The Black Card System

During the day, Nalani Contreras works at the local diner, while at night, she's bussing tables at one of the most exclusive clubs in LA. Though struggling to pay her bills, Nalani feels blessed and contented with her life, making her in no way prepared for the storm about to tear through her peaceful existence. A chance encounter sees Nalani gaining the attention of famous actor Julian Easton. But what begins as a whirlwind romance, quickly becomes a series of events filled with lies, betrayal and an unknown assailant wishing her harm. When all is said and done, will Nalani find herself Treasured or Discarded? Book 1 in the Conflicted Hearts Trilogy.

They caught my fiancé with my sister on the night of our engagement party. Tangled in a private wine cellar. My family name was dragged through the mud. We became the laughingstock of the Chicago Outfit. Then came Don Lorenzo Falcone. He proposed in front of all the Families, saving my honor and forging a more powerful alliance. For four years, he put me on a pedestal. But an old injury left him unable to father an heir. This year, through the family’s private doctor, I finally got pregnant. After that, his devotion became absolute. I thought this powerful man was my savior. My only protector. Until I heard him talking to his right-hand man. “Boss, Arabella worships you. How could you do it? You had the doctor switch the vials, made Arabella the surrogate for the Moretti heir. Just 'cause Isabella couldn't handle the pain? The kid’s due in two months. What’s the plan?” He was silent for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was ice. “When the child is born, it goes to Isabella. It's the only thing that guarantees her future with the Morettis.” “And Arabella?” “I’ll tell her the baby didn’t make it.” “She’ll still be Mrs. Falcone. She’ll have everything she could ever want.” So that was it. My great protector. All of it… for another woman. This tainted bloodline? I don’t want it in me. And this sham of a marriage? I’m done.

Aurora Kingston has everything—money, beauty, and a habit of ruining her father’s reputation. Her latest scandal pushes him too far. Her punishment? Become the personal assistant to Damian Blackwood—her father’s ruthless, impossibly controlled best friend. Damian is the last man she should want. Forty-two. Divorced. Dominant. A billionaire who turns obedience into an art and mistakes into consequences. He thinks she’s a spoiled brat. She thinks he’s an emotionally unavailable tyrant. But when he discovers she’s untouched, curiosity turns into obsession… And her smart mouth turns into an invitation he can’t ignore. Now Damian wants to teach her discipline. Submission. Pleasure that borders on pain. Rules she’ll kneel to obey. He swears he won’t touch her. She swears she’ll make him break. And when he finally does… Daddy’s little spoiled princess becomes a very, very bad girl. But their secret burns too brightly—and when it explodes, it could cost them her father, his empire, and the one thing neither of them expected: Each other.

“You really think a chrome leash makes me yours?” Timothy’s voice was a jagged shard of glass, his pulse thrumming frantically against the cold metal of the Blackwell collar. Kan leaned in, the scent of expensive bourbon and gunpowder clinging to him. He captured Timothy’s chin, forcing those defiant lavender eyes to meet his own. “It doesn’t make you mine, little ghost. It just keeps you still long enough for me to show you why you’ll never want to leave.” Behind him, Gideon’s shadow fell over them both, heavy and suffocating. “Careful, Kan,” the enforcer rumbled, his knuckles still stained with the blood of the men who’d tried to stop them. “He’s a reaper. He doesn't want a home. He wants a body count.” One Ghost. Two Predators. No Escape. Timothy Gal is a shadow. A high-level operative for the Nash Rebellion, he’s spent his life as a nameless tool in the war-torn Sopttyi District. He doesn’t feel, he doesn’t miss, and he certainly doesn't belong to anyone. But when a routine surveillance mission in Saati Town goes south, he catches the eye of the two most dangerous men in the Blackwell Mafia. Gideon Blackwell is the muscle—a man of controlled violence and territorial hunger. Kan Nelblack is the mind—a predator with a silver tongue and a taste for absolute submission. They don’t just want Timothy’s secrets. They want his soul.

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

I loved him for years. Alpha Xavier. But we weren't fated mates. So I did what any woman in love would do: after one night together, I convinced him to marry me, hoping to win his heart like my parents did. And it worked... until his fated mate showed up. Suddenly, I was the villain.I was framed for attacking his mate, rejected, and despised. The divorce papers were already on the table when I discovered I was pregnant. Pregnant with his children—a secret I knew I had to keep, because a man who hates you would never want your babies. So I lied, I ran, and I vanished into the world. Three years later, at an airport with my twins when I run into the last person I ever wanted to see again. Xavier He looks at my kids, his eyes filled with a warmth that I know is a lie. "How old are they?" he asks. My lie ready on my tongue. "They're not yours. I had a test before our divorce, remember?" And he believed me. Because the dates don't add up, and he can't possibly know the truth. But as he stands there, unable to shake the connection he feels to the kids and me, all our secrets and past wounds resurface. The man who cast me aside now looks at me with an agonizing mix of longing and confusion, and I have to wonder: is fate really done with us?

It was a bad idea. She knew it but she had no choice. After finding herself penniless after the death of her parents who nevertheless had a good fortune, Rose had no other idea than to loot the trunk of her old house to pay for her little sister's treatment. Anyway, it wasn't a theft because nobody knows about this safe... The house was empty because it was for sale, she was going to sneak in and she would never set foot there again. It was a perfect idea... When she entered the house, she suspected that there was someone but she persisted and continued... -Who are you? What are you doing at my house? She was so relieved that no one had touched her money so she hadn't even heard the footsteps... She turned to see a man...a man with a mask covering half his face. .. Frightened, she did not expect that this night could change her life... -I'll let you take your trunk and I'll offer you double more so that you serve as my escort, for one night... Rose could not understand such a proposal. However, she had no choice...

“Why do you even care?” “I don't. But perhaps I should thank Sierra for returning the favour.” “I hit you because you were being a jerk.” I snapped. “Anyone ever tell you you've got a sharp mouth? Watch it before it gets you in serious trouble.” Before I could fire back he was already walking off, carrying himself with quiet confidence and calm. But all I saw was an egotistical son of a— 》《》《》《 In a world where college games determine the fate of entire packs and hybrids are shunned from society, Anaya must rise to the challenge to break old rules and customs. As a wolf/witch hybrid, she becomes the first female Lunar strike player her pack has ever had. But the path before her is bumpy. Stuck in a love triangle with her childhood best friend and the soon-to-be Alpha she claims to hate. And faced with opposition even within the team. The plot thickens when the truth about Anaya's heritage begins to surface and it threatens to tear the team apart. She will either break or blossom through it all.

Caoimhe thought her job would only be Volkan Cardenal’s secretary when her former boss sent her to the Cardenal Real Estate Company. But she didn’t think that she would also be his personal assistant. Araw-araw man siyang sinusungitan ng binata, but she had no choice but to endure it in order to keep her job. But despite being grumpy and a playboy, Caoimhe still couldn’t stop herself from falling in love with Volkan. Well, who wouldn’t fall in love with him kung ubod ito ng guwapo? Ang akala niya’y sa mga novels lamang siya makakabasa ng lalaking perpekto. Maliban lamang sa ugali nito. But one day, Volkan confesses to her about his feelings for her. And that made her heart happy. He’s in love with her. But how will their relationship have a happy ending if she discovers Volkan’s secret? Can she continue to love Volkan if he had something to do with the destruction of their family then?

When Ava walked into that bar, she only wanted to forget. Forget the man who left her for money. Forget the wedding she was never meant to attend. But one drink, one stranger, and one reckless night changed everything. She woke up in a stranger’s bed only to find out he wasn’t a stranger at all. He was Adrian Blackwell, her CEO. Cold, powerful, and dangerously irresistible. Adrian swore he didn’t do love. He didn’t chase. He didn’t lose control. Until Ava. Now he wants her body, soul, and every breath she takes. But loving Adrian means walking a thin line between passion and danger… because the man who owns her heart might also be the one who ruins her.