Like Water

My husband, Steve Malone, thinks of himself as a highly-educated person. Not only that, but he's also very uninterested in physical intimacy. When we go to bed every night, we have to sleep with a bowl of water between us. In fact, Steve refuses to let me touch him at all. But on the day he returns from the volunteer teaching program in the countryside, I discover a pair of pantyhose all tangled up in his clothes. Upon hearing my question, Steve maintains his cool facade as he explains, "This is contraband that I've confiscated from a student." I never respond to Steve. Instead, I get in contact with the female teacher, Rebecca Cramer, who has gone teaching with Steve earlier. From the other end of the line, Rebecca's sarcastic voice drifts over. "Your husband sure is unstoppable, Audrey. He couldn't resist kneeling in the pig sty while licking the dead skin off that Paige widow's feet. No one could stop him at all. "I heard that Paige even intends to give birth to a child for him. They went at it once per day, you know. I think you should head over here and witness everything for yourself." As soon as I end the call, I contact my lawyer right away and prepare to file for a divorce. This time, I'm hell-bent on ending things with Steve.

I had taken leave from the sealed research institute where I'd been confined for six years, just so I could attend my daughter's kindergarten graduation. The moment I stepped through the gates, I froze. A woman holding a little boy by the hand was shoving my daughter, Amy, straight into the gutter. She slapped Amy across the face, then sneered for everyone to hear, spitting venom as she called my little girl a filthy wretch. Drenched in filthy water, Amy dropped to her knees before the woman, trembling in humiliation. Rage burned through me. I stormed forward and slapped the woman across the face. But instead of shame, she jabbed a finger at my nose and shouted, "Do you even know who I am? To offend me is to offend the entire Grant family!" Tears welled in Amy's eyes as she tugged at my sleeve, pleading in a choked voice, "Please leave… she's my dad's nanny. My dad will punish you if you hurt her." The woman planted herself in front of me, her arrogance towering. "The Grant family rules this city. You think you can run from us?" For a brief moment, I stood stunned, then calmly pulled out my phone and dialed my husband. "Your nanny says you run Bexley City. Well, I think that's about to change."

Vanessa Davis never imagined her life would lead to Dusty Creek, Texas. A city girl scarred by her mother’s abandonment, she buried the pain—until a letter from the woman who vanished begs for a second chance. Reluctantly, Vanessa heads to the small town, only to find herself stranded on a desolate road. Enter Colton Hayes—rancher, alpha wolf, and everything she’s tried to avoid. With a piercing gaze that sees through her, he offers her a place at Silver Ridge Ranch while her car is repaired. As Vanessa adjusts to life in Dusty Creek, she discovers her mother’s plea hides a darker secret—her new family desperately needs something only she can provide. Hurt and angry, Vanessa plans to leave, but uncovering the town’s poisoned water supply reignites her investigative instincts. Determined to find the truth, she digs deeper, realizing the corruption runs further than expected—and Silver Ridge Ranch may hold the key to saving the town. Colton has his own battles, torn between protecting his pack and keeping his heart guarded. Trusting Vanessa could destroy everything he’s worked to protect. Yet, under the Texas moon, their connection sparks with undeniable energy, pulling them closer despite the dangers. Vanessa must decide: will she risk everything for a future in Dusty Creek, or will the secrets they uncover tear them apart before they have a chance?

Every time I miscarry, Adrian Sadler brings home a new woman who eerily resembles his first love. He makes me put the rubber on him, forces me to watch their fevered passion, and then orders me to bring warm water for their intimate cleanup. I do everything I'm told, begging for just one night a month with him. That is, until I accidentally tear his favorite lover Peggy Olson's lingerie. That night, Adrian streams my humiliation for the world to see. He drags me onto the bed, twists my body to expose me fully to the camera, and pins me beneath an avalanche of shame. "Did you think her lingerie was suggestive? What about now? Look at yourself. Do you think you are any better? You love crawling into my bed, don't you? I'll help you get your fill. Maybe one man isn't enough to satisfy you. Why don't I call in ten men tomorrow?" As punishment, Adrian throws me outside, in my birthday suit, in the courtyard. Blood slowly pools beneath me. I experience my tenth miscarriage. I look for Derek Sadler and say, "I promised to help your family to repay your kindness. I tried my best. Ten miscarriages later, whatever blessing I once had is gone. I'll never have children again. Today, I've come to say goodbye."

I accompany my husband, Michael Yates, to a stationed assignment on a remote island. Out at sea, a sudden storm hits. The ship capsizes and begins to sink. As the commanding officer, my husband gives the last life vest to his so-called godsister, Naomi Hollister. I don't cry or scream. I just watch silently as he carefully fastens the straps around her body. In my past life, I had clutched my pregnant belly and begged him for help. After a brief hesitation, he finally put the vest on me. But Naomi was swept away by the waves, and her body later washed up on shore. Only half of it remained. Michael insisted it wasn't my fault. He also said that saving me was his duty, both morally and professionally. He even took leave to stay by my side before I gave birth. But when my water broke in the dead of night, he pushed me into the sea. His eyes were bloodshot and burning with hatred. "Leah, if it weren't for you, Mimi would still be alive! Did you really have to force me to give you the vest when you were just pregnant? Couldn't you have waited a little longer? Why do you get to live? Go down there and die with her!" I drown, and fish tear my body apart. I die without even a full corpse left behind. And then, I open my eyes. I'm back on the day of the storm.

Warning !!! Mature content (18+) "Ah get me out of here, open my hands please." In this cold weather, her body was drowning in the cold water, her hands and feet were tied, and she was unable to get out of the bathtub. Until hours ago, I was the best person in the world to her, I knew but now seeing my brutal face, she was shivering with fear and cold. "How quick was it for you to be punished, who told you to go for a walk in the house and see it all?" She was shivering with cold and fear while I was constantly smiling. "Pup . . Please …” She was pleading with her eyes closed in a broken voice shivering from the cold. Her lips as well as her body were now turning blue. I sat on the floor next to her. She was losing consciousness while saying something in a low voice. "Oh No... How weak you are, you offensive ones, you cannot bear even a little." I put my thumb and forefinger together to indicate a slight pain and pitifully looked at her unconscious existence. I was not ready to listen my wolf this time. I was just remembering my brother’s painful death. - This is a story of a ruthless and cruel Alpha, who wants revenge for his brother but melts, when he met her. Alex was an innocent girl, madly in love with Alpha Conard. He wants revenge but what will happen when he found out that she was his mate? What will he do now? Will this love last forever? Or he will leave her?

Miguel has built his life around the land. Born of indigenous Costa Rican ancestry, he believes ownership is stewardship, not control. High in the mountains of Monteverde, he struggles to preserve his farms and a failing eco-lodge sustained by pristine mountain springs that carry life-giving water for the entire valley. Bobby, a kindergarten teacher from Ireland, arrives in Costa Rica carrying a private grief. A genetic diagnosis has ended her hopes of motherhood, and leaving Ireland for Costa Rica is the only way she knows to start a new life. Vulnerable and unmoored, she falls under the influence of Sean, a charismatic expatriate who offers work, protection, and belonging—while quietly binding her to his business interests. The springs beneath Cabinas Las Nubes become the fulcrum of their collision. To Miguel, it is sacred. To Sean, it is a commodity to be stripped and laundered through shell companies tied to South American narco networks. When Miguel refuses to legitimize the illegal extraction, intimidation escalates into violence, culminating in the kidnapping of a child—Christopher—to force his compliance. Bobby recognizes the danger too late but refuses to run again. Risking her life to save Christopher, she confronts the man who once controlled her and exposes the depth of her courage. Her choice strengthens Miguel’s resolve. Working from within, he dismantles Sean’s operation and reclaims the land before it is destroyed. Set against Costa Rica’s ancient waters and living terrain, the novel explores grief, integrity, and the quiet ferocity of love chosen under threat.

At one in the morning, the neighbor upstairs suddenly knocked on my door. He said there was a leak in his apartment and asked if our place had been affected. I was just about to open the door when my vision was flooded with comments. [Open the door, and you're dead! That man outside is not your neighbor!] [Didn't the old man upstairs who lived alone go to Marcasia last week to find his new love interest? There shouldn't be anyone up there at all!] I immediately pulled away from the doorknob. At that moment, an emergency notice popped up in the residential property chat. [Unit 1307 has a burst pipe with severe leakage. Property management will inspect the building's water system.] [Is anyone home in 1207? We need to check whether your ceiling is leaking. Please open the door.] Unit 1207 was my place. The comments flooded my vision again. [What kind of property management does inspections at one in the morning? They're in on it together!] [Bea, stay hidden! Your destined man will descend from the heavens to save you!] I nodded solemnly, as if I was taking them very seriously. I turned around and grabbed my climbing rope. Amid the hysterical screaming of the comments, I leapt straight off the balcony. I'm someone who got a second life. Last time around, my entire life was ruined by listening to these brain-dead comments. This time, I'd rather die from the fall than end up as a breeding machine again.

"Ace...please...I had nothing to do with your father's death..." I whimper, protectively placing my hand over my abdomen. His grip tightens around my throat as my eyes water when I look into his eyes reddened by the effect of the alcohol that he has consumed. All I can see is my death looming over my head as I try my best to be able to breathe through my nose even if he is trying his best to block my airways. "Well, all evidence seems to state otherwise, bitch! You were the one leaking all information about us back to your father. And here I was...thinking that we had something..." his words slur but his actions are completely focused on me. Completely focused on killing me. I can feel it...I am not going to make it... ———————— I wanted to tell him that I didn’t ruin his empire. I wanted him to believe it. But he didn’t listen. And because of him, I ended up losing my baby growing inside me. I lost everything because of Alejandro Harrington. And I have spent the last two years running from him. But now he has finally found me. He is my new boss and to top it all off, I have to remain in this firm as his personal assistant. He still remembers everything and even now, he has no regrets about whatever he did. He’s here to make my life hell.

Akiyama, Fumiya Harah is a Japanese who was abandoned in an orphanage by their Filipino mother. Harah grew up with her sister, Aryah in an Orphanage, where they were taken in by Rosemarie and Anthony Coleman. Jack Coleman's parents. Harah grew up in the Coleman family and Jack fell in love with Harah. Later their love for each other developed and became even closer to each other. Later on, they decided to get married. That's why on the very day of Harah and Jack's wedding, Harah was sabotaged by her sister, Aryah. She added an Aphrodisiac to Harah's water and drank it then due to the effect of the Aphrodisiac. Harah went into the wrong room. Aryah makes herself an unknown sender and she deliver the photos and videos she took at the Coleman Mansion and pretended to be innocent. Jack's entire clan hated Harah and banished her. Aryah stole Jack from Harah. When Harah was expelled from the Coleman's Abode, Harah became a beggar, there she met her real father and his father helped her. Only a few years later, Harah returned to the Philippines with her triplets to attend the wedding of her sister, Aryah, and her ex-boyfriend, Jack. Aryah insulted and humiliated Harah to the core as well as Jack's relatives. Shawn came there to save Harah with their triplets. Harah and other people didn't quite think that the man she was with that night was none other than Shawn Ezekiel Peñafranco, a hot billionaires. What if Shawn asked Harah for a marriage? Will she accept his marriage proposal despite the suffering she experienced just because of one night's mistake?