Operating Systems: Internals And Design Principles Novels & Stories

"Stop squirming, Babydoll. I won't let you go," he said without blinking his eyes, frightening Pearl as he restrained her body. "Who are you? I don't know you," Pearl answered fearfully. He stroked Pearl's flawless skin with the tips of his fingers, then took hold of her jaw. Pearl opened her eyes wide at once. Her breath stopped. This time, she will die. "You know me well, doll. You are my mate.” *** Pearl Rosental has one big dream: to get the best position at a famous design company, The Excellor Enterprise. Therefore, she worked hard to get the opportunity to participate in their internship program. Unfortunately, her father and stepmother forced her to marry Kellent’s only heir, Taggart. Pearl rejected Taggart as her mate despite his urgent need to imprint her. Later, she learns that Taggart is The Excellor's president and owner. Taggart never stepped back from his obsession when he found out about her. Pearl is more than just a mate; she also keeps a big secret about her blood, which captivates Taggart's cousin, Damian. Damian and his father, Matthew, have been trying to steal the Alpha’s crown for a hundred years. Damian falls for Pearl, leading him one step closer to becoming the next Alpha.

Serena Vale is a broke, overworked law student determined to prove that werewolves and humans can coexist peacefully. She fights tirelessly to expose rogue werewolves who use their powers to manipulate, harm, or kill—and to dismantle the corrupt systems that protect them. What no one knows—not even Serena—is that she is a werewolf. Orphaned young and raised by the Alpha and Luna of the Vale Pack, Serena grew up believing she was human. But when a brutal ambush leaves almost her entire pack slaughtered, the dying Alpha names her as successor. Suddenly, she’s burdened with a title she doesn’t understand, a broken pack she can't lead, and a power inside her she can’t control. Then comes Dominic Reign—a cold, calculating billionaire and the Alpha of the world’s most feared werewolf syndicate. His empire keeps the supernatural hidden from human eyes through money, silence, and blood. No one knows he’s the leader of this syndicate and only think he's a billionaire Alpha of an ordinary syndicate. When Serena’s legal crusade threatens to destabilize the fragile balance between worlds, Dominic makes her an offer: a contract marriage to merge their packs and avoid all-out war. What begins as a calculated alliance soon ignites into something neither of them expected. But Dominic’s past is drenched in secrets, and Serena is the key to a prophecy that could either save the werewolf world… or destroy it. Their union awakens a cursed bond, forged at Serena’s birth—one that defies logic, destiny, and death itself. Love was never part of the contract. But fate never asked for their permission. Together, they must face corrupt political werewolves, rebellious packs, and a growing vampire threat Before everything they are, and everything they fight for, goes up in flames.

Claudia Larson is a timid 22-year-old college student struggling to survive her toxic adopted family in Florida. She works multiple part-time jobs just to pay her tuition and support her lazy brother, with no one to protect her. One desperate night, she takes a part-time job as a server at the luxurious Richard’s Hotel. She is assigned to the private suite of Richard Cooper the cold, breathtaking billionaire CEO. Drugged by his obsessive adopted sister, Richard loses control and spends the night with the innocent girl. The next morning, he leaves her only a Supreme Black Card and a note that treats her like a paid servant. Two months later, Claudia discovers she is pregnant with his child. When her adopted family finds out, they drag her to the hospital to abort the baby so she can marry a dangerous old man for one million dollars. But just as they force her toward the operating room, Richard storms in, stops everything, and carries her away in his arms. Now living in Richard’s world of wealth and power, Claudia must face his ruthless adopted sister’s deadly jealousy, his mother’s cold disapproval, and the growing feelings between them. As secrets about her real identity begin to unfold, the timid girl who once had no voice finds herself at the heart of a powerful storm. Will the billionaire who once saw her as a mistake choose to protect her and their unborn child? Or will the weight of power, betrayal, and family secrets destroy their chance at love?

I helped my wife, Kim Carey, rise from obscurity into stardom, only to discover that she was having an affair with a rising young actor who looked like me. When I asked for a divorce, she cried and begged me not to leave. In the end, I caved in. I gave her three chances. The first time, she stayed up all night to post a public statement clarifying all the rumors between her and Emmett Stone. She canceled all her work and stayed with me for an entire week. The second time, on my birthday, she publicly announced that Emmett was her soulmate. She even released intimate photos of the two of them. She buried herself in my arms and said righteously, "Emmett is depressed. I'm only doing this to comfort him. You're the only one in my heart. This is the last time. Please believe me." Then, she abandoned me in the wilderness, just because Emmett had suffered a minor injury on his hand. The final time, my father was critically ill and urgently needed a huge sum of money for surgery. She refused to even transfer a single cent to me. "All the money has been invested in Emmett's new drama," she said coldly. "Your father won't die that quickly." That night, my father missed the best window for treatment and died on the operating table. My heart was completely shattered. When Kim finally returned home late that night, I asked for a divorce once more.

A new intern at the hospital claimed that she had excellent medical skills. Even without anesthesia, her treatments never caused any pain. The truth was that she had transferred her patients’ pain to me. After she went viral, many patients rushed to the hospital to see her. Some of them even had to bid for a slot to receive surgery from her. However, I was in excruciating pain due to all the surgeries she had carried out. I could no longer work and received complaints from the patients. In the end, the hospital fired me. I gradually discovered that I even experienced some of the side effects of the surgeries she had carried out on her patients. My hair started to fall, and I became as thin as a skeleton. Even walking caused me excruciating pain. I went to the hospital to question her. Everyone thought that I was jealous of her and that I had gone crazy. She calmly put on her surgical gloves as she faced my wrath. “Please don’t make a scene. I’m about to conduct brain surgery on the daughter of the wealthiest man in the city. I don’t have time for your nonsense.” After she entered the operating theater for five minutes, I suddenly suffered from an aneurysm and died on the spot. When I opened my eyes again, I had been transported back to the day when she had gone viral. I took out all my savings and bid for one of her treatment slots. “I’d like to try your painless gastroscopy.”

After finally convincing her father to give her a year of freedom before she takes on the alpha position, her father allows her to celebrate in a club with her best friend, Dex. With him nowhere to be found and a persistent bloke named Ryker sniffing around her ass, the last man on earth she'd expected to save her was Alpha Kaden Kyson, whom her father loathes with every drop of his blood. She wakes up in Kaden's bed and instantly realizes she made her biggest mistake. She rejects him, only to go home finding his mark on her neck, leaving her in shock, about to beg her father on her knees when he says the last thing she expected of him. As it turns out, her father holds very strong principles on the mate bond. To him, it's the most precious, sacred bond to a wolf and one must not break it. So, he breaks his longest-time rivalry with Alpha Kaden for sake of his daughter, and arranges an alliance between the packs through marriage. Eloise is relieved of her father's decisions and gives the bond a chance. All seems to be going well, when on one fateful day, she announces her pregnancy to her father first out of excitement. But before she got to tell Kaden, pictures of her naked with another man flooded the news, bringing shame to her family and most of all, breaking her father's trust. The marriage is called off, and he announces her unfit to rule the pack and she never will. What breaks Eloise's heart even more is that her father starts beating her. Kaden refuses to see her or answer her calls. Desperate, she seeks Dex who helps her escape her father undetected, chasing that sliver of hope for new beginnings.

Harlequin Frost is in an arranged marriage for two years when she overhears a conversation between her husband, Victor Cross, and his best friend, Liam. Victor admits he is going to ask her for a divorce. When he does tell Harley that he wants a divorce, she is nothing but cold and she lets him see her anger for the first time. Victor starts noticing sides of his wife that he never knew were there. Harley realizes that she has lost everything about herself just trying to be the kind of woman he could love. Victor swears she was hiding her true self while Harley insists, he would have seen these sides to her if he had attempted to get to know her. When his first love comes back to town, Victor tries to bully Harley into making concessions in their divorce agreement to try to hang on to Daya while Harley refuses to budge. When Victor's half-brother comes back from abroad, he takes an interest in Harley while Harley is just trying to concentrate on growing her jewelry design firm. She doesn't even notice that Victor's best friend and his half-brother are trying to get her attention until her best friends notice and point it out to her. Will Harley find love with Liam or Daniel? Or will she and Victor reconnect and try to make their relationship work?

Elina Hemsworth ran away from her happy marriage because she lost another child to miscarriage. She's been married to Noah Woods for five years and she knows what havoc the news would bring to him. She ran, ignoring his calls and blocking him, only leaving him with a text that she is sorry for what she has cost him. She created a new life for herself, hoping that her old life would stay dead, but that is not always how it ends. Noah Woods was hurt. The separation left him cold and hard hearted. He believed Elina left him because she found someone else and that he wasn't good enough to take care of her. He focuses all of that pain into his business and immediately, skyrocketed to be one of the biggest billionaires in New York. To him, Elina was dead, but dead things still find a way back to life. Noah Woods hired a big interior designer to help design a new estate of his and he is beyond shocked to find out that it is none other than his wife that left him five years ago. As old wounds opened and secrets surfaced, Elina and Noah found themselves caught between the past they never healed from, but when a blackmailer threatened to expose everything, love may no longer be enough to save them. This time, the truth doesn't hurt, it could destroy them both.

I dated my younger brother’s best friend, Dylan Lane, for three years. More than once, he told me how much he loathed arranged marriages and how he hated being chained by family interests. However, one night, after another bout of indulgence, he wrapped his arms around me and begged me sweetly to design a wedding ring for his fiancée—someone he had never even met. The smile froze on my face, yet he just said indifferently, “Aren’t people like us all destined to marry for our families' benefit?” Seeing the blood drain from my face, he even chuckled. “Vee, don’t you tell me you're still as naïve as a 20-year-old girl, thinking I would ever marry you? At most, we're just… pillow friends." Later, I agreed to the marriage my family had arranged for me. Dylan showed up on my wedding day, disheveled and red-eyed. He fell to his knees and begged me not to leave. I stood beside my new husband, hand in hand, and smiled faintly as I chuckled. “Didn’t you say people like us were born for arranged marriages? I’m simply doing what you always wanted me to do. Shouldn’t you be happy?”

"“Funny, charming, and utterly captivating! I devoured this sparkling read.” - New York Times bestselling author Annika Martin The man I hate might be the first one to pluck my petals… Confession: I, Dandelion “Dani” Wright, am twenty-six years old and have yet to be deflowered. No man has hosed my hyacinth. Fondled my freesia. Diddled my daffodil. You get the point. My excuse? I was too busy running my family’s flower shop and winning floral design competitions. Suddenly that whole pesky virginity thing becomes a big deal when Jacob West walks back into my life. The boy I once loved. The same boy who humiliated me when he stood me up for prom. This Jacob is no boy, though: he’s all man now—confident, charming, and so sexy my metaphorical blossoms are getting scorched. I can almost forget I’m supposed to hate him forever. Almost. To make things worse, he’s my main competition now, since he took over his parents’ flower shop. If I give into this sizzling attraction between us, it could jeopardize everything I’ve worked so hard to achieve. But if I’m not careful, he might not just be the first man to pluck my petals—he might also be the only man to capture my heart."