How To Keep House While Drowning Novels & Stories

On New Year's Day, my childhood friend asked me for the passcode to my new house. I thought she was planning to bring a housewarming gift, but when I opened the door, I froze in shock. There were more than a dozen people inside. She walked over with a smile before giving me a subtle look. "Ryan, what are you doing here? Come on in. You're just in time. You're lucky enough to catch our family gathering." I stood there in stunned silence. Before I could even ask what was going on, her boyfriend suddenly spoke in a mocking tone. "Is your childhood friend very persuasive? I'm curious how he sweet-talked you into giving him your house's passcode." Her expression instantly turned serious. "He didn't sweet-talk me. He got on his knees and begged. He said he had a fight with his family and got kicked out with nowhere to stay. You know how soft-hearted I am. I didn't think much of it and just gave it to him." Her boyfriend's eyes had a look of contempt. "No normal man would stoop that low. Who knows how many women he's begged behind the scenes just to get what he wants." She gave him a look of approval. "Babe, how are you so smart? There was a time he stripped naked and begged me just to buy a watch he liked. I've told you about it." Her boyfriend burst out laughing. "So that was him? He's honestly shameless." Seeing her spew lies so casually and irresponsibly, I couldn't contain my anger. I stepped forward and slapped her hard across the face. "Who the hell do you think you are? Taking over my house and slandering me? Get out."

After three days of the silent treatment, my fiancé, the Capo of the Moretti family, took his assistant, Bella, on an island vacation. He expected me to be driven mad with jealousy, just as I always had been. But when he returned to Valmont a month later, he found a different woman. He made me give up my corner office. I didn't fight him. I just packed my things and handed it over. To prop Bella up, he discredited me in front of a key partner at the annual family meeting, just so she could shine. I didn't try to prove my innocence. I just accepted the family's reprimand and took my punishment. When Lucas wanted to put Bella in charge of the family's most profitable business, I didn't even get angry. I handed over all the necessary documents without a fight, letting him redistribute power as he saw fit. Bella was smug. "See? What did I tell you?" "A woman like her just needs a firm hand. One trip to the island and she's terrified of losing you. Look how obedient she is now." Lucas bought it, praising Bella for her insight. In a move he'd never made before, he promised me a wedding so grand it would become a legend in the Valmont underworld. But he seemed to have forgotten the dissolution agreement he signed, the one I slipped him right before he got into the car for their vacation. I had already severed all ties with him. I was leaving, but he had no idea.

On the eve of her loveless arranged marriage, heartbroken Ava takes the ultimate gamble—proposing to DeMarco, the mysterious bartender who says yes without hesitation. Their impulsive elopement shocks her controlling family, but Ava has no idea her new "nobody" husband is secretly a billionaire. Determined their love won't be bought, DeMarco whisks her away to his ranch, hiding his fortune so they can build something real. As old flames, family pressures, and buried secrets threaten their fragile bond, Ava must decide if she'll risk everything for the unpredictable promise of real love—or fold and return to her former life.

In the third year since my husband, Axel Kramer, starts working as a rideshare driver, we finally manage to buy a home of our own. On the day we move in, he suddenly says to me, "Some friends want to come over for dinner tonight. I already said yes." I'm someone who values boundaries and doesn't like outsiders coming into my home. Even when we host relatives, we take them out to restaurants. "Can't we just go to a restaurant?" I ask. He looks helpless as he replies, "I already suggested that, but Lindsay said it would be more fun if we hang out at home. She said we should liven it up in our new home. And since everyone knows I'm a good cook, she wants to try my cooking too." One corner of my eye twitches with displeasure. Lindsay Brun is the female driver he's mentioned the most over these three years. She's also the only woman in their rideshare drivers' group chat.

On the day billionaire CEO Damian Cole divorces her in favor of his mistress, Elena Reyes loses everything she thought mattered. Humiliated, betrayed, and carrying a secret she hasn’t shared with anyone, Elena walks away from her marriage determined never to look back. But fate has other plans. Within hours, Elena discovers she’s pregnant with twins and inherits her grandfather’s twelve-billion-dollar empire. Overnight, the discarded wife becomes one of the most powerful women in the world—and the owner of a debt that could destroy Damian’s company. As old secrets unravel and hidden betrayals come to light, Elena must decide whether revenge is worth the price of her future. With powerful enemies closing in and the father of her children desperate for a second chance, she finds herself caught between the woman she was and the woman she’s destined to become. This time, Elena Reyes isn’t fighting to save her marriage. She’s fighting to reclaim her life.

When Camille moved into Summer Valley with her mother, she decided to keep things on a low since it would only be a matter of time before they moved again whenever her mother’s past would come to haunt them. This plan completely crumbles when she falls into the bad side of Aiden, the mysterious and dangerous boy at her school. He begins to target her and make her the butt of his bullying. One school day changes everything, when she gives him a sign without knowing and she gets into an entanglement she never expected, but can’t seem to want to get out of. What happens when she gets to find out the real boy beyond the indifferent mask? Will he let her in, or will he push her away like he does everyone else? How will she cope when the people she trusts betray her? What happens when trouble returns and her mother wants them to move out from the town, just when she has finally found home?

Elena stifled a smile, but he already saw her mouth start to curve upwards and he grinned at her. She ignored him. "I'm serious, Chandler." His smile was instantaneous. "Noted." She licked her lips. Her eyes were wide and nervous, and she tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "And you can't me." Chandler tilted his head to the side and studied her. Pushing away from the car, he took a step closer to her. She held her ground, lifting her chin at his approach. "What if you ask me to you?" he said quietly. "Then can I?" Elena exhaled shakily. "I won't do that." "No?" Carefully, he touched his thumb to the curve of her chin. She shook her head, and his hand fell away. "Maybe you won't," he told her. "But hear me right now, love, I'd love it if you asked me for a ." —------ When Elena Davis decided to move to Vacaville, she had just one thing in mind — to start her business over after she'd failed the first time she tried. It'd be nice to live in the same city as her twin sister, and getting reunited with her university crush, Elijah Kendrick doesn't seem like a bad idea. But fate, however, has its own plans and she finds herself drawn to someone else—his brother, Chandler Kendrick.

She was sent to kill him. She didn’t know she was the reason he couldn’t die. Seraphine Vale is a weapon forged by a secret human order sworn to eradicate immortal beings. Cold, controlled, and deadly, she has never failed a mission. Until him. Lucien Blackthorn is the most feared Alpha alive—an immortal wolf who has ruled for centuries without mercy… or hope. When Seraphine infiltrates his pack to assassinate him, she expects a monster. Instead, she finds a man tired of eternity. What neither of them knows is that Seraphine’s blood is the source of Lucien’s immortality. If she leaves, he will age and die. If she stays, she will slowly lose her humanity. As desire turns into obsession and enemies close in, Seraphine must make an impossible choice: Kill the man she loves… or bind herself to him forever. Because this time, love isn’t just dangerous— it’s fatal.

In an attempt to summon a strong familiar, Rubisviel Fyaril, Witch of The Dark Forest, created a spell to bring forth an otherworldly entity only to end up summoning a Demon Prince with no memories of his past. She managed to convince the demon to leave however they parted after he gave her an oddly familiar kiss. When she finally thought that her life was going back to its witchy normality, her visitor returned only to claim that he's going to reside with her due to a master-servant curse that bound them on his summoning. Ruby was forced to live with a very flirtatious demon who seemed to want to bed her so she tried finding a way to break their curse. But what if his presence only attracts trouble? And what if he's actually part of the past she wanted to forget? Watch out little witch you're not the only one brewing evil in her pot. A Demon Queen you've once vanquished is rising from her grave to get back to you and when she does you better sharpen your weapons and kiss your demon for the long nights about to come.

After Nora West discovers that her four-year relationship had been nothing more than a cruel joke, the last thing she expects is for her twin brother to collapse from exhaustion and land in the hospital. That incident brings her face to face with Alan Reed, Noah’s billionaire boss, a cold and emotionally distant man whose family has been pressuring him to move on from the woman he lost years ago. When Alan asks Nora to marry him, Nora says yes knowing they both have something to gain from it. Nora walks into the arrangement with a broken heart and no expectations. After everything she went through with her ex, she no longer believes love is worth the risk. Alan, on the other hand, is convinced all he needs is a contract wife to satisfy his family and maintain appearances. But living together slowly changes everything. What starts as an arrangement turns into friendship, quiet comfort, late-night conversations, and stolen kisses neither of them planned for. The closer Alan gets to Nora, the more guilty he begins to feel, like caring about her somehow betrays the woman he once loved. While Nora once believed nothing could hurt more than heartbreak, nothing prepares her for falling in love with a man who swore never to love again.