The First Death Is In The Heart

My husband’s childhood friend was trapped in an elevator for half an hour. In his anger, he stuffed me inside a luggage bag and locked me inside. “You’re paying double for all the suffering Grace went through.” My body was forced into a curled-up state. I had a hard time breathing. I cried as I apologized, but all I got was my husband’s cold reproach. “You’re going through the entirety of this punishment. Once you’ve learned your lesson, you’ll behave.” He then locked the luggage bag in the closet. I screamed in despair and struggled to break free. My blood seeped out of the bag and soaked the floor. Five days later, he felt sorry for me and decided to end the punishment. “Let this punishment be a warning for you. This time, I’ll let you go.” Little did he know that my body was already rotting inside the luggage bag.

Everyone in our social circle knew that my fiancée, Hazel Mullins, had a skin hunger condition toward me. Only touching me brought her excitement and satisfaction. But the self-proclaimed heartthrob and heir to the Newman family refused to believe it. He boldly declared that he would win her over within a month. After bombarding her with seductive photos for an entire month, Hazel finally reached her breaking point and auctioned them off. With his reputation ruined, Rory Newman was disowned by his family. In a fit of rage, he jumped off a bridge in an apparent suicide attempt. Hazel lost her mind and leaped after him. I became the biggest laughingstock in the circle. That was until I went skiing in the Alps and accidentally bumped into Hazel helping Rory select ski gear. She explained with a composed expression, "Rory's dealing with some serious emotional trauma. The doctor suggested more outdoor activities. Just please, don't throw another tantrum." I felt bewildered. I wasn't even involved with them anymore. Why would I get upset? Then it hit me that she was unaware of one fact. I had already married someone else on the same day she jumped into the water after Rory in that dramatic display of devotion. I was simply there for my honeymoon, with a bit of skiing on the side.

I make my final phone call to my boyfriend when a murderer is hunting me down. He thinks I'm messing with him and hangs up on me. That destroys the final sliver of hope I have for survival. He's celebrating his childhood friend's birthday when I'm being murdered. Later, as a restorative embalmer, he receives a body to restore. He loses his mind when he restores my shattered skull and realizes the body is mine.

"Why were you flirting with another man?" Christian’s voice thundered through the room. "Maybe you shouldn’t have flirted with another woman," Jane shot back, her voice cold but trembling with suppressed hurt. For five long years, Jane and Christian endured a loveless marriage — one built on duty rather than affection. Everything changed when Amanda, Christian’s first love, returned to town. Her arrival coincided with Jane’s tragic miscarriage, tearing Christian between the desires of his body and the quiet pull of his heart. Now, Jane has walked away… and it’s killing him. Especially when he sees her with another man — Jared. But Jared has secrets, dark ones, and Jane is about to uncover the truth behind his intentions. Just when she thinks she’s reclaiming her life, a shocking revelation threatens to change everything: Jane is pregnant again — and the child is Christian’s. Will she keep the baby? Can she trust Jared after learning the truth? Or will she return to Christian — the man now on his knees, begging for forgiveness and a second chance? Jane must choose between the man who broke her… and the one who might do it again.

In my previous life, my husband had suddenly died of a brain hemorrhage, leaving behind a massive mountain of debt. For the sake of my son, who was still in high school, I sold the house my parents had left me, gritted my teeth, and worked three jobs to pay off the debt. Overworked and exhausted, my health deteriorated, and I eventually collapsed in the hospital. From my bed, I could hear my son, now a graduate from a prestigious university, smiling as he spoke on the phone. "Hello? Dad, it's me. Yeah, she's about to die. I bought insurance for her, so we should get close to one million. You and Aunt Rena should come back home right away." The "Aunt Rena" he spoke of was none other than my husband's childhood friend and neighbor who had known him for years. It turned out that the debts were all part of a massive money-laundering scheme between my husband and his childhood sweetheart. They had fabricated false accounts to hide their crime, and he had faked his death to escape the law. My son, eager to become the heir to wealth, had stood by and watched me work myself to death. When I next opened my eyes, I was back in the moment of my husband's feigned brain hemorrhage, the day it had all begun.

On the day I was kidnapped, my husband was looking after his sick sweetheart. I called him, asking him for help. Yet, he merely replied coldly, "Danica, you are a bad liar." After that, he heartlessly hung up the phone call on me, causing me to get brutally murdered by the kidnappers. I failed to show up as scheduled on the day we agreed to finalize our divorce. He called me in exasperation, only for the phone call to be answered by the police. "Mr. Ferguson, are you a family member of the deceased Danica Reed?"

Don’t stray from the path… When Siorin encounters a mysterious black-haired mage in the forest on her way to the local good-witch, she knows better than to stray from the path. Doing so would be inviting trouble from the fairy brethren with whom mankind shares their world. His plight, however, moves her, and she rescues him despite misgivings. Rivyn has cast a destiny spell which he believes brought him Siorin, so he doesn’t hesitate to steal her, well and truly taking her off her path when he does so. The mage irresistibly draws and seduces Siorin as he leads her on an adventure that transverses their world, encountering all manner of brethren, for Rivyn is on quest is to rebuild his power so that he can return to the Fae Court and reclaim what has been stolen from him. But what Rivyn has lost is not what he needs to seek. Will Rivyn choose his power, or his heart?

BLURB Eugene Hampton’s perfect life shatters when she discovers her husband, Nicole, betraying her with her best friend. Heartbroken and reeling from the betrayal, she’s forced into a loveless marriage with Asher Malik, a powerful billionaire. It’s a union born of duty and family reputation, not love. As Eugene and Asher navigate their fragile relationship, a storm of lies and manipulations threatens to tear them apart. Nicole, desperate to regain Eugene’s wealth and status, teams up with her former best friend in a dangerous game of deception, leading to shocking revelations about Eugene’s past and the tragic accident that changed her life forever. Amid betrayal and heartbreak, Eugene and Asher begin to uncover feelings neither of them expected. But can love survive when the ghosts of the past refuse to let go? In a tale of betrayal, revenge, and redemption, will Eugene and Asher find their way to true happiness, or will their enemies succeed in tearing them apart forever?

The entertainment world is no stranger to Keitha Patric, a senior manager at Paris-based entertainment company Tristar. She has always represented the company to deal with scandals caused by famous actors she manages, but this time the incident was so out of Keitha's control that the production manager himself had to convene a staff meeting a few hours later. Keitha was then assigned to work with Laetus Allision, a new creative director of Tristar to solve the ongoing problem. But when it comes to solving problems, both Keitha and Laetus simultaneously realize that behind them there is another competitor who is deliberately trying to cause trouble for the company.

When the power meter in the house trips, Mom's foster daughter, Juniper Hawthorne, is trapped in the dark for five minutes. Even though I have claustrophobia, Mom locks me in an empty, pitch-black room. "You knew Juniper was terrified of the dark, yet you intentionally shut off the power just to frighten her! I'll teach you how to behave today!" I cry and beg her not to, but all I receive in return is a harsh slap. "Claustrophobia? That's just what happens when a kid grows up too spoiled." Late that night, I sense someone breaking into the house. The first thing I do is to call Mom, a renowned criminal psychologist, for help, only to be yelled at. "You're still really getting into this role just to fight Juniper for attention, aren't you? "Kidnappers, huh? Well, go ahead and die so you'll stop bothering me!" As she wishes, I'm brutally tortured and killed. My body is buried beneath Mom's favorite flowerbed. After I die, my soul is trapped in the body of a cat. All I can do is helplessly circle Mom until five days have passed. The police arrive with a mangled body and request her help in creating a portrait of the killer.