Pollen Count Brooklyn

I worked for a restaurant, and our boss loved making empty promises about giving us restaurant shares. The boss said we would start with zero shares, but we could earn 0.01% for every two hours of overtime, covering someone else’s work or saving the restaurant 1,000 bucks. I suggested she write this down in an official document and have someone track it properly. She just smiled and told everyone to work harder. She never actually put it in writing. The experienced staff did not believe her, but one prep cook took it seriously. At the end of the year, he went to the boss to claim his shares. The boss said, “Sorry, the head chef told me there’s no official document, so it doesn’t count. You can’t claim any shares.” The prep cook worked hard all year and got nothing for it, so he took his anger out on me. The day before I was going home for the New Year, he killed me with a knife. “If you hadn’t said it doesn’t count without an official document, this whole restaurant would’ve been mine!” I lay in a pool of blood. When I opened my eyes, I was back to the day the boss first made those empty promises.

**Perfect Blind** *She pretended to be her blind twin. Then she watched her brother-in-law die. The killer tested her—held the bloody head five inches from her face. She didn't blink.* **But what he didn't know? She's not just pretending. She's hunting him too.** --- Jiang Yan has spent three months learning to be her blind twin sister: the walk, the voice, the empty stare. She breaks into Lin's apartment seeking a diary—evidence of a murder Yan committed ten years ago. Instead, she finds a body. A killer who knows sign language. And a "dead man" who won't stop breathing. Trapped in a locked room with two strangers and one lie, Yan must play the perfect blind woman while uncovering the truth: her sister isn't blind, her father isn't dead, and the murder she confessed to never happened. **In this family, everyone wears a mask. The only way out is to see through them all.** --- **Perfect for fans of:** - *The Silent Patient* (unreliable narrator) - *Gone Girl* (toxic sisterhood) - *Behind Her Eyes* (identity games) **Tags:** #PsychologicalThriller #TwistedFamily #BlindPOV #ShortRead #DarkSecrets --- **Word count:** 10,000 words | **Chapters:** 10 | **Reading time:** 45 minutes *Every chapter ends with a twist. The final page changes everything

Belle Daphne wanted love from everyone but whenever she tried something, she always failed. Being a sweet young girl, she wanted love from her mate, her pack members always said that finding their mate was the best thing that ever happened to them. However, that was not the case. She was rejected by her mate, who happened to be her best friends. The Moon Goddess was cruel to her, she was left with a broken heart. She felt useless, angry and heartbroken. She wanted to stop the pain which pinned her heart and wanted everything to end. She decided to end it by running away from her pack. Sneak peek: “Can you two do me a favour?" I look at his eyes while addressing those words. “What do you want?” He asks, raising his eyebrow. “I want to make him regret the things he did to me. So, I want you to help me fake my own death," I propose my idea to him. He smirks, "Sure, but I will need a plan to make it look real.” I discuss the plan with the two people that I can count on, and they nod their head in response. “This is going to be fun!" She exclaimed. “Sweet revenge is always the best feeling ever," I proclaimed with a growing delight.

"I’m a good girl—until I got drunk in Vegas and married a panties-flaming-hot Irishman. Oops. I’ve always lived my life by the rules. Unlike my two sisters, I’m the good one. The responsible one. Going outside my comfort zone is when I wear red lipstick before five PM. That comfort zone of mine? It’s smashed to smithereens on a wild night in Las Vegas when I met—and married—Liam Gallagher. After one shot of tequila, then two, then too many to count, a good girl’s rules tend to disappear. And so do her panties, and her bra, and various other articles of clothing when she’s with an Irishman who knows his way around a woman’s body. Now my husband wants us to stay married. For six months. He says it’ll be worth my while. Considering our chemistry underneath the sheets, I can’t say that he’s wrong. Liam isn’t safe, though. Liam definitely isn’t comfortable. He’s like the male equivalent of wearing red lipstick in the daytime all wrapped up in an irresistible, dangerous package. Yet this stubborn Irishman isn’t about to let me go, drunken Princess Bride-themed Vegas wedding or no. Now I have to decide if I’m brave enough to break the rules for love."

She thought she could endure a loveless marriage to repay her family’s debt—but she didn’t count on the cost of her heart. Once the proud daughter of a wealthy businessman, ELENA BRADFORD watched her life crumble when her father’s betrayal left her and her mother drowning in debt. Desperate to protect her family, she reluctantly agreed to a marriage contract with her father’s former business partner’s reckless son, ADRIAN HAWTHORNE—a man who once loved her during their university days but now only mocks her fall from grace. Trapped in a cold marriage filled with scorn and humiliation, Elena finds herself suffocating under the weight of Adrian’s cruelty. But everything changes at a high-profile dinner when she locks eyes with the one person she never thought she’d see again—LUCAS EVERHART, her childhood best friend, who once confessed his love before vanishing from her life. Now a powerful CEO, Lucas is stunned to see the woman he loved trapped in a toxic marriage. Learning of her misery, he vows to free her from the chains of her past—even if it means clashing with Adrian who refuses to let her go. As old feelings reignite and secrets unravel, Elena must decide: will she fight for the love she once believed in, or will her past mistakes keep her from the future she deserves?

Torn between the billionaire who broke her and the mafia prince who’d kill to keep her. Three years ago, Victor Kane—cold, powerful billionaire—shattered Isabella "Bella" Moretti with one cruel sentence: “You’re too fragile for my world.” He walked away, leaving her heartbroken on the marble floors of his Manhattan penthouse. She rebuilt her life in Brooklyn’s shadows, vowing never to return to his glittering, controlling empire. But Victor doesn’t let go so easily. Now he’s back—wealthier, darker, more obsessive. Private jets, diamond collars, whispered commands in the dark: he wants her again. And this time, he’ll chain her to him forever. Then there’s Nico Moretti—her childhood best friend, the dangerously handsome heir to New York’s most feared crime family. The man who’s held her through every storm, buried her secrets, and never once demanded more. Until Victor reappears. Nico’s loyalty ignites into raw possession. His touches burn hotter. His eyes promise violence to anyone who tries to take her. He’s done waiting in the shadows. If she won’t choose him, no one else will have her. Two alphas. One rules boardrooms with ice and billions. The other rules streets with blood and loyalty. Both are dangerously obsessed. Both will destroy everything to claim her body and soul. In a deadly game of jealousy, betrayal, and scorching desire, Bella must decide: Surrender to the ex who once ruined her? Or fall into the arms of the best friend who’ll burn the world to own her? One woman. Two monsters. No safe escape.

He closed the gap between us and his hand travelled to my waist, pulling me closer to himself. His cologne filled my nostrils and he cupped my face in his hand gently. The look in his eyes whenever he looked at me always seemed like he was watching something so ethereal and now wasn't any different. I was supposed to hate him, to not be able to stand him. But why was I letting him do this? And why did I like it too? Love it even? He smirked at me, leaning down with our lips almost touching, his minty breath fanning my face. "I'm fucking addicted and obsessed with you if you haven't noticed." He paused as he studied me while I took a deep breath. "Are you sure you can't stand me?" He asked. "Or are we going to keep on lying to ourselves, babydoll?" ~ Vittoria Belluci, popularly known as 'Lilith' is short tempered, bossy, fiesty, poor social skills and a beautiful resting bitch face. Roman Argentero, Brooklyn's popular mafia don known for his playboy status, cockiness, flirtatious behavior but also ruthless and finally his Greek god appearance. A one night stand in the past, an arranged marriage, a stupid bet, a hatred she has for him and his family, and an addiction he has to her. Will she find out how her sister died? Or who keeps wanting to kill off her family? And doing all that with a fragile promise to herself to not fall in love. What happens when a Belluci falls in love with an Argentero who is already addicted to her?

Divorced and remarried—I've lost count of how many times Aaron and I stepped in and out of marriage. He once treated me like something precious, but less than a year after our wedding, he asked for our first divorce. The reason was simple, Vivian was coming back. "Vivian's a public figure," he told me. "I don't want anyone thinking she's involved with a married man." That third-tier actress had nothing but her father's sacrifice to her name. He had taken a bullet for Aaron—a life for a life. And because of that, Aaron believed he owed her everything. Every time Vivian returned to the country, Aaron divorced me. And every time she left, we remarried. The first time we split, I drowned my tears in whiskey and stumbled back to his house half-drunk. The lights inside were warm. He was with her. And I stood outside, shivering through the night. The second time, I tracked his every move—restaurants, auctions, charity galas—just to "accidentally" run into him again. Later, I learned better. The moment he mentioned divorce, I would quietly pack my suitcase and disappear from his mansion. My love and humiliation kept me trapped in that endless cycle of breaking up and coming back together. But this time, when Aaron waited for me at City Hall to remarry, I never showed up.

After returning home from a flight, I realize that my bottle of hair conditioner has run out in the bathroom. The thing is, my husband, Carlos Zappa, doesn't use hair conditioner at all. Seeing Carlos through the frosted glass, I decide to probe him for answers. "Did any guests stay over lately? Or have you started doing hair care?" Carlos flips through the documents, which are stamped with the Zappa family crest, impatiently at my questions. "Maybe a maid accidentally toppled the bottle over when she was cleaning the bathroom. Also, why are you annoying me with such minuscule matters?" When I put on the bathrobe, I feel a ticklish sensation coming from the collar. As soon as I look down, I notice a strand of dried yellow hair being entangled in the collar. The moment the steam dissipates, I see two pairs of intertwining handprints on the bathroom's glass door. I never thought that my home would grow this popular during my one-week trip away from home. I've been married to Carlos for three years, and yet this is my first time finding out that he's actually this wild in bed. So, I secretly text my father, the Don of the Carozza family. "Dad, Carlos has cheated on me. Does the bet we made three years ago still count?"

My sister, Bella, had a baby in a back-alley shithole. Then she disappeared. A midwife tracked me down using an address Bella left behind. She shoved the newborn at me like a sack of garbage. My parents fell to their knees. Crying. Begging me to take her bastard. Just like that, my future as a promising artist was gone. The neighbors, the priest, my landlord… they all called me a whore. A sinner who had disgraced God. They ran me out of the neighborhood . My life was over. Eighteen years later, Bella waltzed back into my life. A cheap thug with a fake Rolex dangled from her arm. She held my son, crocodile tears streaming down her face. She called me jealous. Accused me of stealing her flesh and blood. Of keeping a mother from her child. And my son? The one I bled myself dry for? The son I poured every last cent into, turning him into a brilliant painter? The son I starved for, so much that I ended up in a hospital bed? The moment he saw his "real" mother, he cast me aside without a second thought. "You pathetic, broke bitch!" he spat. "You stole everything from us! All the happiness that was supposed to be ours!" My parents threw me out like a dog. Bella's thug husband had his men corner me in the red-light district. They pinned me against a wall, their threats vile and clear: Never come back. I had no way out. I threw myself off the Brooklyn Bridge. Then, I opened my eyes. I was back. Eighteen years in the past. Then came the knock. Hell had found my door. I wasn’t going to be the fool who gave everything and got nothing. This time, I took control.