Horror Illusion

I was the ultimate pick-me girl at the office, and somehow, I ended up inside a horror game before New Year's Eve. Seeing the bloody lady crawling in the dark elevator, I screamed out loud. "Oh my gosh! Where did you get that lipstick? It's perfect! It makes your skin look three shades lighter!" The bloody lady blinked at me in confusion as I helped her up. She even recommended the exact lipstick shade. Then I turned around and came face-to-face with the chainsaw-psycho general manager with multiple personalities, swinging his weapon around. I tied a little bow on his chainsaw. "Everyone else only cares if your chainsaw is sharp. I'm the only one who cares if you're tired from swinging it all day." The monsters in the room looked at each other, all thinking the same thing… Why did this feel weirdly wholesome?

After I got pregnant, my husband started driving for Uber after work to help with household expenses. He wouldn't return home until the early hours of the morning. Then, on Valentine's Day, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my belly. I called an ambulance to take me to the hospital. When I arrived, I saw my husband entangled with another woman. Both of them were being wheeled into the emergency room. "Tsk, these two really have no shame, going at it right out in public," someone muttered. "They probably wrecked the car in the process, don't you think?" another chimed in. "What's even worse," a voice added with a hint of horror, "is that guy has a wife!" The bystanders gasped in unison. "His wife must be devastated." Whether his wife is devastated or not, I don't know. But one thing is certain—he'll be going straight to hell for this!

She wanted the life. The money. The power. The man. Mara Collins is tired of counting tips and pretending her dreams don’t reach beyond the coffee shop counter. When the bills pile higher than her hope, she decides it’s time to stop waiting for luck—and start creating it. All she needs is one man. One chance. One lie. Her plan is simple: learn how the rich play their games, then beat them at it. With a fake designer dress, a new name, and a heart of steel, she slips into the city’s most exclusive events—until she catches the eye of Adrian Holt, a man who has everything she’s ever wanted. Charming. Ruthless. Obsessively private. Adrian isn’t the kind of man you play with… but Mara’s willing to risk everything to make him hers. But the higher she climbs, the more fragile her lies become. And when Adrian discovers who she truly is, the illusion shatters—leaving behind nothing but betrayal, anger, and obsession… and a love that should never have existed in the first place. Now love becomes a weapon, and every night in his sheets feels like a war between truth and desire.

Natalie Taylor has one goal when she signs up as a companion at Dreams: to make a shit ton of money and get out fast. She's not looking for adventure or hoping for love and romance. But days into her moonlighting job, her quiet determination is shaken when she confronts her biggest problem yet—Levi Van Holt, heir to a mega-billion hotel chain and CEO of a gaming startup. Levi is everything she wants in a man. Gorgeous, wealthy and generous to boot. There's just one problem. He's her new boss... Harbouring a dark secret and nursing wounds from his past, Levi has one rule and one rule only for his companion: no falling in love. But with his desires continually tested, the more time he spends with Natalie, it doesn't take long for both their lives, real and secret, to converge, the lines between illusion and reality begin to blur, and the temptation to break his only rule becomes harder to resist. © 2022 Val Sims. All rights reserved. No part of this novel may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author and publishers.

Camille Crowe is used to being desired, admired, and obeyed. But the one man who should satisfy her leaves her empty, and when his betrayal comes to light, Camille is done pretending. She wants honesty. She wants control. Most of all, she wants to feel something again. Mr. Ashford is not impressed by her beauty, her status, or her confidence. He is cold, dominant, and completely uninterested in pleasing anyone. From the moment they met, he shuts her down…and in doing so, awakens a hunger Camille didn’t know existed. The fact that he refuses to want her makes her want him more. Their attraction is sharp, forbidden, and impossible to ignore. Every encounter is filled with restraint stretched thin, with looks that linger too long and words that cut deeper than touch. Camille tells herself she is in control, but Mr. Ashford has a way of stripping that illusion away without ever laying a hand on her. When circumstances force them into close proximity, desire turns reckless. One moment of weakness becomes a night neither of them can take back. Lines blur. And what should never happen begins to feel inevitable.

For three years, Tamsin Ward believed her marriage was unbreakable. That illusion shatters the moment her husband’s best friend, Isla Parker, returns and quietly begins inserting herself into everything Tamsin once thought was hers. By the time Tamsin realizes what’s happening, her marriage already feels impossible to stay in. When Tamsin asks for a divorce, her husband, James Whitmore is blindsided. He refuses, insisting that he cannot live without her. Desperate and cornered, Tamsin seeks out the most powerful divorce attorney in the country. What she doesn’t expect is to come face-to-face with Leo Price, the first man she ever loved, and the one who vanished from her life without explanation. Tamsin wants nothing to do with Leo. But James and his powerful family leave her no choice. Leo agrees to take her case under one condition: she must date him for three months. No secrets. No distance. No pretending the past never happened. As James tightens his grip and old feelings resurface, Tamsin finds herself trapped between the man who refuses to let her go and the man who once walked away.

After transferring to an isolated private Academy on his best friends request, Jason steps into a world he never expected to be in. Dealing with flirty teachers and students is a normal occurrence and one he's been good at forever because all his life he’s distanced himself from the illusion of love. Until he meets her. The Aloof Mystery Student. Never before has his resolve been tested in such a way and he finds himself disturbed by her presence and the strange familiar calmness she brings him. Are the strings of fate being mischievous? Could a teacher x student relationship be his downfall? For as long as Atlas could remember, her life's been a series of hurdles and vast walls she had to overcome. After the death of her Grandmother, she's thrown into a game orchestrated by her selfish father. She must fight not only the hatred of her brother, but the disapproving adults all around her. Meeting the annoying Jason Fairchild throws everything off the rails and she finally finds herself. Together, they stand a greater chance to overcome all internal and external wars they've been fighting. Will they be victorious or succumb to the harsh fates that have been written for them? Only Silence will tell...

When Andrea Thorne, a wolfless pack member, catches her boyfriend, Alpha James Holt, in bed with her own stepsister, her world shatters completely. Thrown out of her pack, humiliated and branded a liar, she heads out to drown her sorrows and forget everything.   One reckless night at a masquerade club changes everything. She has a one night stand with a stranger. A stranger who turns out to be Kieran Graves, the Alpha King, and he's marked her as his mate. The next morning she runs but there’s nowhere far enough to hide from a king.  Soon enough, Kieran arrives at her pack to find her but her step-sister is already waiting to claim him with a stolen mark, lies and illusion magic. Before Andrea can speak out, she is banished and left for dead.  Now hiding in the last place anyone would think to look, Kieran's own territory, Andrea tries to disappear. But the mate bond has other plans. And so does the ancient power stirring inside her, a power that hasn't walked the earth in a thousand years to show that she was never just wolfless.  She was always so much more.

"Is everything alright?" I asked, My heart filled with worries as I gazed at my husband who walked in with his eyes contorted with rage. He looked at me with disgust. Without a word, he threw something at me. It wasn’t until the papers scattered on the cold floor that I realized they were pictures. My eyes widened in horror as I stared at the images. They were pictures of me. But not just me, it was me and another man. A man I didn’t even know. The photos were intimate, showing us in compromising positions as if we were lovers. God, How did he get this? ********************************************* After four years of heart-wrenching miscarriages, Emily's world is turned upside down when her husband accuses her of infidelity, shattering their marriage. Six years later, Emily returns as a billionaire heiress, driven by a thirst for revenge against those who wronged her. But when her ex-husband, Alex, begs for a second chance, Emily must decide. Will she forgive and forget, or will the wounds of the past prove too deep to heal?

The gang heads back east after the potion Elsa prepared for Bruce in Phoenix didn’t quite do the trick in curing him of werewolfism. As the full moon approaches, Bruce and Tatyana head back to his cabin to await news from Dan and Shen, who are diligently searching for a professor who might be able to help them. They don’t find the professor, but they do find Magdalena, a hot and sexy vympire from the planet Vympirus, and Garth, her trusty lycanthrope guard. Sparks fly when Magdalena and Dan connect. They pair up in more ways than one when both Tatyana and Shen are captured by remnants of the mutant vampire den they’d destroyed in Las Vegas. Horror of horrors! These grotesque creatures not only survived but they’ve got dens throughout the country and they want Tatyana for their queen!Garth shares a secret with Bruce on how to keep his need to change during the full moon at bay and they’re off to rescue Shen and Tatyana. Elsa joins in the search... and its a good thing, since the vampires recruited their own magician. Will they rescue Shen and Tatyana before it’s too late?