The Guilt Trip

A business trip took an unexpected turn when our plane ran into disaster. While everyone else was penning their last words, I, an orphan with nothing to lose, decided to have a little fun with my miserly boss. “Boss, let’s keep this short—I like you.” “I really, really like you.” “Boss, this is a final goodbye.” Just when all hope seemed lost, the captain pulled off a miracle with his years of experience, saving us from the brink of catastrophe. By the time we landed safely, I was still in a daze until I saw my boss, eyes bloodshot, storming toward me, flanked by a wall of black-suited bodyguards.

While on a business trip, I stumbled into my brother-in-law, Julian Zeller, mid-act with a male colleague in a hotel parking lot. Furious, I blew the lid off his fake marriage and helped my sister, Yvonne Sutton, escape that scumbag. But after the divorce, she lost his financial support. She spiraled, blaming me for destroying her perfect marriage. She even killed me for trying to stop her from going back to him. Then, everything resets. I wake up, and there he is—slipping into the car while hugging the same man. I pocket my phone. This time, I won't ruin Yvonne's happy ending.

After her mother's death and her brother Reno's deportation, Riana is left alone in NYU. Life seems to only get worse when she finds her roommate and her boyfriend having sex in her bed. Alan's girlfriend just cheated on him. With his PA. In public. And they were caught by a server. Angry on his behalf, Riana bids on him at a charity auction to make sure his cheating girlfriend doesn't go near him again. She wins what she thought was a simple date with the man, but boy was she wrong. Riana wins a date with billionaire Allan Sinclair and a trip to Venice. For two weeks. With him.

Princess Arielle, that's what she's been called her whole life. She's brave, disciplined, upthight and beautiful. When a threat is made to her life, Princess Arielle becomes Marissa, a common maid to the very enemy who threatened her life. Prince Scott, the guy every girl wants. Fun-loving, Care-free, Impulsive. In other words Arielle's opposite. When Scott goes on a business trip to Revillon he finds himself enthralled with his maid who seems like more than he can handle. Trouble arises when Prince Scott falls in love with the very lady, he came to get help to destroy.

‘It’s not that there aren’t good people in the world. It’s that the bad ones are so much easier to find.’ A teen mother raises her daughter on a looping road trip, living hand-to-mouth in motel rest stops and backwater towns, stepping occasionally into the heat and chaos of the surrounding cities. A life without permanence, filled with terrors and joys, their stability is dependent on the strangers—and strange men—they meet along the way. But what is the difference between the love of a mother, and the love of a friend? And in a world with such blurred lines, where money is tight and there’s little outside influence, when does the need to survive slide into something more sinister? ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

The underprivileged student I've been sponsoring suddenly shows up at my birthday party, swaggering in and waving around a pregnancy report. "Look—Pheebs is pregnant with my baby! You'd better be smart and divorce her already!" I point at the report, stunned and confused. "Are you sure it's Phoebe who's pregnant with your child?" Victor Thompson, my beneficiary, smirks proudly as he fiddles with the pregnancy report. "Duh! We conceived the baby last month on our cruise trip!" The entire room falls into a stunned silence. My ex-wife, Phoebe Jackman, has been dead for three years.

In the first year I was brought home, the phony heiress Viola Baker suggested a trip to Gold Island to build a sisterly connection with me. My fiancé, Jeremy Abbott, had joined us to ensure our safety. However, they ended up amassing significant gambling debts at the island's casinos. In a bid to flee, he abandoned me on the island as a hostage, vanishing without a trace alongside Viola. The casino staff restrained me, poised to unleash their wrath upon me. In my frantic struggle, I glimpsed a phone number labeled "Island Owner" on the leader's phone screen. "Could that be the number of my brother, who had cared for me for more than a decade?"

Graduation is supposed to be the beginning of freedom for Jamie and Lucas A celebratory trip to Italy turns into a dream when they meet two dangerously powerful men — Matteo De Luca and Enzo Romano. One is calm, calculating, and commands the world with a single look. The other is sharp, loyal, and always watching. Together, they rule an empire built on money, influence… and secrets. And they want them At first, it was intoxicating. Private villas. Exclusive galas. Whispers of protection. The kind of attention that makes you feel chosen. Then Jamie sees something he shouldn’t. He wants to run. But Matteo has already decided what belongs to him. Jamie. And he won't let him go.

My in-laws go on a jungle trip and are stung by venomous bees. An exorbitant sum is needed for their surgeries, so I hurriedly call my husband for help. However, as soon as the call connects, he berates me. "They can die if you don't have money to treat them! Why waste the money? Your family isn't mine—what does it have to do with me if they die? Also, Chloe has no money for food. I'm transferring what we have to buy her a meal." He hangs up abruptly and transfers whatever money I have. Meanwhile, his parents die because we didn't pay to save them.

The first year after they finally bring me home, the impostor suggests a trip to Golden Island so we can build some brotherly rapport. For safety, my fiancee comes with us. They rack up a massive gambling debt at Golden Island's casino. To get themselves out of trouble, she leaves me behind as a hostage and disappears with him. The casino thugs pin me down, ready to take out their anger on me. I struggle to break free, and that is when I notice the leader's phone lighting up with a number for the island owner. Isn't that the number of the adoptive sister who has adored me for more than a decade?