Twenty-seventh

My fiancé leaves me jilted on our wedding day and marries my sister. As I stand there, feeling humiliated, William Sterling gets on one knee before me and asks me to marry him. Everyone in my city knows of him—he's an elite bachelor and every woman's dream. Yet now, he slips a wedding band onto my ring finger and confesses his love for me. "I've always loved you, and I thank the heavens for giving me the chance to spend my life with you." We get married, and he treats me well. Everyone knows that he won't fall for anyone other than me. Everything changes when I accidentally enter his studio in the seventh year of our marriage. I see that he's painted thousands of portraits of my sister, Ivy Winslow. Each one is a tender confession of his love for her. The man I love with all my heart earnestly prays to the heavens and utters his wish. He's willing to sacrifice anything for Ivy to be happy, including his life. It turns out what I thought was seven years of love was nothing but a lie. Ivy is the one he's loved all along. If that's the case, I'll back out. I'll leave in three days, and I hope he and Ivy can be happy together.

When Cole Harrington ran away from our wedding for the seventh time because of his childhood sweetheart, the Harrington family personally came to apologize. "We'll add another five kilos of gold to the bride price. Three buildings in the Southwest. And nine prime-location storefronts in the city center. Consider it the Harrington family's compensation." Before the words had fully settled, a careless laugh from Cole came through the phone. "Grandpa, do you really think she's worth that much? Believe it or not, I could pick up a random rock off the street and still coax her into being completely obedient. "Instead of wasting all those assets on her, why not give them to me so I can invest them in Liv's gallery?" Henry Harrington hurriedly hung up the phone, then looked at me with an awkward expression. Soft snickers rippled through the crowd. Everyone was waiting for me to swallow the humiliation in silence, just as I had before. But this time— I had already received this kind of "compensation" six times. The novelty had long since worn off. The same was true for Cole himself. After a moment of thought, I raised an eyebrow and glanced toward the crowd—at the illegitimate younger brother whom Cole had always despised the most. A smile slowly curved across my lips. "The man that I marry becomes the heir to the Harrington family. That was our deal, right?"

In the seventh year of my engagement with Nathan Galloway, he has inherited everything from his dead older brother, including his newly widowed sister-in-law, Catherine Wilkins. Whenever Nathan is done sleeping with Catherine, he'll hug me and comfort me gently. "Just wait for a little longer, Jojo. Once Cathy gets pregnant, we'll have our own wedding." This is the Galloways' only condition for Nathan to inherit the family's assets. In the six months following his return to Ravelton, Nathan has visited Catherine's room 52 times. He initially started off with just one visit per month. But slowly, the visits have been increasing to the point that he now visits her once every two days. Finally, when I spend my 52nd sleepless night sitting in my room and waiting for Nathan's return, I receive the news of Catherine's pregnancy. But at the same time, the news of Nathan and Catherine's upcoming marriage breaks out as well. "Mommy, is someone getting married in this household?" As I stare at the wedding decorations in the villa, I just pull my son, Theo Huber, into a hug with a blank expression. "Yeah. Your daddy is about to marry the woman he loves. That's why it's time for us to move out." What Nathan doesn't know is that we Melshes couldn't care less about marriage.

“Drive me home…” she slurred, sliding into his car. Sarah Smith, 45, never thought one drunken mistake would change her life. She thought he was just a cab driver, until she woke up tangled in the sheets with Liam Hamilton, the arrogant, sinfully gorgeous 25-year-old CEO every woman wanted. She wants to pretend it never happened. He wants more. Now, she’s caught in a dangerous game of passion, power, and temptation. Can she resist the man who’s twenty years younger, or will one forbidden night turn into a love that shatters all the rules?

Sabiana Zoreta was bought for fifteen million pesos. At the very young age of twenty, she was being bid in an elite club. She was taken there to be sold and included in an auction. Kidnapped at the age of three by her father from her wealthy stepdad, she later questioned why he would sell her when she grew up. Could a father really sell his own child? For her father, the answer was yes. She was raised to be a commodity, but the man who bought her didn’t want her for just one night. He wanted her to be his lover—Lennox Montebello, a member of the underground organization, dirty, dangerous and dark.

Three years ago, Alpha King Dante Russo rejected me as his mate. Called me weak. Worthless. Unworthy. Now he wants me back—not for love, but for a contract. Six months as his Luna. Bear his heir. Twenty million dollars. But I'm not the helpless omega he remembered. I'm a Silver Wolf with ancient powers that could reshape our world. I'll play his game. Share his bed. Smile for his pack. But when this contract ends, he'll finally understand what he lost. Unless the mate bond we thought was broken destroys us both first.

Anastasia Crane, twenty years old low rank maid is in love with Prince Kai, the crown prince of Gardenia. Now that's a very bad decision. Fate brings them together and Kai returned Anna's feelings. Thier forbidden love was sure to go down the drain in the end. Kai is betrothed and said to marry in few weeks time. Thier secret affair went on and on the end, they were caught. Anastasia was locked in the dungeon, set to be beheaded the next day but Kai broke her out. He set her in a carriage and promised to come search for her. What Kai didn't know was that Anastasia was pregnant. She was carrying a royal seed in her. The royal seed that got lost.

It’s end of October 1985 and the crumbling river town of Dubois, Iowa is shocked by the gruesome murder of one of the pillars of the community. Detective David Carlson has no motive, no evidence, and only one lead: the macabre local legend of “Boris Orlof,” a late night horror movie host who burned to death during a stage performance at the drive-in on Halloween night twenty years ago and the teenage loner obsessed with keeping his memory alive. The body count is rising and the darkness that hangs over the town grows by the hour. Time is running out as Carlson desperately chases shadows into a nightmare world of living horrors. On Halloween the drive-in re-opens at midnight for a show no one will ever forget. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

Small town girl Rayne Summers just wants to make enough money working her parttime job at the local diner to pay her way through her last semester of college. But everything changes when her best friend Emma takes her on a birthday getaway for her twenty first birthday to her old hometown of Ridgewood. As Rayne and Emma enjoy a night out at the local bar called Rider’s, the one person that has plagued her dreams for years walks into the bar and their eyes meet for the first time in six years. Everything that happens that night will change Rayne’s life forever and she will realize the ones you trust the most are the ones that will betray you.

"Do you believe desire can be holy ,or is it always a sin" ? " Depends. Sometimes it saves you . Sometimes it ruins you." "And if you knew the ending was tragic , could you still want it" ? "Every time " Twenty different tales of obsession, betrayer,and temptation-where love is never simple or safe. From rejection mates and cursed vampire to priest breaking vows ,ex-wives hunting revenge ,and human traped between werewolves and mermaid-These stories test the limit of what we dare to want . Some lovers burn the word for each other. Some are destroyed by their own hunger . But all of them prove one truth; Desire always costs .