Springfield Greene County Library

It has been 8 years but Hailey Greene was still haunted by her past. The past that she dreaded the most. It wasn't her intention to hurt Nick Smith, the love of her life but due to her family's debt she has no choice but to sacrifice everything even the love she had for him. Moving on, Hailey left without a word, bringing only good memories of them together. And who would've thought that leaving Nick will eventually lead her to a life that she never knew existed. A life of motherhood. And to that, she felt reborn. And years passed, she met an old friend, Mikan Grey, Nick's best friend. Mikan learned everything about her, even Annie as Nick's daughter. They would meet every now and then. Mikan always had this thing with Hailey but he knew that he couldn't replace Nick in her heart. He wanted to give Hailey and Annie a good life which led to a marriage proposal. Hailey would always shrug off the thought of Mikan's proposal but Mikan would always say that he just wanted Annie to have a good life and that its been three years since Hailey and Nick saw each other. And that's why here they are getting married not because she had moved on but because this is what's best for Annie. There's no better man than Mikan, she thought. But the idea of seeing Nick again after three years, gives her shivers. Will everything change if they meet again?

Alina Hart, a sharp-tongued high school senior, hides behind sarcasm and wit to mask the pain of fractured family life. Shipped off to a prestigious boarding school by a father who no longer sees her, Alina struggles to find her place in a world of strict rules and academic expectations. Enter Professor Cristiano Wright, a 27-year-old literature teacher whose calm demeanor and sharp intellect make him both an enigma and a fascination. Tasked by Alina’s older brother Ethan to keep an eye on her, Wright finds himself drawn to the complexity beneath her rebellious exterior. In the backdrop of Shakespearean sonnets and Romantic poetry, Alina and Wright navigate an increasingly fraught connection. What begins as reluctant mentorship soon transforms into a tangled web of forbidden emotions, unspoken words, and an undeniable pull that neither can ignore. Set against the bustling corridors of an urban high school and the quiet corners of a library filled with unspoken confessions, Silent Flames, Forbidden Paths explores the fine line between admiration and desire, duty and vulnerability. As Alina and Wright grapple with their feelings, they must confront their moral boundaries and the cost of their choices. Can they maintain the lines they’ve drawn, or will their emotions blur them beyond recognition?

“Open your eyes, Mi Amor. I want to see your eyes when my mouth is eating you out.” Don Raphael growled at me as he dipped his head further toward my pussy. I gasped as his tongue touched my mound, from the back to the front. His tongue was rough against my sensitive pussy. While his tongue was assaulting my pussy, gently penetrating, his thumb was playing with my clitoris. I could barely keep my eyes open. But it was his order so I had to obey. Soon, I felt a pressure building inside of my stomach. As if I was suddenly feeling the urge to pee. My breaths quickened. My legs were shaking, that he had placed on his back as he ate me. I tried my best not to, but suddenly my eyes rolled back into my head. I was about to enjoy my first ever orgasm when he suddenly bit onto my pussy so hard that I screamed in pain. Chucking, he pulled away. I touched that place where he had bitten me. …. Hazel ran to her father's county to avoid her ex who cheated on her. Little did she know, to avoid the little mess she could have easily fought with, she got herself into an actual hell. Her life turned upside down when her father sold her to the ruthless Mafia Don who was known for his merciless ways to torture those who disobey him. From the hope to find true love, she ended up being the Mistress of a Don. Will she ever be loved, or her fate is to never find love?

Su Tze , 26 years old top world assassin. She was known as the Black Rose in the black underworld before she was blown with her two teammates at the ship after they killed all the targets on the ships in year 2040 . After she thought she was died , she wokes up in year year 80th . She is known as Su Ling a 15 years old girl in a poor family . Her father, Su Min is a cripple scholar that send to work in the farming village . Her mother Ling Mei, fourth daughter of Ling family that renowned by the family after Su Min become cripple a year before she transmigrate . She had two younger sister and two younger brother . They live at the foot of mountain in a small house with two rooms . She was transmigration with her spatial space . " Fuh, lucky I had saved many foods and things in my space . Lucky all the things I kept are still in it . " . " She take a breath and vow to make her family had enough food and the richest family in the village . General Xing Li Zhi . A genius young general who become a general when he was just twenty years old . Xing family as the root family of the county city with most of the men in tha family are from the military department . His eldest brother is a minister in his 26 years old . His eldest sister is the succesfull bussineswoman in her 25 years old . His second brother is a mejar general in the Navy . His father is the admiral of the Navy . His mother is the owner of four famous restaurants . His grandfather is the retired military admiral and a respectful veteran with many achievements . His grandmother is the lovely and sweet old lady who admired by all the generations .

His body pressed closer to mine. I was more aware of the lack of sufficient clothing items between us. I felt my body heating up. The tension between us was so thick that it nearly choked me. Was he going to kiss me? Every part of me yearned for it. I took a bold move, placing my hand on his face again, this time moving even closer to him. Just then, something seemed to break loose within him. His eyes turned golden again, a deep contrast to the moon outside. He growled, and in the low light, I saw his teeth be replaced by fangs. I stood frozen, my eyes wide as I stared at his face transform into something almost beastly. My heart skipped a beat, and time seemed to slow down. Kierian backed away abrubtly in an attempt to hide away what I had seen. My heart didn't stop palpitating, but my curiosity had reached the roof. Despite myself, I walked up to him slowly as my lips parted. "What are you?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eva Greene is an introverted 18 year old who's only engagement is school. She has a sad and lonely childhood due to the absence of both her parents. Eva has always felt an attraction to Kieran, the brother of her best friend, and as time goes on, Eva begins to uncover certain truths that change everything for her. As a human, she is mated to the Alpha of the Crescent pack who resents her, and she is also expected to birth his child. While facing different challenges together, Eva and Kieran explore the complex ties surrounding their relationship. But when it comes down to the final stance, will they be able to finally bridge the gap between them?

Connor Greene, a golden boy in Brookhaven, is unwittingly drugged, and I end up being the cure for his "predicament". It's exactly a month later when I discover that I'm pregnant during a routine medical examination. Upon learning the news, Connor offers me 50 million dollars to carry the baby to term, and then another ten million dollars to take full custody of the child. It's then that Julie Sutton, my so-called righteous friend, persuades me to terminate the pregnancy, saying, "You ought to know that money isn't everything, Queenie. If you throw away your dignity for just 60 million dollars, then you're no better than those women who entertain men in clubs!" In my past life, I had an abortion at Julie's suggestion and pursued legal action against Connor, accusing him of assault. I later sought financial assistance and support from Julie after my parents fell gravely ill, but Julie slapped me hard across the face instead. "Your parents are seriously ill, and instead of figuring things out on your own, you come running to me, huh? You're truly shameless, Queenie!" Julie broke off our friendship right then, and I also lost the lawsuit against Connor. I couldn't afford the treatment, so my parents' lives were cut short by their illnesses. In the end, the grief of losing them was too much, so I decided to take my own life by jumping off a rooftop. When I open my eyes, I find myself returning to the day Julie tried to persuade me to get an abortion.

While preparing for the SATs at the library, my brother is accidentally shot and injured, causing him to bleed profusely. I pass by this scene but turn a blind eye and quicken my pace to leave. This is because in my previous life, when I saw him, I rushed him to the hospital in a panic. He had intracranial hemorrhaging, and he urgently needed surgery. I quickly called my mom, the top neurosurgeon in the city, begging her to come to the hospital as soon as possible. However, she thought I was jealous that she had taken my adopted sister to the beach instead of spending time with me. She also believed I had fabricated the story about my brother's injury, and thus refused to return. By the time my dad and the rest of the family hurried to the hospital, it was too late for rescue efforts—my brother had passed away. The whole family blamed me for his death. They were convinced that I had deliberately misled my mom and delayed his critical treatment. When my mom returned from out of town, she lost her composure and pushed me down the stairs, watching coldly as I bled to death. After opening my eyes again, I had returned to the day my brother was shot at the library.

Tiana Greene arrives on Lycan Isle with nothing but a suitcase, a scarred past, and a desperate need for work. When she is hired as a maid in the sprawling cliff-side mansion of Ross Lycan – the island’s reclusive billionaire – she expects long hours, strict rules, and silence. What she does not expect is the man himself: cold as the steel in his voice, brutally private, and carrying a shadow in his gaze that keeps everyone at arm’s length. Rumours whisper through the island of former staff fleeing in fear, of Ross’s cruelty, and of the mysteriously vanished brother whose memory haunts the mansion halls. Tiana tries to keep her distance, but every forbidden glance and accidental touch tightens the invisible thread pulling them together. When a near-fatal accident on the cliffs pushes Ross into her life more violently than either of them intended, the dynamic shifts. Ross grows protective yet distant, drawn to Tiana in ways he cannot accept – while she fights her own confusion over the man beneath the frost. As the annual island festival approaches, tensions rise. Tiana becomes a target for the island’s elite women, whose humiliation of her sparks a dangerous, possessive reaction in Ross. Social pressure thickens, rumours spread, and the boundaries of employer and servant begin to blur into something darker, deeper, and irresistibly intimate. But everything changes the night Tiana slips into a forbidden study and uncovers the truth about Ross’s past – a past woven with loss, guilt, and secrets buried beneath the island’s stormy surface. Now she must decide. Can she love a man built from shadows? And can Ross love someone brave enough to walk into the darkness he’s spent years trying to hide?

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

Ambelyn did something terrible six years ago. She willingly gave her virginity to the college bully who had been tormenting her because she was forced in an arranged marriage by her family to marry the son of their biggest investor. Now stuck in a loveless marriage, where she watches her husband parade his first love and their second child hurting her and her miracle baby. Her husband hated her after divorcing she wasn't a virgin, which was the main requirement for their marriage and decided to show her how worthless she was. She swallows the insult for the sake of their child, but when her husband refuses to sign the papers for their son to get surgery or loses his life, and their second child bullying her and his elder brother and wishing for a new mummy, she decides to do what she never thought and divorce her husband, granting him slow custody of the second child, while she takes sole custody of the first child. The only issue was, she started working for the Heartless Cruel CEO who returned back home after six years abroad and it was the same man who pinned her against a library shelf and deflowered her. Would Ambelyn be able to survive working under the bully who once made her life a living hell, or would she be able to find her happily ever after in the hands of someone unexpected.