Of Anonymous Letters

“It’s our anniversary today. I planned our day together,” I declare. “I have work to do,” “But I asked your PA to clear your schedule for the day,” “That’s the thing. You made plans behind my back without talking to me about it first, Ariel,” He then walks past me and walks out of the closet. “I thought I was doing something nice for you – for us at least. You have always worked so hard, so at least take this day off with me. We never got to celebrate our wedding anniversary,” I rebuke. He decides not to say anything. He opens his bag on the couch facing our bed and takes out a white A4 envelope, tossing it on the little table in the middle of our room. “Is it so hard for you to read the room all the time? How would you celebrate a wedding anniversary when there is no love between us? Are you not tired of all this pretence because I am!" He chastises. "That’s for you. Sign it so that we can get it over and done with,” With that said, he puts on his black sunglasses and walks out of the room. Only then do I breathe out the air I didn’t even know I was holding. I’m confused and, most of all, hurt. I didn’t see this coming. I drop my eyes on the envelope with bold printed letters of the name of the law firm our lawyer works at.

Sophia Hayes is thrilled when she wins a ticket for the exclusive boat cruise she's dreamed of all her life. But her excitement is dampened by a rumor from a trusted source: her millionaire ex-boyfriend, Charles, will also be attending. Determined to avoid the humiliation of facing him single, Sophia convinces her high school friend Robert, a wealthy playboy, to pose as her boyfriend. Robert agrees, eager to shed his notorious reputation and fend off gold diggers, while also seeking to placate his meddling family. On the lavish cruise, Sophia and Robert's convincing act as a couple quickly captures the attention of social media and the city's gossip columns. However, things take a turn when Robert detects Sophia's lingering feelings for Charles, and Sophia realizes Robert might never give up his playboy ways. A misunderstanding leads Robert into a one-night stand, while Sophia finds herself dancing with Charles. When Charles publicly declares his love for Sophia, she humiliates him, igniting his desire for revenge. After the cruise, Sophia and Robert must continue their fake relationship to maintain appearances. The situation becomes increasingly toxic as an anonymous threat promises to expose their charade and Robert's one-night stand results in a pregnancy scare. Forced to take a family vacation together, Sophia and Robert must navigate their fake relationship in close quarters. As they act intimately to maintain the facade, they begin to confront their true feelings for one another.

Dean pinned her to the wall, holding her there with his whole body. His cock was throbbing, reaching for her, and he was barely holding it together. She was totally spread to him, completely open, her hips moving in small circles on him. Dean wanted to just rip away the barriers between their bodies, to put his mouth on those lush breasts and that pulsing pussy. He needed her in his bed. Now. ** Emma Cartwright doesn’t cry when she gets devastating medical news. She goes to a bar, and decides to have her first one-night stand. One reckless, anonymous night before real life, treatment, and fear take over. Just one night. What could it hurt? Dean Jessop has built his entire life around that rule. Since returning from Afghanistan, nothing lasts longer than a single night: not desire, not trust, not hope. So when Emma slips out of his bed before dawn, he assumes that’s the end. It isn’t. A month later, fate throws them back together. They make a deal: no strings, no secrets, one safe word to walk away. But rules blur. Feelings grow. And both are hiding truths that could shatter everything – Emma’s illness, Dean’s buried guilt from war. As their connection deepens, the question isn’t whether love is possible. It’s whether honesty will destroy it... and whether two broken people can survive telling the truth.

"You want me, Davina. You can deny it all you want. I will make you scream the truth." His voice, a guttural purr, slid over my skin, igniting a shameful, undeniable heat. His hot, possessive gaze consumed me, stripping me bare, making my body clench with fear and anticipation. I was trembling, aching, for a man who I should hat. The man that can destroy me. --- The anonymous call pulled Davina Wilson into a nightmare realm of carnal secrets and violence. Summoned to her estranged father's bedside, she found a brutal aftermath reeking of raw power. Malcolm's chilling dismissal and her stepmother's icy glare hinted at a depraved family darkness she'd never imagined. Then came Ezra, a formidable, unapologetically masculine force, unsettlingly aware of a past Davina had erased thirteen years ago—a past he was determined to excavate and brand as his own. Plunged into a dangerous underworld to shield her family, Davina found herself Ezra's captive. He hungered to devour her innocence, seeing a wild, unyielding lust he was determined to dominate and unleash. His possessive interest deepened into an all-consuming claim. He was the alpha predator she should flee, yet the forbidden craving was undeniable. As Davina navigated this treacherous landscape, the lines between captor and savage lover, threat and intoxicating surrender, blurred. An attraction so potent ignited, promising either her ultimate downfall or a dark, exhilarating damnation.

Rogue Chavez is an assassin who works under an anonymous organization whom his father managed, he gets paid off billions for doing his job. All he has to do is bring the target's head. He began to love his work and that he became committed to it, his performances say it all, he is one of the best assassins that his father has trained. However, his life turned upside down when he was assigned to do a mission. A task that he is struggling to deal with, to take over the CEO position, he has to marry Keilah Olivarez, one of the daughters of an affluent family who managed the highest rate Hospital—Meadowview Medical. She happens to have an arranged marriage with one of the shareholders, Torrent Perez but she is wise enough to notice the strings behind the offer and has to say no. Rogue has to work as a doctor in disguise to cover up his real identity. He is stern in his decisions and doesn't want to disappoint his father, he lets his impulsive mind take over and accepts the task. Upon knowing that Keilah Olivarez is targeted by her own family because she dared to execute them for power. Her life is in danger and she needs protection. Keilah knows that she needs to take a risk, will trusting a man she never met before will keep her life? Will her life become better if she chose to file a marriage contract with Rogue Chavez?

After my son’s surgery, I stayed overnight at the hospital. While keeping watch, I scrolled through my phone and came across a post. [What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?] An anonymous user replied. [I used the senior who sponsored me as a stepping stone.] [My sponsor was rich and clueless. He paid for my entire college education, and after I graduated, I slept with his wife. She even had my child.] [The best part is that he treats my son like his own. He works himself to exhaustion just to set that kid up for life.] [By the way, his family just received three million from the relocation compensation. My lover will be here soon. She’ll pretend we need it for a school district apartment and trick him into giving it to us.] [Once the cash is in hand and the villa is bought, I’ll have my son acknowledge me as his real father and then throw my sponsor out of the house.] A blurry photo of a little boy was attached. My heart skipped a beat. On his wrist was the safety charm I had given my son. Just then, my wife pushed open the hospital room door. “Honey, Xeno is starting elementary school soon. Let’s take your mom’s compensation money from the relocation and use it to buy a place in a good school district.”

For years Hyacinth tried hard to live her life after leaving her childhood home. But she was taken by her father's men and forced her to marry a random rich man to save their company after her sister ran off. Surprisingly, she's marrying her ex-stepbrother. Her first love and first of everything. The man who protects her from her bullies. The man whom she surrenders herself to. What pains her was being the second choice... the substitute bride. For days with Raven, Hyacinth started to fall. From flowers to expensive things. She thought that it was meant for Rosie, her sister. The original bride. But she came back too soon, and that's where she sees that Raven was letting Rosie touch him. Rosie shows ownership toward Raven and even sent her a photo of them together making her decide to divorce him. She fled from him, to another continent. But he found her again and that's the start that Hyacinth get to know him better, through his friends and the people that are close to him. She's falling again and although she's terrified, she let herself fall into him. They start again and Raven shows the same love back when they were teens. However, after leaving Finland something weird arose. Unexplainable accidents and Raven was always involved. That's when she found out that Raven was hiding all of the flowers and letters from a suitors. Then, after that, a horrifying truth came from Raven's mouth, caused by Rosie and an unknown stalker.

After my husband's brother died, he took Miranda, his widowed sister-in-law in. He claimed that he would give me his love—but gave all his money to her. He said that since she had no official status, being with him would make her the subject of gossip, so he took her with him and left me behind in the countryside. Every month, he wrote me three love letters, yet sent all his allowance to her. During the famine, she and her two children sat in a warm little house eating well, while my two children died before I could return from selling my blood. One froze to death, the other starved to death. Later, my husband finally came back, but he didn’t shed a single tear for the children. Instead, he told me he wanted a divorce. "Nathalie, to apply for housing, we need a marriage certificate. It hasn’t been easy for Miranda all these years. I want to give her a home. Don’t worry, even if I marry her, I’ll still divorce her afterward—because you’re the only one I love." In the end, I was devastated and threw myself into the icy river. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day my children were about to die. This time, I shook them awake, ready to go reclaim everything that was rightfully mine.

After I'm abducted, I call my mother, a policewoman, for help. However, she hangs up on me and stays by my adoptive sister's side. "Go to hell if you're so keen on it!" she snaps. I calmly watch as the abductors pluck my nails and torment me until none of my skin is left unharmed. In my past life, my mother actually came to my rescue. She left my adoptive sister by the roadside, and the latter ended up being violated and murdered. From then on, I became a criminal in my mother's eyes. She received an anonymous text on my adoptive sister's death anniversary. "I bet a good girl like you wouldn't want your mother to know you hired us to abduct you, right?" She thought I orchestrated the abduction because I wanted to vie for her attention. She thought that was the cause of my adoptive sister's death. "I've saved people all my life. I never would've expected my flesh and blood to be such a shameless monster! You should go to hell as atonement for killing Charlene!" She sewed my mouth shut, shattered every bone in my body, and threw my ashes into a junkyard. When I open my eyes again, I find myself back to the day my mother makes her choice.

"When Zack Wallace’s uncle offered him the chance to fulfill his dreams with a job flying for his Alaska charter service, no way was Bailey George going to hold him back. Flying was Zack’s life. Which is why she never told him about the unexpected, unplanned pregnancy. Or answered his letters or returned his calls. Instead, she moved away, got her law degree, and raised her son with the help of her family and friends. When Bailey is charged with running a retreat for her law partners at Casa Blanca Resort and Spa at Barefoot Bay, the last person she expects to run into is Zack. But any chance of a future comes to a shrieking halt when Bailey’s son, the image of Zack, shows up at Barefoot Bay. Part TwoIt was bad luck that had Robin Hanna working late the night her boss, already in trouble with the feds, had two late visitors. Worse luck for him when they shot him dead. In less than twenty-four hours the FBI whisks her out of town and off to the Casa Blanca Resort and Spa in Barefoot Bay, Florida. If she has to hide a way, she gives thanks for the hiding place they picked…a luxury resort. Trey DeMarcus. He had his life all mapped out: a beautiful wife, a career in JAG, and then retirement to Montana, a state where he’s always wanted to live. Neither his wife nor the law practice worked out and now he’s at the Casa Blanca Resort and Spa, trying to figure out his life. When these two meet up, they have nothing in common except lives in chaos. Sunstroke is created by Desiree Holt, an EGlobal Creative Publishing signed author."