The Hard Thing About Hard Things Novels & Stories

My African American Mom married a rich Japanese man. As I moved the skeleton of my new bed next to the window, I felt a gaze focused on me. Outside my window, was the house next door. The house shape was similar to ours, so it also had a window facing mine at the same level. Standing there on the other side was a skinny Japanese boy. As soon as I laid eyes on him, he stiffened, then shyly smiled and waved. His hair was all over the place, seeing him in his tanktop I thought to myself that he must've just rolled out of bed. But wasn't it the afternoon already? The boy says something but of course I can't hear him with my window closed so I slide it open. "Eto....hi." He tried in English. If someone were to tell me later I'd come to care about him deeply, I'd find that hard to believe. For as long as I could remember I've always felt empty. And that emptiness, I hid on instinct.

“You are mine Valentina! And I don’t like to share what I own” Diego said, handing me the head of my boyfriend in a box. He is as cold as the Arctic ocean, An emotionless devil with no atom of humanity, Diego Fernandez, A name that everybody fears because it belongs to the stone-hearted ruthless Mafia boss who does not mind destroying everyone who stands between him and whatever he wants. He is often referred to as the Devil, he never takes no for an answer, in fact, no is a word people know not to say to him if they want their heads still sitting comfortably on their necks, so when he decided that he wanted the beautiful college student Valentina Sanchéz as one of the whores in his harem her owner Don Carlos knew he had no choice but to hand her over without so much as an argument. Diego is intrigued by her stubbornness, so he makes it his duty to punish her until she begs for mercy and she eventually does. Something about Valentina’s venerability makes Diego want to protect her, he slowly realises that he is indeed in love with her. Valentina is terrified when she realises that she has fallen madly in love with her captor, she is even more terrified by the fact she is carrying his baby. She knows of Diego’s desire to be the last of his bloodline, she also knows that not telling the devil of her pregnancy would incur his wrath, what would she do? Things also get worse when Diego finds out that Valentina is not the naive innocent girl he had thought her to be. Is there a chance for the devil and his angel to fall in love? Read to find out!

"You think you have a choice?" Vittorio squeezed my nipples with his hand and my sanity with the other. “ You were never going to be anyone else's from the moment I set eyes on you”. His voice a deadly whisper His words cut through me making my chest tighten with fear "You’re Ours, kitten," he continued, his gaze locking onto mine and stealing the breath from my lungs. "You will be claimed, used, and Fucked however I see fit. Do you understand?" "I... I understand," I whispered, feeling my resistance crumble under his dark, green eyes. "You will lay before me, Katarina," he commanded his voice a low growl. "Spread your swollen pussy wide, and show me how desperate you are for me to fuck you." Katarina Delgado was supposed to belong to another man. Sold like property to Mafia Don Giordano, her virginity was payment for a debt her father couldn't afford. But when her brother Mateo tries to save her and fails, she ends up in the hands of a deadlier monster: Vittorio De Luca, the brutal mafia king who cages her, collars her, and whispers filth like love. Now, locked in a war between cartels, Katarina is the prize. But not just for Vittorio. Valentino De Luca, his missing twin, has returned. Sharper. Slower. Unhinged. And he doesn’t want to steal her. He wants to share her. Together. In a world of cages, kings, and betrayal, the only thing more dangerous than being wanted… is being wanted by both of them.

All Alessandro ‘Sandro’ Kennedy De Rossi ever wanted was to marry the woman of his dreams and Selena Salvatore was everything he could ever ask for. Beautiful, kind, and smart, her innocence drew him to her like a moon to water. They were inseparable and when their wedding day arrives, he knew that his life would be complete until tragedy strikes both of them and leave the lover separated. Losing Selena almost destroys Sandro until he finds out the truth of their accident which later reveals she was alive after all. Though Selena loses her memory and remembers nothing about the man she had married months ago, Sandro decides to use drastic measures by kidnap his wife. Convincing her about their love wasn’t easy but it was a challenge he was willing to take if it means getting her back and facing his enemies. He had lost her once, he won’t lose her again.

The day I got out of prison, my girlfriend—who I hadn't seen in five years—pulled up in a Maserati to pick me up. In the passenger seat sat a guy in his early twenties, athletic build. His face looked a little too much like mine did when I was younger. Selene told me not to make a scene. Not to want things that were never mine. She said with her status now, she could have as many pretty boys as she wanted. Right now, she only had one. Apparently, he was my replacement. So I shouldn't be so narrow-minded. After all, a guy like me—fresh out of prison with a record—wasn't even in her league anymore. I stared at Selene, a little dazed. She wasn't wrong. But she seemed to have forgotten why I went to prison in the first place.

"I can smell your arousal, Omega. Now quit being stubborn, spread those legs wide, and welcome me with gratitude." I stared at him quietly. I was dripping wet, but I wasn't letting any other Alpha use me like that. "I am sorry, Alpha, but I would have to reject your offer." He froze and stared blankly at me for a while. He looked stunned more by the fact that he did not believe anyone could reject him. Future Alphas and some selected warriors are taken away from the Titan pack to undergo serious training until the present Alpha dies. They are devoid of all forms of pleasure and denied mates until they return when they are allowed to have sex with any female and release sexual tension until they are blessed with mates. I was one of the slaves dragged away from my pack after a raid. I was there to scrub floors and clean dishes while staying invisible until I bumped into the Alpha who was said to be ruthless, and he asked to ride me. I rejected politely. It baffled him so much. Every female will die to ride him, but I, a slave from the lowest rank of Omegas had the backbone to reject him.

Naomi knew it was wrong to spend the night with a stranger in another city. But something told her she could trust him. She ended up having a passionate one night stand with him only to discover he lied about his identity and status....

Are you fascinated about love? Asking questions how it works? And who most likely to fall first? North or Boreas is a BS Psychology student who pretend to be a Nursing student. Well he has a reason why he pretend. He has a summer research and he thought of an extraordinary experiment that no one will think of.He thought of this experiment because of an Article that he saw on internet That's how Penelope Astraea Alcantara Esperanza enters. The girl she messed off. Will he succeed to get the result that he want? Or it will finis everything between him and Astraea? "You lit me up but you also killed the fire"

#Second place Winner hopwriter short storystorm " Don't say anymore word than you already have, don't..." I stuck a finger out at him, sauntering away on my heels when a hand wrapped itself around my arm. Breathlessly he whispered, "You know that I do love you and...fine, what exactly was I supposed to do?" "Protect me and stand up for me. That is what you do for someone who you claim you love!" ************ Out to spite her ex-boyfriend after he had broken up with her on her birthday, Daphne slept with a stranger who turned out to be his uncle while trying to rebuff his words that she was unwanted by others. Was she ready for the wild chase that followed when he found out years later that she had been pregnant with his heirs and that she had been hiding the truth all this while? Faced with the ruthless CEO, known as the beast, who wasn't ready to back down, Daphne does everything possible to make sure her kids wouldn't be taken from her, but what happens when love gets in the mix of it all? Would she be able to conquer these weird feelings and give in her all amidst her scars? And with how deadly he turned out to be? And faced with her ex who still wants her back, what choice is she going to make?

Everyone warned me never to fall for Dante Moretti. They said he was the ghost of the Velasco family—an underboss who ordered hits without blinking, his heart colder than the barrel of his gun. But when he bent me over that mahogany desk, his mouth against my ear commanding me to say his name, I was stupid enough to think that was possession. It took me an entire year to see the truth. The photographs locked in his study drawer were never of me. The woman in white waiting for him in the cathedral district on Sunday mornings was never me. The girl who took a bullet for him, the one he called his "salvation"—her name is Elena Abate. And Elena happens to be my stepmother's daughter. My father is trying to sell me to a half-dead Agosti heir for five hundred million to save the family. My stepmother is scheming to erase me from existence entirely. And the man I thought would burn this city to the ground for me? On the day I needed him most, he was lifting Elena up a flight of stairs, cradling her like something sacred. They all thought I was just a pawn to be moved around their chessboard. They were wrong. If Dante can't let go of his precious white moonlight, his "salvation," then I'll become someone else's "widow." If Elena believes she's already won this game, I'll let her watch from the front row as a woman with nothing left to lose burns it all down. My name is Serafina. Remember it. Because I am about to become the reckoning none of them saw coming.