The Last Winter Novel Novels & Stories

My name is Evelyn Brown. I represent the company in the IPO bidding process. Halfway through my presentation, I notice everyone in the room staring at me with puzzled expressions. In that instant, I realize my PowerPoint slides have been swapped for a "Paid Surrogate" advertisement. The wording is utterly humiliating. "I've lived the first 20 years of my life in a poor mountain village. I'm healthy and can promise a son. My price is negotiable." I rush backstage, only to see the impoverished student my father, Eric Brown, has sponsored for years laughing uncontrollably. Leaning against my fiance, Dwayne Woodruff, Katherine Cadwell says, "Oh, Ms. Brown, don't be upset! I was just teasing you to lighten the mood. You just got back home. Don't stress yourself out so much." I grab her arm, insisting she come out and explain herself. But out of nowhere, Dwayne shoves me to the floor. "You've just returned," he says. "We only pulled a little prank on you because we didn't want you to be too tense. If you can't handle even this amount of pressure, how can you be expected to take over the company?" I can't help but scoff. Right in front of them, I send the live recording straight to my father, the CEO. Without a second thought, I dial his number. "Dad, look at what your 'star scholarship student' just pulled. Can we have her and Dwayne kicked out of the company?"

During my graduation trip, my friends and I go on a road trip to the plateau. That's when I get afflicted with altitude sickness. As dark spots begin to form in my vision, I realize that my anti-sickness medication, which can definitely save my life, has been swapped for ibuprofen instead. I'm about to start demanding answers from the group when my fiance, Zayden Lowry, stops me. "Sorry, Noelle. I've given your imported medication to Erica. You should take some ibuprofen and try to ride out your sickness for the time being." I clutch the box of ibuprofen, already finding it difficult to breathe. "So, you're just going to make me wait for my death after taking ibuprofen, huh?" Zayden frowns deeply at me. "How could you say that? Erica is frail, but you shouldn’t curse her like that! "This trip is meant for us to enjoy Mother Nature's beauty, not an opportunity for you to show off your expensive medication! "My mom is right. You really need to change that spoiled temperament of yours. If not, I won't be able to afford your expenses, seeing as you're the frail type who collapses over the slightest inconvenience." I no longer pay Zayden any attention. Using what's left of my strength, I send my dad a text. "Dad, send someone here to take me home. Also, you can terminate the collaboration between our company and Zayden's."

I had no desire to marry. Quite conveniently, the general’s only son claimed he had no interest in women and refused to ruin some innocent young lady’s future. A brilliant notion thus occurred to me. “Then ruin me instead.” I would be spared the obligations of the marriage bed, and I even agreed that he might seek his pleasures elsewhere. Yet on our wedding night, I unexpectedly overheard his private thoughts. “She smells delightful. I want to touch her,” he thought. I regarded him with wide-eyed disbelief. “Are you quite certain you have no interest in women?” Outwardly, he appeared to be the very picture of propriety. “I’m quite certain. Do keep your distance.” Yet his thoughts told a very different story. “That was all a lie. The truth is that I am a man of considerable appetites, and desires for the marriage bed occupy me daily,” he thought.

"A contract??" Her eyes squinted, amused at the papers right in front of her. Her arranged husband was being ridiculous and unreasonable, but since they had no feelings or whatsoever for each other, she didn't object and sign the papers. Where as she was finding it hard to cope with her loneliness in the house, Lucas was outside having fun with his mistresses. Jasmine had to endure the pains, atleast for her grandfather's sake. He was on a sick bed now, giving him a bad news about her marriage wasn't a good decision. What happened when her grandfather died? Jasmine requested for Divorce and shocked her husband. He never saw it coming but Jasmine didn't care and was set to move on with life now instead of continuously being locked up like his scape goat. What happened when she finally left the house?

After surviving the massacre of his family, Ronan Frost grows into a ruthless billionaire driven by revenge. But when he finds his enemy dead, he turns his wrath on the man’s daughters, demanding one as collateral. Adaline, hardened by a life of neglect, is given to him without resistance. In his cold world, she becomes his possession until he discovers she is the same girl who once saved his life. Now, as secrets unfold and a jealous mistress threatens everything, revenge begins to blur into something far more dangerous.

"It's not so simple to seek death," Zedex groaned coldly. "Living will be a torment, that I will grant you for the rest of your life." “Ughhh…!” I let out a piercing scream, feeling overwhelmed by the situation. This man was a monster, a demon disguised as a human. **** After discovering her best friend Sia's ultimate betrayal with boyfriend Leo on their three-year anniversary, Camila Stone's world shattered. The devastating blow worsened when Leo rejected her upon learning about her terminal heart disease, courtesy of Sia's malicious revelation. Heartbroken and seeking solace, Camila stumbles upon Alpha Zedex at a clubhouse. Their passionate night together ignites an unquenchable desire. Unknown to Camila, Alpha Zedex possesses the cure for her heart disease. Alpha Zedex, haunted by past rejections and crudity from the human hunters, vowed to keep emotions at bay and seek revenge. However, Camila's determination to claim him as hers threatened to dismantle his defenses. Will she succeed, Even at the stake of her life? Will Alpha Zedex push behind his hunted past and accept her as his mate? Will he accept to be redeemed?

After encountering problems at work, I lose myself in a virtual reality game. I randomly meet a male player in there and depend on my amorous interactions with him to escape reaity. We flirt with each other and have roleplay; he grunts and groans over the microphone. Everything changes when I accidentally reveal my true identity. The young man next door pins me underneath him and roams his hands over my body. When he speaks, his voice is hoarse. "You were great at flirting in the game, weren't you? Why can't you make those noises now?"

My younger brother told me he was overwhelmed by school stress and had developed depression. I tried to help by encouraging him to seek treatment, drawing from my own experience with the illness. However, my mother blamed me, accusing me of passing the depression onto him. She took me to a witch, who locked me in the house. Every day, the witch used willow branches to drive away evil spirits, beating me until my skin was raw, forcing me to drink filthy water, and making me bleed. "This is the only way to banish the evil and bless your little brother." After enduring days of torment, my depression worsened, and I chose to end my life. However, when I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day my brother first confessed his depression. I looked at my body—whole and unharmed. This time, I will make them pay for everything I endured.

My sister was the golden child, the pride of our family, but she had a rare blood disorder that required treatments costing thousands every month. To keep her alive, I became her personal blood donor, working nonstop to pay for her care and delivering food all day and night. But one day, she nearly died from hemorrhaging after trying to abort a pregnancy. That’s when I learned the child she was carrying belonged to my boyfriend. When I confronted him, he didn’t even flinch. Instead, he dragged me to the operating table himself. “You were born to be her blood bank. Dying for her? It’s the best thing you’ll ever do.” I was left there, bleeding out, my life slipping away with every drop. But as death closed in, something changed. The people who once hoped I’d disappear—the ones who used me, betrayed me—they all began to unravel, losing their insanity.

"Are you the hunter, or the hunted?" Aria Strong, codename Spider, is a killer raised by the Black Dahlia mafia group. When she is tasked with assassinating Cyrrus Lied, the rich billionaire with a perfect image, she infiltrates his company and attempts to seduce him — only to find he is all too eager to comply. But the more she gets to know him, the less she understands. Who is he really? What darkness is he hiding underneath that sunny smile? Aria tightens the net around him, but what she doesn't know is that he has her right in his trap...