Operating Systems: Internals And Design Principles Novels & Stories

“You want a divorce?” Evander’s voice was as cold as the hand gripping her chin. “You’ll never get it.” ~☆~ For five years, Thalina Hale devoted herself to a loveless marriage, hoping her cold billionaire husband would one day see her. But when she’s diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer, she finally understands the cruel truth—she was never his choice. Only a substitute for the woman he truly loved… the woman who has now returned. Choosing herself for the first time, Thalina demands a divorce. Yet the man who once ignored her suddenly refuses to let her go. But before Evander can uncover the truth behind his hatred for her, Thalina “dies” on the operating table—taking her love, her pain, and her secrets with her. However, at a prestigious gala, Thalina returns as the wildly sought-after CEO in Seattle and the heiress of a powerful family. Now consumed by regret, Evander will stop at nothing to claim her again. But can a love buried by betrayal be reborn… Or will his obsession destroy them both?

"You have the hands of a goddess," he rasped, his blood staining my operating table. Even with three bullets in his chest, his grey eyes held nothing but command. He was Damian Volkov, the Bratva's heir, and I was the off-the-grid surgeon who just saved his life. "And you have a bill to pay," I told him, tying the final suture. His laugh was a dark, dangerous sound. "Oh, Doctor. I don't deal in cash." His hand closed around my wrist, not with force, but with the chilling certainty of ownership. "You belong to me now." He dragged me from the shadows of my clinic to his gilded cage high above the Vegas Strip. He thinks he's claimed a simple doctor. He has no idea I'm Evelyn Reed, daughter of a murdered senator, hiding secrets that could burn his entire world to the ground. He wants my submission. My skills. My body. But in this game of secrets and seduction, the most dangerous weapon isn't the gun in his hand. It's the scalpel in mine.

My husband's childhood friend says she wants her crystal beads to soak up some of the good luck in our home. Because of that, he scatters the beads on the floor, making me slip and miscarry. I'm in agony as I lie on the operating table. I call my husband incessantly, but all he does is block my number. I lie in the hospital ward after the operation. I see my husband's childhood friend's social media update—a photo of him worshipfully holding out a certificate while getting down on one knee. It's captioned, "He loves me so much! I said I'm interested in running a business and he actually set up a company for me!" On the day of the branch company's grand opening, my husband's childhood friend wears an expensive custom-made gown. Meanwhile, I wear her discarded goods. I'm barred from even entering the building. I suppress my bitterness and call my lawyer. "Are the divorce procedures done?"

Ever since she was two, Elara Vane became her twin sister's personal blood bank after the girl was diagnosed with a rare genetic defect. Doctors predicted her sister wouldn't live past eighteen, so her parents and brother doted on her, putting her first in everything. They even blamed Elara, accusing her of "stealing" her sister's nutrients in the womb, claiming it made her sickly. In her past life, no one in the family loved her. Only her fiancé, Dante, truly stayed by her side. But Elara never expected Dante's love had its own agenda. Until her sister accidentally fell off a cliff and needed a full blood transfusion. Dante signed the consent form without hesitation, sending her to the operating table to be the donor. As her blood drained and her consciousness faded, Elara swore that in another life, she would never be her sister's blood bag again! The next time she opened her eyes, she was back to the day after her engagement to Dante...

I paid Curtis Robinett 200 thousand dollars a month to be a standby blood donor. My fiancée, Eden May, thought it was a waste of money. So she reassigned him to work part-time as her personal assistant instead. When Curtis accidentally submitted my marriage license appointment as a divorce filing for the 99th time, I kicked open Eden's office door. She didn't even look up. "We're in no rush to get married anyway," she said calmly. "Curtis is just careless. That's how he's always been." Later, in the emergency room, I called Eden while doctors rushed around me, my throat shredded from yelling. "Where's my emergency medical kit?" I rasped. "What did you do with it?" Curtis answered instead, his voice warm and smug. "You mean the expensive leather bag you kept in the cabinet? I swapped it out for a large party snack box. It holds everything just fine, and honestly, it looks a lot more cheerful. "Ms. May's brother and sister-in-law are both career soldiers. Your bag didn't really match that image, so I thought this would be more appropriate." My vision dimmed. My hands shook as I told Curtis to come donate blood. Eden laughed softly and cut in, "Stop pretending you're anemic just to get attention. If you're actually sick, deal with it. You're at the hospital; I think the doctors are fully capable of keeping you alive. Curtis is afraid of needles. He's not coming." Then, she hung up. She didn't appear until the surgical lights finally went dark. "Curtis had me bring you chocolate milk," she said. "It's good for recovery. It's not that he didn't want to help. He just faints at the sight of blood." She placed a settlement waiver on my bed. "I was the one who told him not to come. That 200-thousand-dollar monthly salary is his pay as my assistant. It has nothing to do with you. You didn't have to call the police for that. Sign this, and I'll go get the marriage license with you." I thought of what I had just seen in the operating room. Eden's brother, Harvey May, was bleeding out on the operating table, waiting for a lifesaving drug that never came. In the final moments of surgery, he could do nothing but lie there and die. I looked at her and said evenly, "You're the immediate family. It's not my place to sign that."

My girlfriend and I were reborn, returning to the cramped basement apartment we rented right after graduation. We silently walked out the door together, neither of us mentioning staying together. She went abroad with her childhood sweetheart to further her studies while I stayed behind, grinding away at my company. Seven years later, she became a rising young designer with a bright future and a happy family. I was still grinding away at the same company. When we met again, she clung to her childhood sweetheart's arm, looking down at my slightly disheveled state with a mocking smile. "Long time no see. How did you end up looking like a beggar?" I ignored her. However, later, when the powerful, world-renowned CEO of a top design firm clung to my arm, acting sweetly, her face twisted with panic. "Alex Prescott! How can you be so close with another woman?!"

“When were you going to tell me I slept with my nephew’s little fiancée?” Betrayed on the night she was supposed to say forever, Eveline Storm makes one reckless choice—and wakes up in the arms of a man she should never have touched. Cold, brilliant, and dangerously powerful, Lucien Roswood isn’t just a stranger…he’s her fiancé’s uncle. She wants distance. He wants control. When her father’s life lands in Lucien’s hands, Eveline is forced into his world—his home, his rules and his obsession. By day, he’s untouchable, a surgeon who rules the operating room. By night, he reminds her that she belongs to him. But Lucien isn’t just after her body—he’s playing a deeper game of revenge, and she’s the perfect weapon. Caught between a manipulative fiancé, a ruthless dark past that involves her own father, and a man who refuses to let her go, Eveline finds herself with only one choice— Running into the arms of the man who carries a secret that might just bury them all.

William Kelly, a former Combat Marine, and a Corporal at the six-three precinct of the Heights Police has his world turned upside down when he answers a radio call of a multiple homicide at the East Coast Green Herbal Shop. The "Heights," well known for its persecution and execution of witches for almost four centuries is the backdrop of the wickedness he is about to encounter. A legacy in the Heights Police, his family has served in the precinct from its inception just after the Civil War. His bloodline's haunting history is soon revealed as he combats an evil that he doesn't believe in nor comprehend. He finds that a witch's coven is secretly operating out of a storefront in town. This coven, lead by Casper Crowningshield, are perpetrating rival gangs to war so that they can take over the drug trade. Kelly's hard nose Marine Corps approach and a quest for justice, leads him into a world of death, retribution, vengeance, and great pain. Warned by his fiancé and his best friend, Kelly ignores them and pushes on for the truth. Putting his job on the line, Kelly leaps in to solve a four-hundred-year-old mystery of a missing witch, a coven's witches bottle, and a story of wickedness that has plagued the town forever.

North’s life was already on the edge of collapse when Lucien Crowe’s world found him. A final year law student crushed under his family’s debt, North sees the offer for what it is: a transaction. Becoming a billionaire’s kept secret feels like a silver lining, and he takes it without hesitation, unconcerned with consequences. Lucien Crowe built his empire on control. People bend. Systems obey. What fascinates him most are those who still believe in the law, especially before they learn how easily it can be broken. North was supposed to be temporary. Another indulgence. Instead, his indifference cracks Lucien’s perfect exterior, awakening obsession, jealousy, and a possessiveness he no longer knows how to contain. For North, everything has a price. Affection is leverage. He never intended to fall in love, especially not with a man who represents everything he despises. But when rules are broken and lines blur, North becomes the villain for refusing to give his heart in return. North’s revenge demands sacrifice, and love proves far more expensive than money. As power tightens its grip, North must decide whether he can truly love a man who embodies the system he hates, or if playing with Lucien’s heart will destroy them both first.

In the charming town of Snowfall Valley, Selina Everhart’s heart once overflowed with Christmas joy. But after a devastating breakup and the loss of her mother, the holiday season became a painful reminder of all she had lost. When her best friend Celine convinces her to design the town’s Winter Wonderland, Selina reluctantly agrees, hoping to honor her mother’s memory. But everything changes when Sebastian Frost, a quiet architect with a mysterious past, enters her life. As their connection deepens, Selina learns that Sebastian’s past is tied to the tragedy that shattered her world. Tensions rise when her ex-fiancé, Victor, returns to win her back, and Selina is forced to confront her unresolved feelings for both men. Just as her heart begins to heal, a shocking revelation leaves her questioning everything. With the magic of Christmas around them, Selina and Sebastian must navigate betrayal, secrets, and a love that could either save or destroy them. Will Selina rediscover her belief in love and the holiday season—or will her heart remain lost forever?