Unspeakable Water Bottle

When Alexander Smith stands in front of me and says he's going to marry someone else, that's when I realize he's been reborn too. I remember our 20 years of love in our past life. A plane crash. And then, rebirth. "This is to save Sophia," he says. "In our past life, she was sold to a Vostmark oligarch after her father's political scandal. Not long after, she took her own life due to abuse. I can't let that tragedy happen again, so I need to get engaged to her." As he speaks, he hands me an orange prescription bottle. "If you take this, you'll forget me for a little while. You won't feel the pain. It's just seven days. Once her father's scandal blows over, you'll stop the medication and your memory will return. Then I'll end the engagement and officially propose to you." I stare at the bottle, knowing it's a lie. Not the part about Sophia's suicide. The lie is about the drug. He thinks it only causes temporary memory loss. But I know better. The suppressant causes permanent damage to emotional memory. The seven-day countdown isn't the time it takes for my memories to return. It's the time it takes for my love for him to die.

On our wedding night, my wife demanded that I wear a blindfold. She said her body was meant only for her true love. The words hit me like a bucket of ice water, and I snapped, "Are you my wife or his?" She shot back even louder, defiance blazing in her eyes. "I married you. Does that mean I have to show you my body? Coercion is still coercion, even in marriage. My body is only for Matt to see because you simply don't deserve it." Later, she said she wanted to truly be my wife. I found myself thinking she wasn't worthy anymore.

The day Adrian Knight clinched a contract with our biggest client, I "accidentally" tipped a bottle of ink across the paperwork, voiding it on the spot. Because of that single blot, the project landed in Alex Lewis’s lap, and he won Chairman Henry Carter’s favor almost overnight, moving into the Carter mansion as their future son-in-law and watching his net worth rocket into eight figures. Adrian never blamed me. He just laughed that he’d never been executive material anyway and happily brought me home as his bride. Everyone whispered that, if not for my meddling, Adrian would already be sitting in the Carter family’s executive suite instead of scraping by in an ordinary life with me. Only I knew the truth: stopping him from signing that contract had saved his life. When Adrian learned I was pregnant, he locked me in the basement, fingers digging into my throat. "If it hadn’t been for you," he snarled, "I’d be Henry Carter’s son-in-law by now. You’re the reason I lost Rachel, the princess of the Carter family." That’s when I realized he’d been nursing this grudge for years. After he killed me, I woke up, reborn on the very day Adrian first reached for that fatal contract. This time, I’ll make sure Adrian Knight gets exactly what he wants.

Jasmine is living a life of hell. Her step father becoming abusive emotionally and physically after the death of her mother. She not only has to deal with him at home, but her fellow students at school. Being bullied and criticized for the lack of clothes she doesn't have. They don't know her step father refuses to buy her anything she needs. Calling her a leech of the earth. Telling her on a daily basis he wishes she had died along side her mother. The only person in her corner is her science teacher Mrs. Mulberry, she see the changes in Jasmines behavior, the marks she tries to hide under her torn clothes. Things take a turn for the worse when Jasmine goes missing for two weeks. Alarming Mrs. Mulberry to call child services. Believing the worst has happened to her. After being put under the microscope Jasmine's step father starts locking her away starving her and barely giving her water to drink out of an applesauce container. In the midst of her agony she meets the new boy at school causing feelings she's never felt before. Will he be her knight in shining armor or will he be the wake of destruction causing her world to crumble more around her.

Book two (The Her Before You) Aria Maine is a new queen in need of a king consort to claim her throne. Her brother's best friend… "What are you doing Barry?" she whispered, watching his hands drizzle water up and down her arms after he dropped the shirt in the water. "I have absolutely no idea," he said, laying his mouth down on her shoulder, kissing it for the first time. The bad boy prince she fell for long ago… "Hey asshole! I didn't screw your sister's fiance okay? Nothing happened. Can I go home now?" "Shut up!" he growled, biting her lip. "Just shut up," he ordered, leaning into her, pressing his body up against hers before shoving his tongue down her throat. Prince charming, her ally in war… "My heart won't survive you, Aria Maine. Is there anyone that's not in love with you?" Three suitors. A ticking clock. Boy oh boy, (oh boy) how does a girl choose?

For the ninety-ninth time, Thomas Wells brought a strange woman home. Following his instructions, I was washing Chloe Brooks's feet. Without warning, she kicked the basin violently, sending hot water splashing onto my face. "Thomas, Ms. Harris just pinched my foot! My feet are for ballet—I'm in so much pain. What am I supposed to do for tomorrow's competition?" Thomas flew into a rage. To punish me, he had someone bring a brazier, and I was forced to press my foot into the burning coals. The smell of burning flesh filled the entire living room in an instant. Thomas paid no attention as I collapsed to the floor, curling up and breaking out in a cold sweat. He turned away, carrying Chloe off to the bedroom. Shortly afterward, I called Thomas's sister, Tracy. "Tracy, I'm sorry. I don't intend to be with Thomas anymore." After that, I left and vanished from his life. Later, I heard that Mr. Wells of the Wells family had gone mad.

“Mom, Dan, I received an offer from an overseas university. I plan to take it.” Lucille Shaw’s voice was soft in the silent living room, like a single drop of water rippling across a still pond. Her mother Victoria exclaimed with joy, "Really? Congratulations! When are you planning to go?" “In Ten days.”

Synopsis: Not all betrayals should lead you nowhere. Max, my fiance, abandoned me on the red carpet, approached my claimed younger sister Fiona, and escorted her to the priest right in front of my eyes. In the end, he married her with the blessing of my parents. It's really hilarious how these people encouraged me to marry him. If that wasn't tragic enough, Fiona then splashed filthy water all over my beautiful wedding gown. I had no royal roots as the daughter of a prostitute, so I didn't argue or fight since I knew it would never end. But they all seem to forget one thing: a diamond was just an ordinary stone until a polisher revealed its worth. Life couldn't have treated me better by giving me the name Diamond, and I knew I wasn't destined for a dead end. I am the diamond, and I am waiting for the lucky one to polish me and reveal my real brightness. Do I need a polisher? Will I find someone to help me get back at those who have betrayed me? Or will I become my own polisher, shaping my own destiny?

…from his responsibilities as a father, hiding out from his pregnant girlfriend, and working as a groundskeeper in a rural graveyard. He’s running from a lifetime of guilt and bad decisions, but principally he’s running from the murderous entities that have possessed the very ground at his feet. Jim has no idea what these entities are, but they’ve done unspeakable things to everyone in the graveyard and now they’re hunting him down. There is nowhere Jim can hide, nowhere he can walk and nowhere he can run that isn’t under the lethal power of the things in the ground. If he stands any chance of survival he must uncover the link between his murderous tormentors, three mysterious graves and an ancient heresy that stretches back to the beginning of time. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

Buried deep in the Aster estate was the Heartwood—ancient, sacred, mine. Told my husband, Julian Aster—back when he actually listened—that if it ever fell, I'd die with it. At first, he freaked out. Flew in glacier water, hired a whole squad of plant experts to nurture it 24/7. Then one day, just because his childhood friend—Isabella Duvall—got a scratch from the bark, Julian had the Heartwood ripped out. The second it crashed, I choked on glowing blood—ichor. My power? Gone. Barely standing, I grabbed his arm. "You knew. If the Heartwood dies, I—" He laughed. Straight-up mocked me. "Sera, come on. That fairy tale? Only Grandma still believes that crap. Is that mayo on your mouth? Relax—it's a tree. I'll buy you a forest if you want." Overnight, my hair turned gray. Skin cracked. Eyes dulled. Still, I dragged myself to his grandmother, Henrietta. "I kept your family safe for two hundred years. That's why the Asters thrived. But the Heartwood's gone. Debt's paid. One day left. Whatever happens next? Not my problem."