The Before Trilogy

There are monsters in this world. And they used to be us. Now it's time to euthanize to survive in a hospice where Emily, a woman haunted by her past, only wants to do her job and be the best mother possible. Post-infection Chicago. Christmas. Inside The Hospice, Emily and her fellow nurses do their rounds. Here, men and women live out their final days in comfort, segregated from society, and are then humanely terminated before fate turns them into marrow-craving monsters known as ‘Smilers.’ Outside these imposing walls, rabid protesters swarm with signs, caught up in the heat of their hatred. Emily, a woman haunted by her past, only wants to do her job and be the best mother possible. But in a world where mortality means nothing, where guns are drawn in fear and nobody seems safe anymore – at what cost will this pursuit come? And through it all, the soon to be dead remain silent, ever smiling. Such is their curse. It won't be long before that snow-speckled ground will be salted by blood. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

Betrayed by her husband and left to die, Elena Dawson wakes up ten years earlier before her doomed marriage. This time, she won’t fall for the lies that destroyed her. Instead, she turns to Alexander Knight, the cold billionaire who always loved her in silence. In this life, Elena isn’t just fighting for love. She’s fighting for revenge, redemption, and a future that’s finally hers. -- "You’re late, Richard," Elena said coolly, her smile sharp enough to cut. In her first life, she would have melted at his charm. In this one, she saw only poison. Later that night, she stood before Alexander Knight. His dark gaze pinned her in place, unreadable, powerful. "Why are you here, Miss Dawson?" he asked, voice like steel. Elena lifted her chin. "To change my fate. Marry me, Mr. Knight."

Avery's always harbored a crush on Jake Ortega, the charming boy next door who once stole her first kiss. Life pulled them apart when she had to move away with her mom. But now, fate reunites them, and sparks fly anew. With Jake now at the helm of his father's billion-dollar company, their rekindled connection breaches all boundaries, fueled by an irresistible attraction. ********* "Do you like that princess?" Jake thirstily questioned between our kiss once again. "Y..yes." I managed to moan out before he cruelly removed himself. Jake stood above me while staring down at me with a pleasing smirk on his handsome face. "Your lips taste of strawberries just as they were before princess. Now I want you to be a good little girl and maybe, just maybe I'll give you what your body has been craving for and more."

“Can you feel that?” “Paula, this is not right,” He tries to deny the spark between us. “But it feels right, right?” “Damn, Paula,” “Please, Sergio. Don’t deny us this,” He growled, and before I know it, he grabs me on my wrists and smashes his lips on mine, me hard. I place my hands on his face, participating in the . Our tongues bump against each other, fighting for dominance. He moves his lips down to my neck and sucks on it, sending chills down my spine, and my panties are already soaking . I let out soft , grasping into his arms. He runs his tongue on my face and stops on my ear, nibbling it, and whispers: “We can’t do this, baby girl.” Argh, so disappointing! He sits back in his seat and starts the car. It is only a matter of time before he gives in – he just needs a little more time.

The day before the wedding, my fiancé James's childhood sweetheart had a severe depressive episode. Threatening to take her own life, she demanded the destruction of the wedding gown my grandmother had painstakingly made for me before her passing. To calm her down, James locked me in a room and stayed by her side, helping her cut the gown into shreds. Amid the mess, he spoke indifferently. "Be reasonable. It's just a wedding gown. Do you want to see her die?" Later, James's hot uncle approached me, asking me to carry on the family lineage. I nodded in agreement. But James, with reddened eyes, confronted me. "Are you really going to have his child? Have you completely given up on me?" Covering my slightly rounded belly, I replied, "Be reasonable. It's just a child. He’s your uncle. Do you want to see him with no heir to carry on the family name?”

I was about to get married to the leader of ‘Decease’, the heftiest mafia gang of Albania next week. Nonetheless, things up when I ended up having a one-night-stand with a stranger just a night before my engagement. No! It wasn’t the worst thing that ever happened with me. It shuddered me from the core when I witnessed my would-be husband in the ceremony. Yes. He turned out to be the one I slept with. “I don’t wanna get married to a girl who sleeps with guys a night before her engagement,” that’s what he said to my grandfather. ~~~~ “Be my submissive,” a month later I offered him and he shook his head in agreement, unable to reject it. ~ The only thing Abraham Harris never wanted was to fall in love with Amayra. The only thing Amayra Mehta wanted was to destroy Abraham beyond repair. Will they ever succeed or destiny will play its role against their goal?

A small-town mayor. A stranger with a sketchy past.Two weeks before Christmas, Katie is kicked out of her apartment. Again. Rather than wander the streets and continue to work for a dirty cop, she escapes, determined to disappear for good. Until her car breaks down in a small New Mexican town, and everything is threatened when she falls for the charming mayor.Sam Freedman is the first bachelor mayor of Amor. After convincing the locals that having a mayor without family responsibilities means he can dedicate all of his time to the community, they watch his every move. Then Katie Andersen shows up. Against Sam’s better judgement, he hires her to replace his former event coordinator. Now he can barely think straight, let alone run a town. In the midst of half-truths and outright lies, Katie and Sam desperately search for the place where honesty and trust lead to love. But they have to find it before the past catches up with them.

My fiance, Dante de Rossi, is the heir to a mafia family in Manhorne, and he loves me dearly. Yet, a month before our wedding, he says his family has arranged for him to have a baby with his childhood friend, Isobel de Luca. Despite my refusal to agree to it, he brings it up daily and tries to push me into it. Half a month before the wedding, I receive a pregnancy report. I find out that Isobel is over a month pregnant. I have yet to give Dante my permission. This is when I realize just how fragile our years-long relationship is. I cancel the wedding and destroy everything he has ever given me. On the day of the wedding, I set off for Etolia to further my medical career. I accept a role with an international medical organization, severing all ties with the mafia. From that moment onward, he and I no longer have anything to do with each other!

“What if I reject you right here, right now, and end this before it even begins?” His eyes darkened considerably at my words as he stepped forward. "Do you for a second think a flimsy thing such as your rejection will stop me from having what was deemed mine by the goddess herself? I will never accept your rejection, Adelaide Silverstone. I’m not above chaining you to my bed if need be. And if you still plan on going ahead with your rejection, then your cousin's head will roll before you utter the words." *** Adelaide Silverstone is a woman on a mission: kill the man who destroyed her life. When her mate turns out to be that very man, rejection is no escape, but revenge has never been straightforward, especially when secrets and half-truths threaten to shatter everything she thought she knew. Will she choose revenge… or the desire that burns hotter than her hatred?

She lost her mother due that an unexplainable mysterious attack from her father who has powers and that caused him going to jail, although she just discovered a great reason to make sure that her father stays in prison and dies before he comes not only for her, but the world at large.