Matipuno Street

As the youngest daughter of the Costellos, I had always lived in my sister’s shadow. That was until five years ago, when she betrayed the family and ran off with a street thug. I took her place and completed the wedding with Elio Ross. Over the years, he loved and indulged me, but we never got a marriage license. He always said family matters kept him busy, and that, with or without it, I was his wife in his and the family’s eyes. I believed him. Until today… I watched as Elio walked out of the church with my sister Alyssa, who had been missing for five years, both of them wearing the family rings that symbolized their union. At the church entrance, three black SUVs opened their doors simultaneously, and my three brothers stepped out in tailored suits. “The ceremony’s done? We’ve already booked Antonio’s to celebrate Alyssa’s return.” They climbed into the cars, expressing their joy, while no one noticed my pale, shattered face across the street. Later that night, under the guise of apology, my sister let a venomous spider bite me. “A substitute is always a substitute. Now that I’m back, it’s time for you to die.” I screamed for help. However, my husband and my three brothers only rushed to hold my sister, who had pretended she had fallen, without a glance at me, writhing from the poison. They called in every specialist from the hospital, only to tend to my sister’s scraped knee. That was the moment my heart truly broke. After being dragged back from death’s door by the doctors, I made my decision. I picked up the phone and called the International Private Island Exchange. “That isolated, uninhabited island… I’ll take it.”

Even the street punks knew that in Chicago, Catherine Leone was untouchable. I had three deadly protectors watching my back. My husband, Raphael Falcone, was the youngest underboss in the Chicago Outfit. He was known for his cold, iron-fisted rule, yet in a crowded room, he would kneel to adjust the hem of my gown. My childhood friend, Luca Vizzini, the family's brilliant new consigliere. He'd sworn to protect me since we were kids. And my twin brother, Salvatore Leone, who cherished me above all else. He took over the family at eighteen and treated me like royalty, making me the most envied Principessa in the underworld. On my twenty-eighth birthday, I waited in the living room all day, clutching a pregnancy test with two solid lines, ready to share the news that would change everything. Instead, they brought me my brother's body, murdered by a drug dealer hailed as a hero. And standing before me was my husband, Raphael Falcone, ready to clear the murderer's name. "Tell me why," A scream clawed at my throat, but I fought it down, "You know damn well who the murderer is." "Catherine, control yourself." It was Luca Vizzini, my childhood friend, who tied my hands. "Salvatore's gone, but you still have us. You're still Mrs. Falcone, still the Principessa of the Leone family." "The Leones have looked after Chiara for years. You know her father is all she has." They wanted me to confess to my brother’s fabricated crimes and apologize to Chiara. But they forget. Before I was Raphael's wife, I was Catherine Leone. A master hacker who could breach any system. I will deliver my own justice in ways they cannot imagine. And I will make them regret it.

"You are trembling," Dante whispered, his hand sliding up my thigh, hidden beneath the white tablecloth of the crowded gala. "Please," I begged, the word tasting like ash in my mouth. "Please what?" He leaned in, his teeth grazing my ear, his grip on my leg tightening to a bruise. "Please stop? Or please... take me?" He dragged his thumb over my skin, ruining me in front of everyone, his eyes dark with a terrifying promise. "You belong to me, Evelina. And tonight... I’m going to make sure you scream it. *** Three million dollars. That was the price of my sister’s life. To save her, I sold myself to Dante Valenti. He is the king of Wall Street, a monster in a tailored suit who deals in acquisitions and ruin. He didn't just want my skills as a curator; he wanted me. My time, my freedom, and my absolute submission for five years. I thought I could withstand him. I thought I could keep my heart safe behind walls of hatred. But Dante doesn't just break walls; he burns them down. He strips away my defenses layer by layer, forcing me to play his dark, twisted games. He isolates me, controls me, and manipulates my reality until I don't know where the cage ends and I begin. He treats me like a prized artifact—something to be displayed, guarded, and owned. But as the lines between hatred and desire blur, I realize the terrifying truth: He doesn't just want to own my body. He wants to break my soul until I thank him for the chains.

When three people meet each other by chance a romance knocks them on their ass. ~Casey~ A 21 year old virgin working in one of the hottest night clubs in town. She may seem innocent but deep down she is a psycho who enjoys torturing people. She's never been touched by a man and she's killed the ones that have tried. She loves her only remaining family, her older sister Carrie. She has trust issues and a foul mouth. Can she find someone to match her crazy? ~Lincoln~ A 20 yr old street racer with a rough past. He is a bisexual, submissive with some masochistic tendencies. He's gorgeous and catches a lot of attention from both sexes. His cheating ex doesn't won't leave him alone almost borderline harassment. He jokes to hide the pain he bares every day. See how his life changes when he bumps into a little waitress. How will he react to a sexy, possessive man trying to gain his affections and encourage a little woman's psychotic tendencies? ~Malachi "Psycho" Sokolov~ He's a 23 yr old torture expert. He's well known in the underground and with the mafia families for using his pack of dogs during his interrogations. To the public he's a businessman, owning several nightclubs, a couple restaurants and some miscellaneous businesses. He is also bisexual and has had only a few lovers that can handle his bedroom habits. No one has really caught his attention until he sees a young man arguing with one of his staff and a new waitress that's as sweet as can be with little bit of fire and crazy. Find out if their love blooms or burns.

Ria's life was turned upside down when her billionaire husband threw the divorce papers at her face! He wanted to divorce her and marry his lover who was a thousand times better than her. "It's time for us to go our separate ways, Ria. These five years have been nothing but torture to me. I don't love you," Wyatt Earlson declared. His tone was emotionless and indifferent. It seems like all the years together were nothing but a joke in his eyes. Eventually, he would choose that woman over her. Heartbroken and depressed, she took off on a dark rainy night. She had devoted herself to him and his family yet they treated her like trash. She was continuously abused and neglected yet she stayed by his side because she thought he loved her. Suddenly, a man in an exquisite black suit drove a limousine up to her and said, "Miss Flinch, I'm assigned to pick you up and return to your family. Your brothers and grandfather are awaiting your return," Few months later, she came back with a new identity and title that SHOCKED the world. When she arrived at the ball a few weeks later, they asked, "Isn't she that broke country girl who was divorced by her husband?" "How dare a street rat like her show up in this place?!" The moment Euphoria (Ria) Riley Flinch was born, the people who looked down on her, scorned and treated her like trash started to drop on their knees and beg for her mercy. "Please forgive me. I was wrong," they cried. Even her ex husband was now begging her for forgiveness. However, she only raised her chin and stepped on their fingers.

PHOEBE - Holy mother of craps! I had lost my virginity to the college’s bad boy, Asher Gilbert. And, he told me it meant nothing to him. He told me to get lost! ********* ASHER - All my life till now, no one had ever intimidated me. Not anyone. Not my dad, nor the school principal… Not those street gangs… lastly, not the mafia. But this strange girl— a Maserati shows up. Making me urge to brand her, as mine. ********** “Why are you like this to me?” “What do you mean?” “Why are you so dismissive but save me, every time I land in trouble?” He didn’t reply that. Instead, he sighed, crunching the plastic bottle in his hand. He threw it in anger to the other side of the room. Then he approached me. I took three steps back, timidly. His intimidating gaze dropped towards mine. He didn’t stop until the back of my head contacted the wall. Only then did his both hands angle at the sides of my head. My eyes immediately gorged at his hard-on. Flash backs of the night we had together immediately ran through my brain. The only thing I could think of was the way my mouth was wrapped around him. His Adam’s apple swallowed numerous times, making me wonder what he thought of. It was like one of those scenes of movies. Like he was in a battle with himself. But the question was, what was he so protective about? Why didn’t he like making conversations with females? “I’m never gonna change, Phoebe. Remember that,” ********* What is worse than drunken one-night-stand, with the college’s bad boy? Or a cold treatment thereafter? However, one pregnancy changes it all. In this love so wrong, can they ever make things right?

Excerpt "Lily, I never stopped thinking about you, you were always on my mind" I heard Ryan say as he stood behind me. I felt the hardness of his crotch as he pressed himself to me. I turned around and kissed him, and then we heard a knock on the door "Mommy, I'm coming in" my little daughter Isabella called out and we scampered for our clothes that was everywhere on the floor. Lily Thompson was a single mother that was abandoned by her college sweetheart when she was nineteen. She was disowned by her parents days after her parents found out that she was pregnant and she had to drop out college and fend alone for herself and her baby Years later, her baby grew up to be a young, beautiful and innocent girl, Isabella . Isabella was Lily's comfort through trying times. She was so sweet but sometimes she was a little too sweet She decided to play matchmaker with her mother to find her a husband when she saw how lonely her mother was. She would pretend to be lost when she found someone attractive on the street, she would then and ask for his help to send her home. As she said, it was the most convenient way to set me up with a kind-hearted and charming man. Well, she did have a point, right? Once again, Lily heard her daughters voice talking with some guy from the porch. She opened the door and planned to thank the man. But she almost froze when she saw him. It's HIM! The familiar face and scent immediately brought her back to the night years ago. Isabella flew into her arms and whispered to her. “Mommy, I got you a husband, for real this time!” If only she knew

The things we want are so very rarely the things we need. Clifton Heights, a modest Adirondack town, offers many unique attractions. Arcane Delights sells both paperbacks and hard-to-find limited editions. The Skylark Diner serves the best home-cooked meals around, with friendly service and a smile. Every August, Mr. Jingo’s County Fair visits, to the delight of children and adults. In essence, Clifton Heights is the quintessential small American town. Everyone knows everyone else, and everyone is treated like family. It is quiet, simple, and peaceful. But shadows linger here. Flitting in dark corners, from the corner of the eye. If you walk down Main Street after dark, the slight scrape of shoes on asphalt whispers you're not alone, but when you look over your shoulder, no one is there. The moon shines high and bright in the night sky, but instead of throwing light, it only seems to make the shadows lengthen. Children disappear. Teens run away. Hunters get lost in the woods with frightening regularity. Husbands go mad, and wives vanish in the dead of night. And still, when the sun rises in the morning, you are greeted by townspeople with warm waves and friendly smiles, and the shivers pass as everything seems fresh and new... Until night falls once more. Handy's Pawn and Thrift sits several blocks down from Arcane Delights. Like any thrift store, its wares range from the mundane to the bizarre. By daylight, it seems just another slice of small town Americana. But in its window hangs a sign which reads: We Have Things You Need. And when a lonely traveling salesman comes looking for something he desperately wants, after normal visiting hours, after night has fallen, he will face a harsh truth among the shelves of Handy’s Pawn and Thrift: the things we want are rarely the things we need. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

Willow Wildwoods is a witch, she has self esteem issues mostly stemming from her poor relationships and her narcissistic boyfriend. She is a curvy girl and an artist, but when a full moon ritual and a wish opens up a whole new world where she discovers her boyfriend isn’t what he seems and that she has four supernatural fated mates she is in for a wild ride. Hikaru’s private jet sets down at Logan Airport under the full moon and they get ushered to a penthouse where they will be under the protection of werewolves. The little nonbinary fox shifter will have a personal guard who they immediately realize is their fated mate. Asim doesn’t like the idea of babysitting a fox shifter. He’s a warrior and Alpha Guard, why should he have to babysit some foreign fox shifter? How is he supposed to do his duty when that little shifter turns out to be the mate he has been waiting to meet his entire life? Aiden gave up on love and meeting his mate. His fated mate didn’t even acknowledge the bond 200 years ago, so now that he has met Willow and has a second chance he won’t let her slip through his claws at any cost. He will have the little witch paint a mural for his supernatural nightclub and show her just how generous dragon shifters can be. Raff seems to be carefree, skateboarding through the underground fae markets and creating street art by day, bartending by night. But he knows there is more to life and his girlfriend isn’t it. How do they all come together and what about these mysterious disappearances of supernatural beings that keep occurring? How is it connected to them?

It was just another morning commute—until he happened. Across the train aisle sat a man who looked like he’d stepped out of a high-end magazine and straight into a power struggle. His voice sliced through the air, sharp and commanding, as he chewed someone out over the phone like he ran the damn universe. Arrogant. Entitled. Dressed like a Wall Street god. Correction: he looked like a god. That’s where the charm ended—or so I thought. When the train screeched to a stop, he stood up in a hurry, stormed off… and left his phone behind. Did I pick it up? Yep. Did I snoop? Absolutely. Photos, contacts, a few mysterious texts—I couldn’t help myself. Did I keep it longer than I should’ve, building stories in my head about the man behind the voice? Yeah… I did that too. When I finally gathered enough nerve to return it, I marched into the glass-and-steel fortress he called an office. He wouldn’t even come out to meet me. So I dropped his phone on the desk outside his office door. And maybe—I left a photo on it first. Not exactly the professional kind. What I didn’t expect? A message. From him. What followed were late-night texts that burned hotter than anything I’d ever known. Words became whispers. Whispers turned into fantasies. I was falling—for someone I hadn’t even really met. He and I? Total opposites. Fire and ice. Chaos and control. But when we finally came face to face, it wasn’t just sparks. It was an inferno. What happened next? Let’s just say… falling for him was the easy part. Surviving what came after? That’s where the real story began.