How We Live Is How We Die

Nicole has loved Odell for as long as she can remember. From childhood to adulthood, he has always been the center of her world, until he vanishes without explanation, leaving her with nothing but unanswered questions and a heart that never quite lets go. Years later, fate brings them back together in a world of privilege, secrets, and carefully crafted appearances. As Nicole chases her dreams and rekindles her connection with Odell, old feelings resurface, but not everything is as it seems. Beneath the charm and familiarity lies a truth that challenges everything Nicole believes about love, loyalty, and desire. My Crush Is Gay is a gripping story of longing, obsession, and self-discovery, where love blurs into denial, and the hardest truths are the ones we never expect.

My fiancé leaves me jilted on our wedding day and marries my sister. As I stand there, feeling humiliated, William Sterling gets on one knee before me and asks me to marry him. Everyone in my city knows of him—he's an elite bachelor and every woman's dream. Yet now, he slips a wedding band onto my ring finger and confesses his love for me. "I've always loved you, and I thank the heavens for giving me the chance to spend my life with you." We get married, and he treats me well. Everyone knows that he won't fall for anyone other than me. Everything changes when I accidentally enter his studio in the seventh year of our marriage. I see that he's painted thousands of portraits of my sister, Ivy Winslow. Each one is a tender confession of his love for her. The man I love with all my heart earnestly prays to the heavens and utters his wish. He's willing to sacrifice anything for Ivy to be happy, including his life. It turns out what I thought was seven years of love was nothing but a lie. Ivy is the one he's loved all along. If that's the case, I'll back out. I'll leave in three days, and I hope he and Ivy can be happy together.

The day the Porter family went bankrupt, my elder sister, who had been engaged to Calvin Porter, claimed she was in love with someone else and cut ties with him without a second thought. I was the one who stepped forward to take her place, becoming the laughingstock of our social circle. I smoothed away all the hardness in him, tried to shape myself into the woman he liked, and swallowed countless moments of bitterness, hoping only to warm his distant heart. Until our wedding day. A car accident happened, and Calvin's first instinct was to shield my sister with his whole body. "Rebecca, don't be scared. Where are you hurt? We'll get you to the hospital right away!" He carried her into the ambulance without so much as glancing back at me. I looked down at the iron rod piercing my chest and felt warm blood gush out. It was only then I understood. He was not indifferent by nature, he was simply indifferent to me. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Calvin came to our house carrying the engagement gift.

"I saved his life with a lie. Now, I have to live it—or die in his bed." Noah Bennett is a nobody, a starving survivor in a kingdom of ice. When he finds the poisoned, half-dead King Ethan Walker in a frozen ravine, he makes a desperate, split-second choice to secure his future. He pitches his voice high, binds his chest, and claims to be a maiden named Abigail. He expected a reward and a quiet escape. He didn’t expect the King to wake up with a terrifying, soul-deep obsession. Now, the "Angel of the Ravine" has been brought to the palace in a carriage of gold and silk. Ethan Walker is a man of cold steel and dark hungers, a King who pampers his "Abigail" with a devotion that feels like a chokehold. He wants his savior. He wants a Queen. And he wants her—him—in his bed before the moon turns full. As the wedding bells toll, the stakes reach a breaking point: The Lie: One torn gown or one slipped word will lead Noah to the executioner’s block. The Lust: Ethan’s touch is electric, a "Good Turn Bad" obsession that makes Noah’s heart hammer for all the wrong reasons. The Trap: The King’s traitorous brother is watching, the General is suspicious, and the Silver Wolf of the north is howling for the truth. In a court of vipers, Noah is playing the most dangerous game in Aethelgard. He must navigate the King’s possessive "Silk Noose" while hiding the truth beneath his robes. But as Ethan leans in to claim his "bride's" neck, Noah realizes the most terrifying secret of all: The King might already know. And he might like the lie even better than the truth.

Sofia just landed a job as a housekeeper and nanny in a luxurious apartment in the city's wealthiest district. What she didn’t expect was to run into Archie, a famous actor who happens to live in the same building. While he’s charming to everyone else, Archie has no problem showing Sofia his rudest side from the very start. As their worlds collide, they’re forced to navigate a tense neighborly coexistence filled with conflict—but will it always be that way? "I'm not your fan, you damn narcissist!" "My job is to pretend, and I have to say, you're terrible at it, sweetheart."

The king orders me to spend three days in a trial marriage with four beastmen separately and pick one to be my consort. The first beastman is a naga, which means double the fun down there. The second beastman is a werefox who has the fluffiest tail. The third beastman is a lycan. His kind is known for having the strongest core strength. The fourth beastman, on the other hand, is Julius Lockewood, a cervitaur I've liked since childhood. After I'm drugged, I reject the other three beastmen and search desperately for Julius while tremors rack my body. However, I end up overhearing his friend laugh and say, "Julius, you rascal. I can't believe you drugged the princess just to win a bet that she would keep herself pure for you. Aren't you worried that she'll go to someone else instead?" Julius snorts indifferently. "She's crazy in love with me. Cervitaurs prefer virgins. If she loses her virginity, she'll have no chance of marrying me. She wouldn't dare. I bet that even if she were driven mad with lust, she wouldn't touch anyone else." Heartbroken, I follow the king's orders and enter a trial marriage with each of the other three beastmen. When Julius comes to my house, he hears me beg, "Don't put your tail there…" It makes him so angry that he loses his mind. When the royal decree is issued, he gets on his knees and begs me to stay with him.

His fingers slid into my hair, tugging just enough to tilt my head back and expose my throat to him. “We shouldn’t be doing this, Mr. Turner,” I breathed, my voice breaking on a gasp as he found a sensitive spot just beneath my ear and sucked lightly. His growl was low and primal, vibrating through my skin as he pressed his body against mine. I felt every hard line of him, his heat bleeding through my clothes. “Why not?” he murmured, his voice rough with restrained need. I swallowed hard. “You’re… you’re my ex-fiancé’s father.” He paused. For a moment, everything stilled… his breath against my throat, the air between us, even the rain outside seemed to hesitate. Then he lifted his head, and our eyes locked. His were a stormy blue, intense and unwavering. “No one has to know, Catherine,” he said quietly, his voice was like a dark promise wrapped in silk. Then he leaned in with his lips brushing the shell of my ear. “I can be your dirty secret.” A shiver ripped down my spine. His words settled deep in my gut, awakening something dangerous. I bit my lip. Every cell in my body screamed for me to walk away but I didn’t. Instead, I gripped the front of his shirt, pulled him down, and kissed him hard. Desperately. He rumbled low in his chest, kissing me back with equal hunger, his hands roaming my body like he already knew every curve. When he finally broke the kiss, I was breathless. Then he dropped to his knees between my legs, with his eyes darker now. “I’m going to show you the world,” he said. “If you’d let me.”

"Sign it." He said, stretching out the file. "I'm not going to sign that paper, Carlton." I felt vulnerable and scared. I turned to Carlton, and his eyes just cut right through me. Instantly, a huge lump formed in my throat. "I... I... don't..." Carlton's expression suddenly softened. He sat next to me and reached out to cup my chin gently. I felt a shiver run down my spine as his hand brushed against my skin. "I'm not going to hurt you or anything, I just need this. I won't use it against you." He said gently. I hesitated for a moment, staring into his eyes before I took the pen and file from him with trembling fingers. I signed where necessary and gave it back to him. He stood, kissed the top of my head, and head for the door, but stopped in front of my wardrobe, where the lingerie he had ordered to be brought to my room was. His eyes fell back on me, his lips thinning into a line. "That's the only relationship we have now, Good night, Samantha." He said and closed the door. What? ************* When tragedy strikes, Samantha Jones's life is turned upside down. Forced to drop out of high school and take on a secret life as a stripper, she's desperate for a way out. Her desperate life takes a drastic turn when she's propositioned by billionaire Carlton Williams - MARRY ME, AND I'LL GIVE YOU THE WORLD. But there's a catch: he's only using her to secure his inheritance Samantha's willing to do whatever it takes to provide for her sister, even if it means being a pawn in Carlton's game. Will their arrangement ignite into something more, or will the secrets and lies tear them apart? Find out.

Vivian Cunningham's marriage to her childhood friend Nathan Sadoc was expected to be blissful. Nathan had been her first crush, the handsome and charming stud that every girl desired. However, there was a problem: Nathan never liked her, nor did he want her as his wife. He was in love with a girl, Annika Summers, who had disappeared a year ago, a Cinderella who had run away when the midnight bell rang. He had kept her glass slipper and waited for her return with unwavering love. The only reason he had married Vivian was that he wanted to punish her. He wanted to trap her in this loveless marriage for what she had done to Annika. Or at least, that's what Vivian believed. She thought she would suffer in this marriage and eventually die alone, filled with grievance. However, as the days passed, something began to change between them. She was baffled by his growing possessiveness and desire for her. Everything improved until Annika returned.

“You’re mad,” I said, staring at him like he had completely lost his mind. A slow smile spread across his face as he stepped closer. “Mad for you.” I almost laughed. “I’m going to get rid of this thing you think you can use to trap me,” I said, my voice calm, steady, and dangerous. “Let’s see how mad for me you are after that.” I turned to leave. “You won’t dare.” That made me stop. Then I smiled. Because he clearly didn’t know me. *** Alexandra Fisher Hale does not lose control. She doesn’t do relationships, she doesn’t do marriage, and she definitely does not do children. To her, emotions are distractions and people are liabilities. Her life is planned, calculated, and completely in her hands… until one moment ruins everything. She faints at her twin brother’s wedding and wakes up to the most ridiculous truth of her life. She’s pregnant. No relationship. No mistake. No explanation. Which begs the question… what is this? The second coming of baby Jesus? Because the last time she checked, that was the only way this made sense. But before she can even figure out how her life turned into a joke, the world already has answers for her. She’s engaged. To a man she hasn’t spoken to in years. A man who is watching her like he has already won. Now her name is everywhere, her reputation is on the line, and every move she makes is being controlled by someone she cannot see yet. But one thing is certain. This is not a coincidence. It’s a trap. And whoever set it… Clearly forgot one thing. Alexandra Fisher Hale does not lose.