps into a world of wealth, secrets, and shadows, she must decide how much of her soul she’s willing to lose to get even—and whether her new marriage is just another heartbreak waiting to happen.

Daisy Storm spent her entire existence as an outcast, ridiculed for being a vampire werewolf-half But nothing hurt more than when her mate, Alpha Scott, rejected her publicly, shattering any chance she had of belonging. When brutal vampire slayer Alpha Noah claims her as his second-chance mate, Daisy is conflicted in a maelstrom of emotions. She blames Noah for killing her mother and vows never to forgive him. But Noah has a secret of his own, he's loved Daisy long before destiny ever bound them together. Torn between hate and irrefutable passion, Daisy is compelled to find the truth of her previous existence while battling the temptation of the mate bond. But with her lethal enemies lurking in the shadows, she realizes the biggest threat is not the vampire-werewolf war. It's the darkness brewing inside her. Will Daisy embrace her true self, or will she let her past destroy her second chance at love?

My daughter’s kindergarten held a family event, and I rushed there, only to see her holding hands with my wife’s male secretary. “Daddy,” she said, “I wish our family could stay like this forever.” I watched as the three of them hugged, radiant with happiness. Suddenly, exhaustion washed over me. Later, I filed for divorce. Then I left to teach in rural villages for thirty years. If I couldn’t light the lamp in my own home, I’d at least illuminate the path for others.