You Had Me In The First Half Novels & Stories

My husband, Luca, had a childhood sweetheart named Sophia. Years ago, during a brutal gang shootout, Sophia shielded him from the worst of the bloodshed, and since then, she had suffered from severe PTSD. Because of that, Luca would push aside family business every year and fly to our estate on a secluded island off the coast of Sicily to spend three months “helping her recover.” “Victoria, she lost her mind because of me,” he told me. “I’m responsible for her. I hope you can be magnanimous.” So, I nodded. And eventually, I got used to the fact that every year, my husband would disappear for three months to fulfill what he called a moral obligation. That was until the day I flew in without warning to inspect the family’s money-laundering network on that island and saw him. In the town square, under the bright Mediterranean sun, Luca was standing there with a five-year-old boy by his side. “Papa, how long do we have to hide on this island?” the child asked. “I want to go to New York. I want to see the Empire State Building.” Luca laughed gently and scooped him up in his arms. With his other hand, he held Sophia’s. “Antonio, be good,” he said affectionately. “Papa’s position is… complicated. When you turn eighteen and pass the family’s initiation ceremony, I’ll kill that woman and her dead old man. Then, I’ll take you back to New York to inherit the entire Corleone family.” I stood in the shadows, unseen. Slowly, I lit a cigarette. The smoke curled around me as their voices drifted over, the conversation getting more vicious as it went. Sophia leaned into his chest, her tone sweet and coy. “Luca, I’ve been with you for seven years without a name or a title. How much longer are our son and I supposed to live like ghosts?” Luca sighed. “I don’t have a choice. The old man in the Corleone family is still alive. I married Victoria just to get her territory. Don’t worry. I’ve been adding something to her milk every day. She’ll never get pregnant in this lifetime. My family bloodline will only continue through you.” The last thread of reason in my mind snapped. In the six years of marriage we shared, I had been infertile. I’d taken countless hormone injections to stimulate ovulation. I’d knelt in church and prayed more times than I could count. Yet, all along, the devil poisoning me was my own husband. The initial shock faded quickly into rage. I crushed out my cigarette and pulled out my phone. Then, I dialed my uncle, the family’s clean-up man. “Uncle Rocco,” I said calmly, “Luca betrayed me. He betrayed the family. Order a coffin in the finest black walnut for me, and make it large, large enough to fit a family of three.”

Ophelia loved Dylan, the Alpha of the pack, with all her heart—but to him, she was merely a plaything, a lowly maid unworthy of his regard. His destined bride was Caroline, the noble-born Beta's daughter. When forced to send one of the two women to a rival pack in exchange for a life-saving antidote... who would he choose?

Raina's family had high expectations of her as she was the smartest among all of her cousins. She was loved and well-respected by everyone. But in an instant, the admiration for her from her entire family, including her own family, vanished when she suddenly became pregnant and no one to introduce as the father of her child to her family. In a sudden twist of events, she met Evo Mondragon, the wealthy boyfriend of her half-sister, who turns out to be the father of the child she was carrying.

He stood in front of me, held my face between his hands and stared down at me. I waited, once again, I did. For what? This time I didn't know. But the moment he spoke, I knew, the wait was over. "You waited." He said. I gasped. " You waited." He breathed.

With a heavy heart, in order to fulfill the wishes of her father who was terminally ill and would not survive long, Clarabelle Aimee decided to join the reality show At the First Time I Meet You in the city where she lived, Sydney. Clarabelle was sure, with the help of love experts, she would find the right man, who would be her life partner. Jordan Gerald, was desperate to join the At the First Time I Meet You event because he wanted to win a bet with his friends. In order to be accepted by the experts, Jordan played a joke about himself in the reality. Meeting for the first time at the altar, Clarabelle was stunned by Jordan. Jordan was fascinated by Clarabelle's beauty. Jordan's sweet attitude during the introduction period in the reality show they participated in, made Clarabelle begin to fall in love with Jordan. Unfortunately, after the event, living a real life, Jordan's cover began to be exposed. Surprise after surprise Clarabelle met and made her heart disappointed again. Stay or separate? Which would Clarabelle and Jordan choose? Was marriage in At the First Time I Meet You just a game?

Is love hard to find? Bobby found his Soulmate at a glimpse of an eye. He attended a once in awhile beach party that led him into falling in love and finding his long awaited lady of his dreams. Who knew love would be this elementary to find. His associates teased him and he denied it but deep down they knew he was concealing his sensitiveness. Their love grew even stronger that it led into marriage and making up a family together. Love comes where you are, we don't look for it. It comes naturally.

Eidolon Avenue: Where the secretly guilty go to die. One building. Five floors. Five doors per floor. Twenty-five nightmares feeding the hunger lurking between the bricks and waiting beneath the boards. The sequel to Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast (“a great read...powerful and jarring” - Cemetery Dance) returns to the voracious Eidolon as it savors The Second Feast. A narcoleptic man in apartment 2A battles a vengeful past determined to rob him of everything as he runs from the barbaric disaster of a delusional love. A woman in 2B, reinventing herself to please a callous boyfriend, discovers the horrors that wait in the shadows of her self-renovation. The man in 2C, a teacher at the nearby Catholic girl’s school, collapses beneath the brutal consequences of his lecherous desires. An older woman in 2D, after decades dedicated to the church, is cornered at last by the grisly carnage beating at the hollow center of her faith. And a college student in 2E, hungry to escape an ignored life of invisible anonymity, finds herself captured between the pages of a ravenous book. All thrown into their own private hell as every cruel choice, every drop of spilled blood, every silent, complicit moment of cowardice is remembered, resurrected and relived to feed the ancient evil that lives on Eidolon Avenue. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

Olivia Smith is the secret billionaire heiress that no one knows about. Disguising as a pauper with her mother's last name "Smith" instead of the popular family name, "Richards," she secretly helps the love of her life, Lucas Preston build his company from the scratch. And how does he repay her? With a heartbreaking betrayal and divorce. When Lucas eventually finds out his mistake in divorcing a billionaire heiress, he wants her love back by all means. But Olivia is now the hottest single lady in the city. And she doesn't want her ex husband back!

Pedro Hernandez spent seven years away from Los Angeles and after the death of his father, Maxwell Hernandez, he can finally return home. With Max's death, Pedro feels relief and freedom, after living a lonely life, trapped in Madrid, a city he hated, far from the people he loved. However, everything he knew is completely different and now he must adapt to the city again while taking on the responsibility of being the CEO of his father's company, something Max considered "The Hernandez Empire". His reunion with old acquaintances after so many years may bring back memories. Pedro faces a reality check when he meets Adrielle, his old girlfriend, someone he was forced to leave behind, married to Leonard Williams, a mysterious man who could threaten the stable life of the Hernandez family. Torn apart by anger, resentment and hurt feelings, Pedro is burdened with yet another conflict: Leonard is not only his love rival, but also the heir to the estate left by Max. The tension and anger grow with each passing moment, as Pedro tries to deal with Leonard, take over the company and make up for the years stolen from him. Pedro is no longer the same man who left Los Angeles seven years ago, there is resentment and anger surrounding his heart. With Max's death, he has a second chance to live alongside the people he loves, but he still wants answers to all the evil caused by his father. Is Pedro really willing to discover all of Max's secrets? How many tears can love endure?

The ninth bonding ceremony between me and the Alpha King, Thorne Ravencrest, is finally here. Yet once again, I failed to become his Luna Queen. Not because he broke his promise, but because I'm not qualified enough. The Elders made it crystal clear that every Luna Queen recognized by the Moon Goddess throughout history must cultivate 365 Moonlight Flowers using their own blood essence. But every year on the eve of the ceremony, no matter how careful I am, there's always one flower missing. This year, I nearly drained myself completely and barely managed to grow the right number. Ecstatic, I go to find Thorne, wanting to surprise him. Through the partially open door of the throne hall, I hear his Beta say to him, "Alpha King, Sera's been waiting for you for eight years now. Are you ever going to bond with her?" Thorne shakes his head. "I promised Willow we can't bond this year either." His Beta hesitates. "What if Sera actually manages to grow enough Moonlight Flowers?" Thorne goes silent for a moment, then claps his hands. A shadow wolf appears and melts into the darkness. Before long, a shadow wolf returns with a Moonlight Flower clamped in its jaws. He tears the flower into shreds and lets out a sigh. "Sera has plenty of blood. Forget one year. She could keep cultivating for another ten years and still be fine. "But Willow's been poisoned with wolfsbane. I'm all she has left, and she wants me by her side in her final days. "I can't bear to refuse Willow, which means Sera will just have to wait a bit longer." I bite my lip hard, barely able to believe what I'm hearing. So the Moonlight Flowers that kept mysteriously disappearing were all destroyed by him. Becoming Luna Queen has been my dream since childhood. But if he never intended to bond with me at all, then it's time I leave him.