The Good House A Novel Novels & Stories

My husband, Luca, had a childhood sweetheart named Sophia. Years ago, during a brutal gang shootout, Sophia shielded him from the worst of the bloodshed, and since then, she had suffered from severe PTSD. Because of that, Luca would push aside family business every year and fly to our estate on a secluded island off the coast of Sicily to spend three months “helping her recover.” “Victoria, she lost her mind because of me,” he told me. “I’m responsible for her. I hope you can be magnanimous.” So, I nodded. And eventually, I got used to the fact that every year, my husband would disappear for three months to fulfill what he called a moral obligation. That was until the day I flew in without warning to inspect the family’s money-laundering network on that island and saw him. In the town square, under the bright Mediterranean sun, Luca was standing there with a five-year-old boy by his side. “Papa, how long do we have to hide on this island?” the child asked. “I want to go to New York. I want to see the Empire State Building.” Luca laughed gently and scooped him up in his arms. With his other hand, he held Sophia’s. “Antonio, be good,” he said affectionately. “Papa’s position is… complicated. When you turn eighteen and pass the family’s initiation ceremony, I’ll kill that woman and her dead old man. Then, I’ll take you back to New York to inherit the entire Corleone family.” I stood in the shadows, unseen. Slowly, I lit a cigarette. The smoke curled around me as their voices drifted over, the conversation getting more vicious as it went. Sophia leaned into his chest, her tone sweet and coy. “Luca, I’ve been with you for seven years without a name or a title. How much longer are our son and I supposed to live like ghosts?” Luca sighed. “I don’t have a choice. The old man in the Corleone family is still alive. I married Victoria just to get her territory. Don’t worry. I’ve been adding something to her milk every day. She’ll never get pregnant in this lifetime. My family bloodline will only continue through you.” The last thread of reason in my mind snapped. In the six years of marriage we shared, I had been infertile. I’d taken countless hormone injections to stimulate ovulation. I’d knelt in church and prayed more times than I could count. Yet, all along, the devil poisoning me was my own husband. The initial shock faded quickly into rage. I crushed out my cigarette and pulled out my phone. Then, I dialed my uncle, the family’s clean-up man. “Uncle Rocco,” I said calmly, “Luca betrayed me. He betrayed the family. Order a coffin in the finest black walnut for me, and make it large, large enough to fit a family of three.”

A young woman showed up at my door, saying she wanted to become my wife to repay me for saving her life. She drove my younger sister out of the house and wanted to transfer the family property to her parasitic parents in my name! I immediately reported her. How could someone be so bold as to commit robbery right at my home in a society governed by law?

I was hired to care for a sick child. I never saw his face. Never heard his voice. Until I stepped into the house of nightmares. Ezra Kade thought the job was simple, to take care of a bedridden heir hidden away in a mansion dripping with wealth and secrets. But the moment he crosses the threshold, he realizes he’s been fed a lie. The child isn’t a child. He’s a man. A man who watches him from the shadows. A man with a past written in blood. Kieran Valen survived the unthinkable—an accident meant to erase him from existence. For two years, he’s played the part of the broken, helpless heir, a puppet in his siblings’ twisted game. But Kieran isn’t weak. He isn’t helpless. And Ezra? Ezra just walked straight into the web, into his hands. In a house ruled by deception, where the walls whisper secrets and the floors are stained with the past, Ezra must decide… run, or let himself be caught. Because Kieran doesn’t just want a caretaker. He wants devotion. Obedience. Worship. And he’ll break Ezra apart to get it.

At three in the morning, my husband, Nolan Thomson, started talking in his sleep. "My baby, be good. Daddy's getting you and Mommy a new house tomorrow." I shot awake. We'd always used protection. What baby? I shoved his shoulder. "What did you just say?" He rolled over, eyes still shut. "Just a nightmare. Dreamed some client was chasing me over money." I didn't push it. In the dark, I grabbed his phone and unlocked it. Three months ago, there was a $50,000 transfer. [Down payment.] [Recipient: Kelsey Ward.] I searched her name. The first thing on her feed was an ultrasound photo. [Our little angel has been on the way. Daddy says we'll be living in a big house by the time you're here.] Posted the day after Nolan sent the money. I screenshotted everything and sent it straight to my dad. [Dad, your perfect son-in-law didn't just cheat. He got another woman pregnant. I want him walking away with nothing.]

On Halloween night, an accident struck the haunted house attraction. The children and I were trapped in a pitch-black room, while the staff outside spoke without the slightest urgency. “At this hour, the repair workers have already gone home. If you want them to come back, you’ll have to pay an extra thirty thousand in overtime. “If you’re unwilling, then stay inside for the night.” I begged them to call the repair worker first. We had been in the sealed space for too long, and one boy with heart issues was struggling to breathe. But the staff member only scoffed. “That’s got nothing to do with me. He’s not my kid. Either pay, or sit quietly.” Yet later, outside the emergency room, that same woman knelt on the floor in tears, begging the doctors to save her own child…

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."

Lana wants to disappear from the world after scandalous rumours were spread about her by her best friend and ex-boyfriend who had been cheating on her. When she stumbled on a website offering a job as a live-in tutor somewhere far away. Lana grabs that chance to disappear. Everything seems nice and calm on the surface until the bloody ink of her pen touches the contract, and she finds herself thrust into another world she never knew existed— Werewolf and Monsters. Alpha Ronan is not only ruthless but extremely cautious when it comes to protecting his pack. After a chance meeting with Lana, he finds out that she is his destined mate. He brings her over to his house under the guise of tutoring his daughter, knowing fully well that she wouldn't be able to leave the pack. He doesn't care about the matebond because she is human and presumably weak, but he wouldn't let her go as well because she still belongs to him. Not until he realizes that his two brothers are also in love with her, and they are more than willing to claim her as his. Now, he has to contend with his personal feelings and traditions because he wouldn't let anyone close to her. She belongs to him!

As soon as I graduated from university, I suggested to my three roommates that we should rent a place together. The place I found was near our workplace, and it was cheap as well. It was much better than the house they used to rent in the suburbs. During the first three months of renting the place together, everything seemed fine. One day, I got off work early and heard them talking in the living room. "I did some research online. The rent of the houses in this area is at least 2 grand a month. But ours is only 800 dollars a month. How about we rent the master bedroom out for 800 dollars? That way, we won't have to pay any rent." "Alright, I'm in! Why does Jessica always get to sleep in the master bedroom? Even if she covered all the bills of this house, how much would that cost anyway?" "I've had it with her arrogant attitude. Thinking of her being homeless makes me want to laugh!" I laughed inwardly. 'You want to see me homeless? But I'm the landlord!'

Emma has lived her entire life in the same house, the house her parents left for her. She has been taught that everyone has some good in them, you only need to find it. She believes that the world is a good place. That changes the night she gets kidnapped and end up in the middle of a mafia family. The men that brought her there show her the other side of life. Bane lives his life in the darkness. His world is filled with pain, violence and the dark side of humanity. As the stapler comes flying at him, he sees an angel for the first time in his life. Someone that peeks his interest and makes him crave to pull her down to his world, to corrupt her. Bane offers Emma a way out, it's not a good deal, at least not for Emma. But it is better than the alternative. Better the devil you know then the devil you don't, right? Trigger warnings: Assult Sexual assult BDSM Explicit language

My mom has always been biased toward my younger sister, Nina Henderson. But before she passes away, she leaves the only house she owns to me. Meanwhile, Nina, who has always been the apple of my mom's eye, obtains nothing but a jewelry box. Just as I'm about to feel touched, I see comments springing in front of my eyes. "The truth is, their mom owes someone a huge sum of money. She left Leah her house because she wants Leah to take over the debt. In the end, Leah is forced to jump off a building by the debt collector. What a poor woman." "Nina, on the other hand, is able to marry the richest man's son thanks to the photo hidden inside the jewelry box. She gets to enjoy a lavish and comfortable life." "It's such a shame that Nina begins cursing at her mother the moment she hears the will being uttered. Because of that, her mother dies of anger before she can tell Nina the whole truth." I'm left feeling dumbstruck. That night, I dig up the jewelry box that Nina has thrown away. Then, I'm able to track down the richest man's villa.