Male Gamer

I find cigarette ashes on the passenger seat of my wife's car. She brushes me off, saying, "My new assistant left it there. He's not the most sensible." When I ask for a divorce, she stares at me in disbelief. "Just because of that?" "Yeah. Just because of that!"

To "fix" Leonard Rinehart's oh-so-tragic depression, Naomi Gaffron—yeah, the same girl who once swore she'd only ever marry me—secretly tied the knot with him. So I gave in. Played along with the family's little matchmaking stunt. Married Aurelia Spencer—Brieton City's golden girl who'd been obsessed with me since forever. For seven years, she clung to me like I was oxygen. Every night, curled up like she'd break if I moved. I thought that was happiness. Then one night, I caught her whispering to her best friend: "Leonard's already got international awards. When are you dumping Leone?" "Whatever—I'm stuck with someone I don't love anyway. Doesn't matter who I married. Someone's gotta keep an eye on Leone so he doesn't screw up everything Leonard built." I checked her study. Found a hidden folder—over 100,000 photos of Leonard. A hundred unsent love letters. Even I couldn't fake it anymore. Bought a silicone dummy. Laid out the plan. The fire would be step one. Dead or alive—we're done.

It is the night before our wedding when my fiancee, Whitney Sullivan, reunites with her childhood sweetheart, Steven Foster, a mercenary who has been missing for five years. He is brought to our doorstep by his teammates, bloodied and barely clinging to life after being poisoned with a deadly aphrodisiac on a mission. Whitney, usually so aloof and controlled, immediately breaks down. She locks the door, defying my efforts to stop her, and stays with Steven all night long. I choose to stay outside the door, never closing my eyes. I confront her the following morning with a torrent of accusations, only for her to stand in front of Steven protectively and say shamelessly, "I couldn't just stand by and watch Steven die. Isn't it just my virginity? What's the harm in letting loose the night before the wedding?" In that instant, all my affection for her is utterly destroyed.

Keaton Rourke and I get in a car accident. My liver ruptures, and I'm drenched in my blood. Teresa Bellamy, my wife, leaves me to die and runs off to save Keaton, who only has a scratch on his forehead. I'm unconscious and clinging to life in the emergency room, but Teresa fusses over how to keep Keaton's forehead from getting a scar. I wake up feeling nothing but disappointment and toss the divorce papers right in her face. She rips the divorce papers to pieces like a lunatic and makes it clear that divorce will only happen over her dead body. I used to bend over backward to make her happy. Now I'm ready to divorce her, no matter what it takes.

Anya Sawyer and I have been married for eight years. In that time, she brought 99 men back home. One day, I found myself looking at the 100th young man she had brought home ever since we got married. He shot me a taunting look before turning to Anya. "Ms. Sawyer, is this your useless husband?" Anya leaned into her seat and replied with a lazy yes. The young man patted my cheek with a grin. "Tonight, I'll show you what a proper man is capable of." … That evening, I was forced to sit in the living room and listen to their moans all night long. The next morning, Anya ordered me to prepare breakfast for her as usual. I refused. She seemed to have forgotten our marriage was by contract. That day just so happened to be the third-to-last day of our contract.

I've been in a coma for six months after a car accident. When I finally wake up, the first thing I hear is something sloppy in my hospital ward. My girlfriend, Quinn Simpson, is in here. She's kissing Chad Scott, her true love. Chad looks uneasy as he glances at me every few seconds. "Quinn, don't do this. I heard coma patients can still hear things. If Mateo hears us—" Quinn scoffs, completely unbothered. "So what? He's a vegetable. Probably won't wake up for the rest of his life. It's better this way, isn't it? Didn't you say you liked living on the edge?" They talk trash about me right in front of my face. I can even feel the contempt in Quinn's eyes. When the two of them finally leave, they don't notice the effort it takes for me to crack my eyes open. But the nurse who walks in next does. She sees it immediately and slams the emergency button. Once I start regaining strength, the first thing I do is send a message to my parents. "Mom, Dad, I'll do the arranged marriage."

After my fiancée returned from six months of traveling with her childhood friend, she realized I had changed. For his sake, she broke protocol and promoted him to be the CEO's personal assistant. I obediently stepped aside and gave up my position. When he took over the project I had spent three sleepless months completing, I handed it over without a fight. My fiancée found my sudden compliance strange. Her childhood friend, on the other hand, was smug about it. He said with a grin, "Looks like your cold treatment finally worked. If you want him to behave, you just have to train him like a dog." My heart was calm and unmoved as I listened to their conversation. No one knew that I had been reborn. No one knew that I had finally accepted the truth: she never loved me from the start. No matter how reluctant I felt, from this moment on, I would cut ties with her completely. One clean break, free of all entanglements.

“My warriors will slaughter you all. They will—” “Shhhh.” Alpha George placed his finger on my lips, “You know your people have lost, Kyra. Your army is nowhere close to mine; neither are your weapons. The best you can do from here is pray.” I lifted my chin, showing no fear. With the chains tugging my skin, I spat, eyes burning with flames, “If you're not scared, release me, let me fight with my people if I would not chop your head off.” “No, Kyra. You're my…” He paused, looking all soft and calm, until he replied, “Prisoner.” – Kyra Dew, Gamma of the Red Sky Pack, had gone to battles and come back victorious until she went to battle against their rivals, the Moonshine Pack. Captured, chained, and tortured for the truth, Kyra only promised to speak up when she saw the Alpha. Alpha George, strong and fearless, came into the dungeon to receive the shock of his life. His mate was the one whom he had ordered his guards to torture until she spat the truth. Angered and regretful, he made a mistake, a mistake that led to her escape, leading to the death of many. Kyra escaped back to her pack, happy to go back to her lover and soon-to-be Alpha, only to receive the shock of her life. What happens when Kyra finds out that her boyfriend isn't really her mate but has been deceived? What would Alpha George do when he finally finds the girl who caused him so much loss? “You don't know me,” Kyra said. Her chin was held in Alpha George’s grip. “I know enough to kill you.” Alpha George replied. Yet, his burning eyes were fixed on her lips. “Kill me?” Kyra tilted her head, “Or kiss me?” She whispered.

The story is a dark psychological horror centered around a group of students trapped in a college during a curfew, where a storytelling game slowly turns terrifyingly real. I believe it aligns well with Good novel horror audience.

Alex dropped his head into his hands. Amelia wanted to comfort him, but she didn’t know yet where they stood. She could be out on her butt in a few minutes.Alex sighed. “I’m sorry that she’s done this to you. It was your story to tell me when you were ready.”“Alex?”“Yeah?”“Are we okay? Do you need me to leave?”He strode to her and fell to his knees. He put his hands on her arms. “There is no need for you to leave. We are more than okay.”***Amelia is an independent white hat hacker who meets and beds a man at a tech conference. Fast forward several months and she finds out she’s pregnant. She finds him just to tell him he’s going to be a father. She finds out he’s Alex Hillen, the billionaire owner of a gaming company. He decides it’s his job to take care of this woman who has never been taken care of.What could go wrong? Hacker for the Billionaire Tech Daddy is created by Chris Redding, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.