Hungry Ghosts

Maya Jenkins has built a life on her own terms. After being abandoned by her father at a young age and betrayed by a man she once loved, Maya has little faith in the concept of true love. But one lonely Saturday night, against her usual instincts, she downloads SoulLink—a new dating app designed to match people based on more than just physical attraction. When she matches with a man named “Ash,” she starts to wonder if she’s been too quick to write off the possibility of something real. Asher Reed is no stranger to living behind a mask. By day, he is the powerful CEO of NovaSpire, the cutting-edge tech company he inherited from his demanding father. By night, he sheds his corporate persona and anonymously tests SoulLink, a product his company has developed. What he doesn’t expect is Maya—a woman who challenges him with her passionate and authentic personality. For the first time in years, he feels seen—not as the CEO or the broken man his ex-fiancée left behind, but as himself. As their connection deepens, so does their vulnerability. Maya’s long-standing trust issues clash with Asher’s secret identity, and their growing bond is threatened by the arrival of past figures— Asher’s manipulative former fiancée. With each revelation, the digital space where they first met becomes a battleground for truth, betrayal, and the complicated pull of their emotions. In a world where identities can be easily manipulated and love is often elusive, Maya and Asher must confront their pasts, their fears, and the choices that will either bind them together or tear them apart. Can they overcome the ghosts of their history and the secrets they’ve kept from each other? Or will their insecurities and unresolved scars lead them down separate paths?

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

CLAIMING HER A wrong hotel room. A stranger’s arms. A secret she swore to bury. For years, Fiona Mendez endured a loveless marriage built on betrayal and empty promises. She clung to the hope that Aries—the man she once loved—would finally choose her. But fate had other plans. One mistake. One night. One moment of weakness. A wrong hotel room led her to Nagi Fujiwara—a stranger whose touch made her forget her pain. But when morning came, so did the horrifying truth. The man she thought was her husband was someone else. Before she could even process what happened, Aries shattered what was left of their marriage—not because he found out, but because he had someone else. Discarded and humiliated, Fiona fled to Cebu. She was ready to start over—until two pink lines changed everything. She was pregnant. And the father? A man she barely remembered. For two years, she raised her daughter Lizha alone, determined to leave the past behind. But peace never lasts forever. Forced to return to Manila for work, Fiona braces herself for the ghosts of her past. What she doesn’t expect is to come face-to-face with the man she swore she’d never see again. Nagi Fujiwara The father of her child. Her new boss. The ruthless, powerful, and dangerously possessive. A man who always gets what he wants. And this time, he wants her. Fiona may have run from him once, but now that fate has brought her back into his world, there’s no escaping him. And Nagi will stop at nothing to claim what’s rightfully his.

His lips crashed into mine like he couldn’t stop himself. Like he had been holding something back for too long and it had finally cracked. I wanted it just as badly as he did. “I tried to ignore this,” he muttered against my lips, voice rough and ragged. “Tried to erase it.” His mouth returned to mine, hotter, hungrier, tongue sliding into mine, tasting me like I was something he needed to survive. “But you’re everywhere,” he breathed, kissing the corner of my mouth, then down to my throat. “In my head, my routine, in my f*cking sleep haunting every dream.” I couldn’t answer. “You’ve broken me,” he whispered into my skin, like a secret he never meant to say out loud. “And I can’t even bring myself to hate it.” My body trembled at the admission. I affected him as much as he affected me and that thought was heavenly. ********* She was the quiet shadow behind his magnificent empire, efficient, obedient, forgettable.He was the billionaire with the Midas touch of gold and power, untouchable, commanding, and always in control. But when Mark Rexona walks into his office and finds his seemingly shy and diligent secretary, Teresa Smith , with her fingers deep in a fantasy that stares something in him, something that destroys his control. Two worlds collide then collided, hers, filled with quiet but intense yearning and hidden heat and his, was ruled by dominance and untamable desire. What starts as one very stupid mistake behind a supposedly locked door spirals into an exciting and intoxicating game of lust, secrets, and power plays. He wants to own her and her pleasure and she is still haunted by the ghosts of her past.

Dr. Sabrina Kane built a medical empire with her brilliance. By thirty-two, she was the youngest recipient of the Helix Vanguard Prize and the scientific force behind Kane Biomedical’s most revolutionary breakthroughs. She healed the impossible. She rewrote genetic fate. The world admired her. Her husband took the credit. Adrian Kane was the face of the empire Sabrina’s mind created—until admiration turned into rivalry and ambition turned into betrayal. When divorce papers arrive without warning, Sabrina loses more than a marriage. She loses her position, her reputation, and the life she thought she understood. But the real devastation begins in the maternity ward. Behind closed doors, a decision is made—one that protects a CEO, shields a scandal, and rewrites a birth record before sunrise. When Sabrina wakes from delivery, something feels wrong. The answers she’s given don’t quite fit. The child in her arms needs her desperately… yet whispers of doubt begin to circle. By the time the truth claws its way to the surface, Sabrina is branded unstable, arrested, and pushed out of the very institute she built. Then Victor Laurent enters the picture. A Powerful and an untouched billionaire investor with his own ghosts and a child whose life hangs by a thread. He needs the best doctor in the world. He needs Sabrina. Working under his roof, fighting to save a dying child, Sabrina begins to sense that fate has woven their lives together long before they ever met. As corporate secrets unravel and paternity questions threaten to destroy empires, one truth becomes clear: Someone stole more than her marriage. They stole her future. And this time, Dr. Sabrina Kane is not going to lose.⸻

Sarah Miller spent three years as the invisible and neglected wife of Jason Vanguard. The story begins when Jason serves her divorce papers to marry the socialite Elena Vance. believing Sarah is a penniless nobody. However. the divorce triggers the secret Vanguard Pact of 1995. Sarah discovers she is the heiress to a hidden 30-billion-dollar fortune. Supported by her childhood protector. Julian Thorne. Sarah sheds her timid persona and begins a brutal corporate takeover. She systematically dismantles Jason’s empire and humiliates her enemies in public "face-slapping" revelations. As Sarah rises to power. she uncovers a dark family conspiracy. Her father. Arthur. faked her mother’s death to hide his own crimes. and Sarah eventually finds her sister. Lily. who was hidden away for years. The conflict escalates when Sarah discovers her mother. Catherine. is actually alive and is the true villain of the story. Catherine is a cold mastermind who has been pulling the strings of both families from the shadows. She views Sarah as a rival and uses deepfakes. holograms. and identity theft to frame Sarah for global crimes in an attempt to steal the 30 billion dollars. The final battle takes Sarah from Singapore to London. where she survives assassination attempts and psychological warfare. Sarah eventually locates her Aunt Rose. the only person with the legal authority to override Catherine’s control. In a final showdown. Sarah triggers a financial "Poison Pill" that bankrupts her mother and leaves Jason paralyzed and imprisoned. Sarah emerges as the "Glass Queen." an independent titan who turns her corrupt family legacy into a global foundation. She finally finds peace and a true partnership with Julian. having destroyed the ghosts of her past.

His sharp intake of breath hit her, gaze dragging over her breast to her mound. Every part of her body his dark, hungry gaze touched, burned. His voice was deeper than any she'd ever heard. “On the couch.” She obeyed. She made her way to the couch and sank into the plush cushions. “Spread your legs.” She hesitated, biting down on her lower lip. A frustrated groan left Jason's lips and Anna jumped at the sound. Before she could blink, she was pushed back on the couch, Jason's lips over hers. His hands grazed her nipples, and he shoved her thighs apart, settling between them. He took her breast into his mouth sucking until sparks shot to her core. "Jason—" she gasped, desperate. ******** Anna was supposed to be enjoying her sister’s wedding after-party, not stuck in a locked car with the groom’s infuriating older brother. Jason Knight—best man, shameless flirt—had been under her skin since they met for rehearsals, and now, in her space. He wasn’t supposed to make her skin heat with one touch. And she wasn’t supposed to end the night tangled in bed with him. One night. That’s all it was meant to be. But what Anna doesn't know: Jason isn’t just her brother-in-law’s maddeningly smug brother, he’s the boy she once humiliated in high school—the one who never forgot, and he’s spent every one of the years after changing everything about himself. Now, he's back with a grudge, a memory that cuts deep, and a plan. Twenty-one days. One dangerous game. Anna is about to learn that some grudges don’t fade, they smolder and ignite. When old wounds collide with white-hot chemistry, will revenge blur into something even more dangerous? or will it be their ruin?

“She should have run away… while I let her. She should have disappeared with all of these intense feelings that she evokes in me. She should have never come this close to me. Because Now…” Luciano’s eyes darkened and something snapped in him as he saw her tear her shirt away, exposing her to his naked, hungry eyes and before Luciano could even pull himself away, his body acted on his own, wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her closer before his mouth devoured her, “…Now, there’s no going back.” “Mine…” He growled, “You’re just mine to ruin, Noora!” “I knew I should have run away from this man whose sole purpose was to hate me, wreck me, and make me fall. But here I was standing now, for him to ruin, for him to claim his ownership. Yet, why was she feelings the things that were far away from the loathing that I have for him?” “Luciano…” Noora moaned, her fingers clutching his hair as she pulled him closer, biting her lips, “You’ll never ruin me!” ……………… Noora never asked to be caught in the ruthless games of power, deception, and vengeance, yet the moment she returned home for Lucas’s engagement, her past and fate became entangled with the one man who despised her the most—Luciano. The heir to the Richardson empire, Luciano had only ever shown her cruelty, pushing her away with his cold words and scorching glares. But beneath the hatred lay something darker, something that neither of them could deny any longer. As secrets unravel and their pasts collide, their undeniable pull toward each other threatens to destroy them both. Because in this game, love isn’t just passion—it’s possession. And neither of them is willing to lose.

It wasn't the end of the world when I caught my husband cheating on me. That's when I found out who he really was. It wasn't just that his lover was blooming with his child. He had made her glow with love. His long-lost love. The woman's fate picked over me. I was told to run by everyone. Leave him alone. Start over. But I don’t run anymore. And I don’t break softly. Because my husband, the Alpha who swore he loved me, forgot who he married. He forgot about the family tree I never told him about. The one strong enough to destroy an entire pack. While he hides behind his fated mate, someone else steps into my life. A man with eyes like frozen smoke. A billionaire Alpha with darker feelings than my husband ever dared hold. A man who touches me like I’m a secret he’s been hungry for. I know he wants payback. I know he’s using me. Maybe I’m using him too. But then the woman leaves. My husband begins to lose everything his company, his pack, his mind and a furious truth about my own ancestry detonates beneath my feet. Worse? The woman carrying his child might not be the only one pregnant. Because fate has its own strange sense of humor… and my body has its own secret growing inside it. Now one man wants to claim me. One wants to ruin me. And one of them is hiding the most terrible truth of all. Tell me Should I stay the victim? Or become the storm none of them will survive? Because tonight, someone loses everything. And it sure as hell won’t be me.

Yelena Denice Salvatore is a well-known TV personality. Isa siyang magaling na Newscaster sa buong Pilipinas. Isa din siyang napakagandang tagapaghatid ng balita sa balat ng telebisyon na pagmamay-ari mismo ng namayapa niyang ama. But when her Father died, everything seems not the best at what she had hoped to happen. Dahil natuklasan niya na nanganganib na pala ang kompanya. she followed what her boyfriend advice to her; and that is to sell another share of the company. She's so thankful for her boyfriend's support to the lowest part of her life. Adam Sebastian Castillo. Tagged as bad boy, heartless, play boy, and dominant. Wala din siyang pakialam kung sino man ang kanyang masagasaan. He's always hungry when it comes to business. Gusto niyang mapatunayan na magaling siya sa lahat ng bagay. Gusto niyang patunayan 'yon sa kanyang ama na ang tingin sa kanya ay hindi anak kundi isang kompetensya pagdating sa negosyo. Nang marinig niya na binebenta ang halos kalahating shares ng isang sikat na TV station sa bansa ay kaagad siyang nagkainteres na bilhin ang nasabing shares. Just as he thought it is easy for him to have it ay doon siya nagkakamali dahil ayaw sa kanya ibenta ni Yelena ang shares ng kompanya nito. But whatever it takes he would be willing step on of all that hinders him. He made an impressive proposal to Denice, but she still turned down his proposal. And he has no other option but to kidnap her. He is heartless, right? And Yelena Denice found herself married to Adam Sebastian Castillo, exactly the day she supposed to marry her boyfriend. And what's worse was, on the day of her honeymoon to supposed to be her husband; she was surrendering everything to Adam. Her body, soul, and her heart.