Novel & Cerita The 80/20 Principle Richard Koch

Gregory Wolversen the Alpha of the Black River Pack. He was forced to banish his brother and declare him rogue for challenging his right for the pack. But his brother is mysteriously dead now on the other side of the country. Gregory knows there's a woman claiming to be his brother's bride, but the woman missing and no one has her name. What does she know about his murder? Did she kill him? His money and belongings have been accounted for. So is she a victim too? Aricka Daniels is a widow, a single mother and waitress/librarian who's struggling to survive. It's been seven years and she still looking over her shoulder. Widowed less than seven days after her wedding. She must come to grips with no home or job and a baby on the way that she was never able to tell her husband, Richard about. Her husband had told her to always stay away from his family because they weren't just rich but dangerous. For that reason she fears they might have had a hand in his murder and also fearing they might ruthlessly try to take her son from her. She never told them of him. Recently out of guilt she'd left a cryptic note informing them of his existence. The Black River Pack are the enforcers of the supernatural world in the area. It's their job to deal with the supernatural criminal element. If they don't then they will look weak to the North American Ruling Council and lose the right to their territory. With Gregory's very own parents on the Council they would suffer a lost of power that would rock the supernatural community as a whole. Can he do it all and find his mate and Luna to keep his pack stable?

My eyes fell upon a woman lying naked on the cold floor, her face hidden behind a curtain of tangled hair. Her screams echoed through the room as pain wracked her fragile body. I rushed to her side and gently brushed the hair away from her face. Cuts marred her skin, blood oozing from her split lips. Dark blue bruises had formed beneath her swollen eyes. She whimpered softly, every sound a broken plea for help. “Hey… I’m here now,” I murmured. “Nothing will happen to you. Don’t worry—I won’t let anyone hurt you anymore.” I shrugged off my coat and wrapped it around her trembling body, preparing to lift her into my arms when Max stepped forward and placed a firm hand on my shoulder. “Don’t forget what Ella told you,” he warned quietly. “Get the car ready,” I muttered, ignoring him. “You’re saving her life today,” Max said again, his voice heavy, “and one day, this girl will destroy you. Remember Ella’s warning.” “I don’t know what my future holds,” I replied coldly, “but I won’t leave a girl in this condition.” I bent down and lifted her into my arms. She squirmed weakly before burying her face against my chest, clinging to me as if I were her last hope. Mate. Dominic’s growl thundered inside my head. My breath hitched. My eyes widened in horror. Richard’s wife… The woman whose husband I had killed— She was my mate.

Richard Franklin has left his Midwestern roots behind to live on the coast of Maine with his family. But in the autumn of the year 2000, he must return to his Illinois birthplace on a sorrowful journey. His wife Michelle has been killed in New England by a hit-and-run driver who is never found, so back home he comes with her cremated remains, to fulfill a final wish and on her birthday scatter her ashes in the park along the river in Blackwater Valley—simply Blackwater Val to locals—the small town where they both grew up and fell in love. With him he brings his six-year-old daughter Katie who still grieves for her lost mother: Katie, who can sometimes guess who’s going to be on the phone before it rings. Who can stop all the clocks in the house, and break up clouds in the sky with her mind, and heal sicknesses, and who sometimes sees things that aren’t there...people who are no longer alive. All gifts she inherited from her mother. Only something isn’t quite right in the Val. Sinkholes are opening up, revealing the plague pits the sleepy hamlet was built over in the 1830s, when malaria and cholera outbreaks ran riot. Mysterious bird and fish die-offs begin to occur, and Katie can see ghosts of the dead gathering all around. But what she can’t see is the charred, centuries-old malevolence which has been waiting for her, and wants her for its very own. Or the pale Sallow Man who haunts the town’s nighttime streets...or the river witch—another Blackwater Val, of sorts—each of whom will be drawn one by one into the nightmarish bloodletting about to take place. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

My girlfriend Chloe Bennett's childhood buddy, Daniel Miller, binds himself to a transfer system. Everything he eats gets sent straight into my stomach. He creates a live stream channel and eats nonstop for 12 hours a day to rake in money. Meanwhile, I end up in the ER with acute pancreatitis. I try to explain everything to Chloe, but she just looks at me like I've lost my mind. "How could something that ridiculous exist? If food could magically transfer, nobody would starve in the world. You're just jealous he's making money from streaming." Afterward, Daniel's every live stream triggers another pancreatitis episode, sending me back to the ER until I'm barely holding on. I get tested, but the doctors can't figure out what's wrong. They even want to admit me to psych. Later, in a desperate bid to outdo another streamer, Daniel downs ten pounds of mashed potatoes at once. The overload destroys my spleen and stomach, causing massive internal bleeding that kills me. When I open my eyes again, I'm back on the day of Daniel's very first live stream. This time, I rush out and order 20 takeout dishes before him. "This time, I'm eating first."

My mother-in-law gets into an accident and is taken to the emergency room. I call my attorney husband, but he only answers after over 20 missed calls. "What are you on about this time? Gigi has a bit of a problem, and I'm helping her. Stop being unreasonable." I suppress my grievance and say, "Mom's gotten into an accident. Transfer 100 thousand dollars to me." However, he believes Gigi Norris' lies and snarls, "What does your mother getting into an accident have to do with me? Don't even think of getting money from me to provide for your family. Now, leave me alone. I'm busy!" He hangs up, and my mother-in-law dies. Three days later, I see my husband in court. Gigi has been taken to court for driving under the influence, and he's there to defend her. He speaks eloquently and manages to get her off based on a lack of evidence. I lose hope in him and ask him for a divorce once the court is out of session. That's when he panics. "Think about how well my mother treats you! You'll break her heart by divorcing me!" I sneer. I throw the hospital bill and death certificate in his face. The idiot doesn't even know he no longer has a mother!

⚠️ WARNING: 18+ READERS ONLY ⚠️ This book is an erotica collection containing 20 different stories filled with explicit themes, graphic sexual content, power dynamics, and mature situations. Proceed with caution. If you are sensitive to dark romance, revenge plots, or intense erotic scenes, this collection may not be suitable for you. Reader discretion is strongly advised. Blurb Sofia’s life shatters in a single click. The only man she ever trusted betrays her in the cruelest way possible — leaking her most intimate photos into the university group chat and auctioning the rest for money. Humiliated. Broken. Burning with rage. On her way to confront him, Sofia steps blindly into the highway — not caring whether she lives or dies. A black G-Wagon stops inches away from her. And the man who steps out isn’t just dangerous. He’s powerful. Tattooed. Cold. Untouchable. And he’s Tristan’s father. When his dark eyes lock onto hers, something shifts. The air thickens. His hand finds her waist. His voice drops to a husky warning. Sofia should walk away. Instead, she makes a decision that will change everything. If Tristan wants to ruin her life… She’ll ruin his from the inside. And what better weapon than the one man he fears? Don’t forget to drop your comments as you read — your feedback means everything.

In my previous life, everything I do to care for myself somehow ends up benefiting my new housekeeper instead. I apply expensive skincare, yet dark spots and fine lines spread across my face, whereas the 45-year-old housekeeper's face becomes silkier. I jog every morning, yet my body only grows heavier and bulkier, while hers becomes slender and toned. When my husband notices the stretch marks on my abdomen, his face twists with disgust, and he never touches me again. "I genuinely can't bring myself to touch you. How can you look worse than Mirabelle when you take such good care of yourself?" My housekeeper looks at me with a sinister smile. A chill crawls up my spine, and the strange feeling makes me fire her on the spot. Yet, as soon as she leaves, I start aging at lightning speed, entering menopause 20 years early and developing diabetes and high blood pressure. I see every doctor I can, but after hanging on for a week, I die from a stroke. When I open my eyes again, I'm back on the day she first reports to work. This time, I push away the royal jelly she sets in front of me with a pleasant smile. "I've been avoiding certain foods lately. You can have it instead."

Yaroslav “Viktorovich” Demidov: 25, of Russian descent, the second heir of the Demidov Family. Stoic, disciplined-well too much, perfectionist, hot headed and uptight. Hides vulnerability within that hard exterior of his. The only one in his family who has no magic because of an incident that happened when he was 4 years of age. Soul-bonded to Lian and actually holds the rarest and most powerful but dangerous power of all. Lian MAteo Alonzo-Kensington: 20, Filipino-British American, from the nurturing but competitive Kensington Family. Confident, expressive, sometimes impulsive kind of vulgar but well disciplined not in an uptight way. Has magical abilities, the rare dual type ability holders, ice and wind. His warmth clashes with Yaroslav and is soul-bonded with him therefore can also wield the other rarest and most powerful magic. Can two opposing hearts on ice bound by a soul-bond survive the weight of legacy, pressures of the competition and the dangerous pull of love and desire, when the bond that they believed to be a curse demands that one must lose his life for the other to live? For even every clash of skates, every stolen glances across the rink, every searing touch and mind-numbing kiss when they met in secret seems to burn the ice ablaze as the hatred blurs into hunger that draws them closer to a collision that could destroy or bind them for eternity. “Fuck Kensington, then I’ll risk everything, suffer everything….for one thing that matters…..You.” -Yaroslav Demidov

Yvette Warren, personal secretary to billionaire Orson Cox, announced that the heiress who was accidentally switched at birth 20 years ago was living in this orphanage. Whoever could prove their identity would inherit a billion-dollar fortune. In my first life, the two-faced Laurel Marsh tricked me into giving her my keepsake to claim the family. The Coxes tore her mouth apart. "Fraud!" In my second life, my frenemy, Rebecca Vargas, tattooed a fake birthmark on herself to claim the family. The Coxes had her skin slashed to shreds. "Still a fraud!" In my third life, my sworn enemy, Vita Davidson, took out online loans to get plastic surgery, reshaping her face to resemble Orson's wife. She tried to claim the family and was thrown straight into a mastiff cage by the Coxes. By my fourth life, no one dared steal my identity anymore. They packed me up overnight and delivered me straight to the Cox residence. When the DNA test confirmed I really was the heiress, everyone thought the nightmare was finally over. But on my very first night back, the Coxes shoved me off a high-rise building. "Anyone who dares steal our real daughter's identity deserves to die!" When I opened my eyes again, Yvette was smiling as she asked who the heiress was. Everyone backed away in terror, insisting they weren't the heiress. Yvette's voice turned low and eerie. "But our investigation shows that the heiress is definitely in this orphanage."

When my colleagues find out that I'm pretty good at cooking, they start organizing dinners at my place. Lucy Holt, one of the junior accountants, suggests that we split the groceries evenly between us. As a result, I don't think I can reject their request without being rude. On my last day of work, the group gathers at my place for one last meal. "You're such a good cook, Jess! We'll all be transferring you 500 dollars later. It's just a token of our appreciation," Lucy declares with a bright smile. But the very next day, she sends me a message. "Hey, Jess. You know it's illegal to operate an unlicensed catering business from your home, right? Your house will get sealed off for further investigation. More importantly, the value of goods has passed the threshold of 10,000 dollars, which means the fine you'll have to pay is probably going to be about 20 times that amount. "Since we worked together, we decided not to report you to the authorities. We'll just settle this matter privately. All you have to do is give us the fine you would've had to pay instead." This is how I realized that, combined with yesterday's meal, the total amount they've given me for groceries thus far is exactly 10,001 dollars.