Tiptoe Table Legs

"Ava, now!" Virin's voice sliced through the suffocating darkness, sharp and urgent. My body moved before my mind could catch up, legs burning as I sprinted toward the van where Kyra and Priti waited, their faces pale with terror. "Run! Faster, Ava!" Priti's frantic scream tore through the night, her fists slamming the steering wheel as if sheer willpower could propel me forward. My lungs screamed for air, my legs trembled with exhaustion, but I couldn't stop-not when freedom was just ten steps away. Ten. Nine. Eight- "Ava!" His voice cut through the chaos, low and venomous, freezing me mid-stride. It wasn't a command. It was a threat-a promise of destruction. "If you don't stop right now, I'll kill everyone who dares to stand between us!" The weight of his words coiled around me like chains, choking the air from my lungs. I knew he didn't bluff. I knew what he was capable of. "Not now, Ava! Run!" Virin's desperate voice shattered my paralysis as his grip yanked me forward, dragging me the final agonizing steps to the van. We tumbled inside, slamming the doors shut. For a fleeting moment, I dared to look back. There he stood, his figure looming in the distance, chest heaving with fury. His dark eyes burned with a rage that made my stomach twist. Slowly, he raised a finger, pointing at me. "You are mine," he growled, stabbing the same finger into his chest. Over my dead body. ***** Ava's life once seemed perfect-best friends, a family she adored, and a love that felt like destiny. But perfection shatters. Caught between two men-one who sparks a fire she can't extinguish, and another who offers solace laced with shadows- Ava is thrust into a web of secrets, lies, and dangerous temptations.

“Shush” he cuts her off. “Raise up your skirt right now” “Master…” He cuts in again. “Raise up your skirt right now and don’t make me repeat myself” She took a deep breathe, this is not the first time he has punished her this way, It started a month ago. “Okay master” She raised up her uniform skirt and her white panties came to view, his eyes bulging out. He swallowed. “You’re beautiful, it’s like each time you raise that beautiful skirt of yours up, it’s my first. Come here, I want you to see yourself” he hold her by the hand and takes her to the mirror. “Look at yourself, you’re beautiful. Your legs are slender and you’ve got such a nice crutch” he admires her as she watches herself, her skirt still raised. He bent down and began to kiss her legs, kissing all the way up to her neck. He grabbed her ass from behind trailing kisses om her beck before one of his hand rested oh her boobs and the other went into her panties rubbing her clit and squeezing her full boobs hard. “I heard you’re a virgin too” he moaned as he nibbled her ear continuing his attack on her innocent body. “Are you done master?” She asked ready to run away and go confess her sinful thoughts and to put her body to punishment for wanting more. “Done? Oh honey, I’m just getting started with you” with that he released her boobs from the shackles of a bra and tore her shirt pressing her to the mirror, he breast on it waiting and screaming to be sucked. “What a lewd thought!” She quarrels herself. He dragged her pant up, seperating her pussy lips with it.

In my previous life, everyone in my family could hear my mother's inner thoughts. I managed to land a new job. The pay was high, and the benefits were great. Instead of being happy for me, she was deeply anxious. She thought, "With her education and her abilities, how could she possibly get a job like that? She must've slept her way to it." After my father heard that, he refused to let me go to work. He stormed into my workplace, made a huge scene, and got me fired. I was furious and decided to move out for a while and stay at my boyfriend's place. On the surface, my mother supported my decision. Deep down, however, she was desperately trying to stop me. She thought, "What should I do? That boyfriend of hers has been married for years. He even has a child. She's someone's mistress. "If she really moves in, that man's wife will surely have a go at her. She'll embarrass the rest of us!" To keep me from leaving, my younger brother broke both my legs with a stick. Then, they locked me inside the house and leave me to suffer on my own. My wounds festered and became infected. I begged them to take me to the hospital, but my mother sighed inwardly, thinking, "She's so rebellious. No matter what anyone says, she insists on leaving this family. "In truth, there's nothing wrong with her legs at all. Once she gets to the hospital, she'll definitely escape." After that, everyone ignored my pleas and left me to die in agony. Even at the very end, I never knew who was to blame for my death. When I open my eyes again now, I realize that I, too, can hear my mother's inner thoughts.

Every anniversary, Mark had some twisted surprise for me. Our tenth? He strutted into the ballroom holding hands with an escort wearing straight up lingerie. "Jenna, she's cold. Hand over your dress." Then, like that wasn't sick enough: "And the lingerie. She likes your vibe." I clutched my collar, trying to keep it together. He didn't care—just yanked it open. "Cut the act. Your dad sold you to me, remember? That slutty look you used to give me—I still see it." Everyone stared, waiting for me to break. So I did the one thing I could. "I want a divorce." Again. Mark just laughed and chucked a stack of photos on the table—me, covered in marks, curled in bed, a total mess. "You say that every year. And every year, you're back in my bed. Think your mom keeps that hospital spot if these get out?"

My husband, Daniel Thompson, looked down on me. I was just a farmer's daughter in his eyes, and he never loved the son I gave birth to. It wasn’t until our baby turned 100 days old that he held him for the first time. Then, one day, his first love, Claire Matthews, came back to the city. That night at dinner, Daniel, who was always cold and distant, finally smiled. He even reached across the table and placed a piece of meat on Noah’s plate. Noah beamed all evening, clutching onto that tiny gesture like it was a treasure. Just before bed, he whispered to me, "Mom, do you think he likes me now… even just a little?" I wrapped him in my arms, tears blurring my vision as I gently shook my head. "No, sweetheart. It’s because the woman he truly loves is back. It’s time for us to go."

I just woke up one day with a handsome vampire by my side, offering me a contract marriage. I knew it was like being courted by the devil, yet like a foolish lamb who laid herself on the sacrificial table, I reached for his hand, not knowing that it would consume my reckless heart. Eve was caught in a fight between vampires and werewolves after her vampire boyfriend left her. With her family and friends killed by an unknown vampire group, she is left with no choice but to ask for Landon's help, the vampire lord who saved her for his personal interest. Landon was a scheming man who holds many dark secrets, a devil who won't hesitate to consume the souls of his victims. He wants to play with Eve, to consume her little by little, but when his dead heart starts to feel warmth for the first time, he realized he found someone he is willing to burn a whole city for.

Eighteen and desperate due to my mother's illness, I enter the orbit of Enzo Lombardi, a powerful, feared mafia boss. He treats me with impossible sweetness, and I find myself sinking into his possessive love and lavish spoiling. Everything changes the day a woman named Isabella Gallo shows up. She claims she's the one Enzo truly loves, and she laughs as she slides a two-million-dollar check across the table, demanding that I leave him. I turn down the money. She then suggests we both send him a message at the same time and see who he cares about more. Holding on to one last bit of hope, I text Enzo that I'm in a car accident. Isabella, on the other hand, tells him her plane is about to land. I wait for his reply, but nothing comes. Instead, I watch as Isabella picks up his call. At that moment, I understood it was time for me to go.

I sat at the table, watching the food grow cold, much like my heart. Today was my birthday. It was also Leslie Buck's birthday—Katherine White's childhood sweetheart. I unlocked my phone and opened Leslie's social media page. As expected, a new post awaited me. "Grateful to have you by my side for every birthday. Let's keep our promise to celebrate every one of them together in the future!" The photo showed two hands forming a heart in front of a cake. One of them was Katherine's. I could tell from the bracelet she wore. It was the one I had given her. I gave the post a like, then set my phone aside. Without hesitation, I dumped the dishes Katherine liked into the trash and went out to a restaurant to order the food I liked, celebrating my birthday alone. From now on, I would make sure to enjoy every birthday of mine.

“Do you know a way out?” He asked, as he drove the sword through a guard running towards us. I flinched as his blood splattered all over us. When I did not answer, he looked at me again. “Do you know a way out, your highness?” I nodded. “Then run as fast as your legs can carry you. Do not turn back.” No. “I want to help.” The anger he felt from my words, could be seen as he attacked another guard all the while shielding me from the sword of the enemy. “RUN.” He said his eyes glaring into my soul, fear touching every cell of mine yet somehow his presence wanted me to believe that I had no other option than to run.

After his sister is brutally attacked and crippled investigating the rape of a thirteen-year-old, Richard Baimbridge rushes back to his hometown of Wilmington, NC, to assist in her recovery only to come face to face with his tormented past and a dark family secret. Serving as his sister's legs, he fights to stay above the flood of childhood trauma as he is drawn into the dark underside of this quiet coastal community where he becomes the primary suspect in the murders of Wilmington's young girls in this riveting suspense thriller that explores the special bond between a brother and sister. More than 500,000 copies sold worldwide. "Bill Benners is a fresh and welcomed new voice in crime fiction. My Sister's Keeper is a compelling and original psychological thriller. Awesome, powder-keg suspense!" --Andrew McAleer, Crimestalker Casebook/crimestalkers.com