8072 Book(s) Related to the summer i turned 30

The Summer Proposal

The Summer Proposal

5.1k Views · Ongoing · Vi Keeland
From #1 New York Times Bestselling author Vi Keeland comes a new, sexy standalone novel.The first time I met Max Yearwood was on a blind date.Max was insanely gorgeous, funny, and our chemistry was off the charts. He also had the biggest dimples I’d ever laid eyes on.Exactly what I needed after my breakup.Or so I thought…Until my real date arrived.Turned out, Max wasn’t who I was there to meet. He only pretended to be until my real date showed up.To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.Before he left, he slipped me a ticket to a hockey game a few blocks away, in case things didn’t work out on my actual date.I tossed the ticket into my purse and went about trying to enjoy the man I was supposed to meet.But my real blind date and I had no connection.So on my way home, I decided to take a chance and stop by the game.When I arrived, the seat next to me was empty.Disappointed again, I decided to leave at the end of the period.Just before the buzzer, one of the teams scored, and the entire arena went crazy.A player’s face flashed up on the Jumbotron. He was wearing a helmet, but I froze when he smiled.You guessed it: Dimples.Apparently, my fake blind date hadn’t invited me to watch hockey with him, he’d invited me to watch him play.And so began my adventure with Max Yearwood.He was everything I needed at the time—fun, sexy, up for anything, and only around for a few months since he’d signed with a new team three-thousand miles away.Max proposed we spend the summer helping me forget my ex. It sounded like a good plan. Things couldn’t get too serious when we had an expiration date. Right?Though, you know what they say about the best-laid plans.
THE OMEGA TURNED LUNA

THE OMEGA TURNED LUNA

1.2k Views · Ongoing · Divine Favour Obioma
Elara was born the daughter of an Alpha, but fate twisted her life into chains. Accused of a crime they didn’t commit, her parents vanished into the night, leaving her behind in a pack that despises her. Powerless. Wolf-less. An omega servant in the home of the man who destroyed her family.

That man is Orion. Ruthless. Cunning. Her father’s betrayer. His lies made him Alpha. His cruelty made Elara a ghost among her own people.

But fate is never merciful. On the night of the mating ceremony, Elara’s world shatters again, her fated mate is Kael, Orion’s proud, ruthless heir. The one man she should never belong to. The one man who publicly rejects her.

Humiliated, broken, hunted… Elara runs. Yet the farther she flees, the more the truth begins to surface. Her parents were never traitors. Her bloodline is stronger than she ever imagined. And the bond she shares with Kael is not so easily severed.

Now Elara has a choice: remain the broken omega the pack thinks she is, or rise as the Luna fate always meant her to be. Because Orion’s reign was built on blood and lies… and she has returned to burn it to the ground.
Revenge. Betrayal. A forbidden bond that refuses to die. The Omega Turned Luna is a dark, intoxicating werewolf romance about an outcast who becomes unstoppable.
Summer Wine

Summer Wine

867 Views · Ongoing · Sıla Ebru
"Eighteen point eight centimeters," I said, pushing my oversized tortoiseshell glasses up the bridge of my nose. "According to your anatomical data, that is the estimated length of your private parts, Matteo. I can get results without entering a laboratory."

The soaking wet, shirtless, and absolutely furious mafia boss standing before me was rendered utterly speechless for the first time in his life!

Nova was a genius cybersecurity programmer who suffered from social anxiety, despised human touch, and perceived the world solely through mathematical formulas.Her only dream during her vacation in Crete was to lie down and sleep on the calm waters inside her pink strawberry inflatable tube. However, the sea surface currents had drafted a fatal algorithm for her.

Drifted out into the open sea, Nova found herself aboard the luxury yacht of Matteo—a mafia boss notorious for his cruelty in international waters, possessing a V-taper physique that was illegally flawless.

Was she to hold the hand of this ruthless man to avoid drowning, or become shark bait?

This was exactly how one became the fake wife of a billionaire mafia leader!
Summer kills

Summer kills

292 Views · Ongoing · anshul sharma
During bright and sunny summer holidays, a group of incredibly wealthy teenage friends embark on a lifestyle filled with luxury and unforgettable adventures. Staying in a stunning beachfront villa, their days and nights are a perfect blend of fun, relaxation, and excitement but filled with conflicts and drama.

The story revolves around six friends: Jake ( Jaxon), Maddie, Oliv (Olivia), Ethan, Liam, and Ruby, Together, they create a summer full of extravagant and memorable moments.

Their days are spent indulging in the finest things life has to offer. They host private yacht parties along the beautiful Hawaiian cost, take spontaneous trips to exclusive destinations in their private jets, and relax by their luxurious infinity pool. They savor gourmet meals prepared by world-class chefs and embark on high-end shopping sprees at prestigious boutiques. They find themselves at glamorous parties, exclusive club events, or enjoying intimate gatherings under the starry sky each night.

Despite their opulent lifestyle, the friends face the complexities of their relationships, personal ambitions, and the constant scrutiny of the public eye. Amidst the glamour, they navigate issues of trust, loyalty, and the search for true happiness.

Summer Kills is a vibrant and glamorous tale of friendship, fortune, and the limitless possibilities that come with immense wealth. This story offers a dazzling portrayal of the ultimate summer, where every day is an adventure and every night is a celebration.
30 Days to Forgive Them? I Chose to Die

30 Days to Forgive Them? I Chose to Die

1.4k Views · Ongoing · Joy Brown
Three years ago, on their way to attend my graduation art exhibition, the cruise ship carrying my fiancé and my family caught fire.

Over the past three years, I downed sleeping pills countless times, desperately wanting to follow them into the afterlife. Every single time, my adopted sister, Serena, saved me, crying hysterically as she shoved her fingers down my throat to make me throw up.

"They are already gone! Harper, you can't keep living in the past. You have to live on for their sake!"

After fainting from yet another high fever and being rushed to the hospital, I was diagnosed with terminal leukemia.

The doctor said I had a month left, at most.

I refused their advice to find a bone marrow match. Clutching my family's belongings, I decided to go back to our old estate in the suburbs for one last look.

While I was walking in a daze, a little boy running wildly crashed hard into my legs.

A male voice that had haunted my dreams for years rang out from behind me. "Alistair, if you keep running off, what will you do if Mommy and Daddy don't want you anymore?"

In an instant, it felt like I had been plunged into freezing water. I froze in place.
Where The Summer Wind Blows

Where The Summer Wind Blows

1.1k Views · Ongoing · Amanda Pearson
From the heat of summer nights to the quiet of winter mornings, each book in The Seasons of Us series follows a journey of first love, heartbreak, and the fragile hope of starting over. With every season comes a new chapter, new beginnings, painful goodbyes, and moments that linger long after they’ve passed.

ORIGINALLY ON AMAZON
Doomsday: I Turned Into a Walking Exclusion Zone

Doomsday: I Turned Into a Walking Exclusion Zone

239 Views · Ongoing · Angela
On Christmas Eve, a mysterious virus swept the globe, and my own father mutated into a bloodthirsty monster right before my eyes.

Retreating to a Texas ranch, I thought it would be a desperate fight for survival—until a monster tore my arm open during a brutal melee. There was no high fever, no mutation. Instead, the moment those frenzied infected caught the scent of my blood, they trembled and backed away, as if encountering their natural predator.

Before I could even catch my breath, an armored convoy bearing a cryptic insignia surrounded the ranch, using sonic weapons to herd the infected horde.

From a distance, a red laser locked precisely between my eyes. The memories forcibly erased during my military service two years ago came crashing back: this apocalypse was never a natural disaster, and I was the "perfect specimen" they were absolutely determined to claim.

Want to turn me into a lab rat? Then let's see how many of you this modified body can drag down to hell with me!
He Regrets Only After I Turned Into Ashes

He Regrets Only After I Turned Into Ashes

660 Views · Ongoing · Lily
When the Manhattan morgue finally managed to reach my husband, Victor Hawthorne, he was in the penthouse suite, fucking another woman.
"Mr. Hawthorne, this is the city morgue. We need you to come down and identify your wife's remains."
"Identify what?" he snapped, his thrusts not missing a beat.
"Burn her," he ordered. "Don't bother me with her pathetic ploys."
He tossed the phone onto the nightstand, his focus entirely on the woman beneath him.
Then my body was pushed into the incinerator.
When I was nothing but ashes, the funeral home called him again.
Selena pouted, trailing a nail down his chest.
"Is Cecilia acting up again?"
"I'll go end this farce," Victor sneered, getting out of bed.
When He Knelt, I Had Already Turned Away

When He Knelt, I Had Already Turned Away

688 Views · Ongoing · Coralie Sullivan
The biggest mistake of my life was falling in love with my childhood best friend, Cole Blackwood.

I grew up with Cole. He was my childhood best friend. When my mom died in a car accident in high school, his mother Lillian, my mom's best friend, saw that my stepmother didn't like me and took me in. She arranged our engagement. Cole protected me from bullies in high school. I fell for him. We secretly married at eighteen.

Shortly after the wedding, he was kidnapped. That's when everything fell apart. I threw myself off a cliff to draw the kidnappers away and save him. I was in a coma for three months. But when I came back to him, weak and broken, he thought some woman named Sophia Vanderbilt had saved him instead. He started hating me for "abandoning him" and grew cold. I tried to explain. He only believed what Sophia told him. My words meant nothing. 

Cole wanted to divorce me, but his parents refused to allow it. I refused too. Sophia drugged him to get pregnant and trap him into marriage, but he stumbled into the wrong room. He slept with me instead. I got pregnant. She faked videos to make him think they'd been together. She forged evidence that I'd cheated. He wouldn't listen to a word I said. 

Then we were both kidnapped and held hostage on a rooftop. Cole chose to save Sophia. I fell. I lost the baby. After Sophia was rescued, she went to the hospital for a checkup. They found leukemia. She needed a bone marrow transplant. I was the only match, but after everything, my body was too weak. Cole used the "debt" I owed his family to force me to donate. 

I refused. Sophia "died." Cole locked me in a psychiatric hospital and tortured me until I died. 

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day he demanded my bone marrow. This time, looking at his desperate eyes, I said yes and decided to divorce him and leave him for good.
30 Days to Reject the Alpha

30 Days to Reject the Alpha

496 Views · Ongoing · Jessie Love
"Emma, this is a big night for the pack. The Alphas gathered here tonight could be important potential allies. You need to make a good impression." My father said.
"Potential husbands for your daughter, you mean?" I retort. "The way you used Mom to make an alliance before casting her aside when your 'true mate' appeared."
I cast a disdainful glance at Lisa, my father's 'true mate'. Her smile tightens but, for once, she doesn't speak.
"Mind your tone," my father snarls a warning, "At least your mother knew her place. You would do well to remember yours."
"My place? Is that what you call this? So you're grooming me to be like Mom. To be used and then thrown away when a prettier option appears?"
"That's enough!" My father grinds his teeth. "You will do exactly what I say for once. You'll meet whoever I want you to meet. You'll play nice and do what's best for the pack."
"I'm not going to repeat your mistake, I'm not going to end up like Mom!"


Emma, the daughter of the Alpha of the SilverPine Pack, grew up witnessing her father secure power through a political marriage to her mother. But when he found his true mate, he reduced Emma's mother to a slave and allowed Lisa to humiliate and torment her. This painful experience made Emma swear never to repeat the same fate or become a sacrifice for pack alliances.
Forced to attend the Choosing Party by her father, Emma rebels and escapes, unexpectedly sharing a one night stand with Ethan, Alpha of the IronClaw Pack. What she thought was a fleeting encounter shocks her when she discovers Ethan is the very match her father arranged for her.
Though drawn to Ethan, the shadow of her mother's suffering haunts Emma. She vows to find her true mate within 30 days or... do whatever it takes to make Ethan willingly give up the marriage...
Summer Rental Boyfriend

Summer Rental Boyfriend

1.1k Views · Ongoing · Shyra Kay
I meet his gaze steadily. "You are a helpless jerk." His face hardens, jaw tight, fists curled at his sides. He grabs the front of my shirt, drags me deeper into the garage, and slams me back against the cool metal of the Ferrari. For a split second I think he is actually going to hit me. I don't anticipate the next move.
His mouth crashes into mine aggressively, nothing like a scripted kiss. His hand fists tighter in my shirt, his body pressing me against the car. I taste frustration and yearning, his tongue electrifying mine. My brain short circuits.


Kai Lawson has always been too curious for his own good.
He was only supposed to clean the pool at the Whitlock estate and leave. Instead, one wrong door lands him inside the family's beach house, and face-to-face with the Whitlocks, the kind of people no one is foolish enough to cross.
Instead of calling the police, they offer him a deal--- spend the summer pretending to be their son Sebastian's boyfriend. The paycheck is impossible to refuse, and saying no isn't really an option.
Sebastian hates the arrangement from the moment Kai moves in. Cold, gorgeous, and radiating pure disdain, he wants nothing to do with the trespasser now living down the hall. But Kai? He is having way too much fun pushing every button Sebastian has.
As summer slips by, fake dates, stolen moments, and a relationship built on a script begin to blur the line between what's expected and what's real.
Pretending to be in love was the deal. Actually falling for each other never was. And neither is ready for it.
The Turned: A Dark Vampire Romance

The Turned: A Dark Vampire Romance

354 Views · Ongoing · Mary Taylor
He feeds me his blood.
He locks the doors.
And he tells me I belong to him now.

I wake up in a vampire’s mansion with no memory of how I got here—only the hunger, the burning sunlight, and the man who refuses to let me leave. Thad Samford is cold, commanding, and absolute. He says my transformation isn’t finished. Until it is, my life—and my body—are under his control.

When I try to escape, the sun nearly kills me.
When he saves me, he binds me to him in blood.

The bond changes everything. His voice settles the hunger. His presence pulls at something deep inside me. I should fear him—but my body craves his blood more than freedom.


As Thelma learns how to exists in this new world, she starts piecing together the truth he's been hiding. Her turning wasn't random. She was chosen, and Thad knows why. Even if he won't tell her.

The more Thelma uncovers, the less she knows what to believe. Thad claims he's protecting her, but from what? Why does his protection feel like a prison? As rival clans close in and dark secrets come to light, Thelma has to decide if she can trust the man who helped steal her humanity or if she should walk away before he destroys her completely.
Hollow Summer: She Was Alive After I Left

Hollow Summer: She Was Alive After I Left

895 Views · Ongoing · sandraafolabi200
"Everyone in Cedar Hollow can tell you exactly what I did. I just can't."

Twelve years ago, Vanessa Dalton walked out of Larkspur Quarry alone, covered in her best friend Jo Calloway's blood. Jo's body was never found. Vanessa never remembered what happened. The evidence disappeared with the storm, but the town reached its own verdict long ago: she was guilty.

Now a renowned forensic genealogist who solves decades-old cold cases using DNA, Vanessa is forced to return home when her dying mother leaves her no choice. She's spent years helping strangers uncover the truth, while refusing to investigate the one mystery that destroyed her own life.

Sheriff Scott Bradley wants her gone. His father ruined his career trying to prove Vanessa murdered Jo, and Scott inherited both the badge and the hatred. But when someone steals a hidden box of evidence from the Calloway case, and Vanessa begins remembering fragments that contradict everything Cedar Hollow believes, a second car at the quarry, another voice calling her name, and Jo alive long after the moment she was supposed to have died, they're forced into an uneasy alliance.

As Vanessa and Scott reopen the town's darkest secret, every new clue exposes another lie. Someone has spent twelve years protecting the truth, and they'll kill to keep it buried.

Because Jo Calloway wasn't the only person who disappeared that night.
They Turned Down the Ivy League for Her

They Turned Down the Ivy League for Her

994 Views · Ongoing · Lily
On National College Decision Day, my two childhood best friends announced they were ditching the Ivy League to follow a scheming charity case to a garbage community college.
In my last life, I informed their parents.
It worked. Their futures were saved, but they killed me for it.
"Let go of me!"
Hayes had my wrist in a death grip, dragging me toward the edge. Ezra stood behind him, hands in his pockets.
"If you hadn't interfered, Willow would still be alive."
"Now it's your turn."
Then I was falling from the stadium bleachers.
I opened my eyes. Decision Day again.
Vows Turned to Ashes

Vows Turned to Ashes

1.2k Views · Ongoing · Hades
The day my daughter was declared brain dead, my billionaire wife was busy making soup for her first love, who was suffering from heart failure.
To fund a heart transplant for her first love , she made a phone call and injected our biological daughter with a large dose of nerve-blocking agents, taking her life .
The night before the burial, I begged her like a dog to come and see our daughter off one last time, but she impatiently scolded me on the phone: "Don't bother me with dead people all the time; the dead can't be brought back to life."
Later, on our sixth wedding anniversary, in front of all the wealthy and powerful in New York, she offered me a top-quality frozen fertilized egg as compensation, promising to give me a "new child."
However, when she opened the high-end gift box I gave her with a smile—
there was no so-called "new life" inside, only a completely drained bankruptcy liquidation document for a conglomerate, a waste receipt for the fertilized egg that had been flushed down the drain, and a high-definition video of her first love laughing at her in a club, saying she was "so easy to fool."
REJECTED MATE TURNED ALPHA

REJECTED MATE TURNED ALPHA

625 Views · Ongoing · zhanybhe
Magnus, shattered by Audrey's rejection and a false treason accusation, faced humiliation and exile from the Brown Pack. Three years later, fueled by revenge, he returns, dethroning Alpha Lucas with Jaxon's help. Audrey becomes his mistress, but their love story is entangled with secrets, betrayals, and a forbidden attraction. As their love rekindles, dark forces loom, threatening to tear them apart. Can they conquer the shadows of their past, or will danger prevail? Join Audrey and Magnus in this gripping tale, where each chapter unfolds more mysteries, keeping you hooked until the very end.
The Family Experiment: 30 Days to Die

The Family Experiment: 30 Days to Die

534 Views · Ongoing · Agatha Christie
My entire family betrayed me.

My husband Keith threatened divorce to force me into donating bone marrow to save my sister Berenice's life.

My parents slapped me across the face, screaming I owed her everything.

Thirty days in an underground lab, Keith wined and dined Berenice while I got steel needles driven through my spine daily.

When I begged Keith for help through the agony, he texted back: "Stop playing victim. Disgusting."

I died alone on day thirty. Keith arrived with divorce papers, ready for one final insult, but received a decomposing corpse crawling with maggots.

But when the truth came out, why did my loving family completely lose their minds?
Summer's Bliss

Summer's Bliss

5.3k Views · Ongoing · Sonja Flowers
As he got closer to climax, he was more aggressively gripping my hair, "you're mine and no one will ever take you from me," he whispered as my heart beat faster and faster in a panic.


Vivienne Layley lost her husband in a car accident. Over and over again she keeps running into Officer Aaron Jansen. Officer Jansen is not who he claims to be, a sinister motive is lurking just beyond Vivienne's view. She feels herself drawn to him, and something about him just made her couldn't stop thinking about him. Will Vivienne be able to escape his possessive and obsessive ways, or will Officer Jansen ultimately get what he wants?
One Summer, Two Brothers

One Summer, Two Brothers

214.6k Views · Ongoing · Harper Rivers
Madeline Quinn was supposed to spend the summer tracking whales—not falling for the two rugged, infuriating brothers who run the research boat.

Jake is steady and silent. Reid is sharp and impossible. They’re both off-limits.

And yet… the deeper she goes, the harder it is to come up for air.


“You should’ve stayed on the boat,” Jake said, voice quiet but firm.

“I’m not made of glass,” she snapped.

Reid pushed off the wall with one boot. “No, you’re made of trouble.”

“Reid—” Jake warned without looking at him.

“What?” Reid said with a shrug, moving a step closer. “Look at her. She knows what she’s doing.”

Madeline lifted her chin. “And what exactly am I doing?”

“Turning this into something dangerous,” Reid said, almost too calmly. His eyes didn’t waver.

Jake finally looked at her. “It already is.”

She swallowed. Her pulse thudded in her throat.

“You think I don’t feel it too?”

Reid’s lips twitched like he almost smiled. “Oh, she feels it.”
He stepped closer—just enough to make her catch her breath.
“But I don’t think she knows what to do with it.”

Jake stood now, his movements slower, more deliberate. “That’s enough.”

“No,” Madeline said, softer now. “He’s right. I don’t know what this is. With either of you.”

Reid’s voice dropped. “Then let us show you.”

A long silence. The kind that doesn’t feel empty—just heavy.

Jake’s gaze didn’t waver. “Together.”

Her breath hitched. Rain hit the windows. Her towel slipped an inch lower on her shoulder.

“God help me,” she whispered.
Turned (Book #1 in the Vampire Journals)

Turned (Book #1 in the Vampire Journals)

6k Views · Ongoing · Morgan Rice
"TURNED is a book to rival TWILIGHT and VAMPIRE DIARIES, and one that will have you wanting to keep reading until the very last page! If you are into adventure, love and vampires this book is the one for you!" --Vampirebooksite.com The #1 Bestseller!TURNED is book #1 in the #1 Bestselling series THE VAMPIRE JOURNALS, which includes twelve books. In TURNED (Book #1 of the Vampire Journals), 18 year old Caitlin Paine finds herself uprooted from her nice suburb and forced to attend a dangerous New York City high school when her Mom moves again. The one ray of light in her new surroundings is Jonah, a new classmate who takes an instant liking to her. But before their romance can blossom, Caitlin suddenly finds herself changing. She is overcome by a superhuman strength, a sensitivity to light, a desire to feed--by feelings she does not understand. She seeks answers to what’s happening to her, and her cravings lead her to the wrong place at the wrong time. Her eyes are opened to a hidden world, right beneath her feet, thriving underground in New York City. She finds herself caught between two dangerous covens, right in the middle of a vampire war. It is at this moment that Caitlin meets Caleb, a mysterious and powerful vampire who rescues her from the dark forces. He needs her to help lead him to the legendary lost artifact. And she needs him for answers, and for protection. Together, they will need to answer one crucial question: who was her real father? But Caitlin finds herself caught between two men as something else arises between them: a forbidden love. A love between the races that will risk both of their lives, and will force them to decide whether to risk it all for each other… "TURNED is an ideal story for young readers. Morgan Rice did a good job spinning an interesting twist on what could have been a typical vampire tale. Refreshing and unique, TURNED has the classic elements found in many Young Adult paranormal stories. Book #1 of the Vampire Journals Series focuses around one girl…one extraordinary girl!...TURNED is easy to read but extremely fast-paced....Recommended for anyone who likes to read soft paranormal romances. Rated PG." --The Romance Reviews “TURNED grabbed my attention from the beginning and did not let go….This story is an amazing adventure that is fast paced and action packed from the very beginning. There is not a dull moment to be found. Morgan Rice did an awesome job bringing the reader into the story. She also made it easy to root for Caitlin and want desperately to her succeed in finding her truth….I will be looking forward to the second book in the series.” --Paranormal Romance Guild
30 DAYS WITH MY MATE

30 DAYS WITH MY MATE

531 Views · Ongoing · wilddream6825
Aria is desperate. Her best friend, Lena, needs surgery.

A mysterious offer appears: a contract to spend 30 nights with a rich man who needs a virgin.

The payment equals the surgery cost.

Aria signs, thinking it’s a shameful but harmless deal.

She’s taken to Kael Donovan’s estate, massive, intimidating, surrounded by forest.

Kael is distant, treating her like an object.

He believes she’s just another human pure but replaceable.

Their first night is awkward, tense, electric. She senses something feral in him.

Development
Kael’s wolf, Rhett, reacts violently the moment he touches her growling “Mate.”

Kael refuses to believe it. The curse shouldn’t allow him a mate.

He decides to keep her anyway for the sake of breaking the curse.

Aria feels strange sensations hearing whispers, her senses sharpening but thinks it’s fear.

Kael starts acting possessive, jealous when she smiles at his guards.

He hates how much he wants her. She hates how much she needs him.

Their nights turn passionate and raw, but he still keeps his heart locked.

Aria’s emotions deepen. She starts to see the man behind the Alpha.

Rising Tension
Aria learns bits about the curse Kael’s pack is dying out, and his inability to bond might destroy them.

Selene Voss, Kael’s chosen fiancée by alliance, visits the mansion.

She instantly despises Aria, sensing the mate bond before Kael admits it.

Selene begins plotting.
My Summer with CJ

My Summer with CJ

779 Views · Ongoing · score21b
Natalie swore she would never come back to Blackwood Ridge.
Not after the memories. Not after the abandonment. And definitely not after the mother who chose ambition over her own daughter.

But when her estranged mother—now the powerful CFO of Sterling Crest Bank—asks her to return home for the summer, Natalie reluctantly agrees. Years ago, after her parents divorced, Natalie left town with her father and never looked back. While her mother built a new life with a wealthy husband and a stepson Natalie has never met, Natalie spent years trying to bury the hurt that small town left behind.

From the moment she arrives, Blackwood Ridge feels suffocating. The whispers, the memories, the people who still remember her family’s scandal—it all makes Natalie desperate to escape. So when an old acquaintance drags her to a local frat party on her very first night back, she throws caution aside and drinks far too much.

The night should’ve ended in disaster.

Instead, a mysterious stranger pulls her out before things spiral completely out of control. He had striking heterochromia—one eye a vivid emerald green, the other an icy ocean blue. The contrast was sharp and almost hypnotic. He takes care of her when no one else does. But when Natalie wakes up the next morning tangled in his sheets with almost no memory of the night before, panic sets in. Certain she made a terrible mistake, she prepares for the worst.

What she doesn’t expect is him.

Cold, guarded, and hiding secrets of his own, the last thing he wants is Natalie disrupting the carefully controlled life he’s built. Yet the more they collide, the more impossible it becomes to stay away from each other.
I Was Turned Into a Hound for His False Love

I Was Turned Into a Hound for His False Love

740 Views · Ongoing · Zara Thorne
Lysa loved Damian for seven years, yet hypnotic manipulation warped his memories, leading him to brand her the killer of his parents. With his own hands, he cut her bones and implanted canine fur, transforming her into a deformed half-human beast and subjecting her to endless humiliation and torture. She watched her mother die a brutal death and was forced to swallow her mother’s cremated ashes. At the brink of death, her ancestral sea spirit pendant awakened, shedding her mangled hound form to birth a tyrannical deep-sea siren. Once the scheming fake heroine’s lies were laid bare, Damian descended into madness, drowning in desperate remorse. Wielding the immortal power of a siren, Lysa cast all her tormentors into an endless living hell—and she would never grant them forgiveness.
Accidentally Yours: The Summer We Became Real

Accidentally Yours: The Summer We Became Real

617 Views · Ongoing · Jennifer Idie
Ariella Hayes was seventeen years old when she learned that grief had a taste.
It tasted like burnt sugar. Like the batch of croissants she’d left in the oven too long the morning after the funeral, too numb to hear the timer, too broken to care. Like the coffee, she drank black now because adding cream felt like a luxury she didn’t deserve. Grief tasted like everything and nothing.
Mostly nothing.
She was thinking about this at 4:47 a.m., lying in bed and staring at the water stain on her ceiling that resembled a reaching hand. She’d been awake since three. She was always awake from three, that gray hour when the world was silent enough to hear all the things she tried not to think about during the day.
Like how it was her fault.
How she should have been the one in the car.
How her mother hadn’t really looked at her in six months.
The timer screamed, and Ariella dragged herself out of bed, moving through the apartment like a ghost, past her mother’s bedroom door, down the narrow stairs to Hayes & Daughter Bakery. The name felt like a lie now. Her grandmother was gone. Ethan was gone. Soon the bakery would be gone too, and it would just be Ariella and her mother in an empty building, haunting the space where their family used to be.

She is about to embark on a life-altering journey as she enters a contract marriage with billionaire heir Aiden Frost, all in a bid to rescue her family’s struggling bakery. As they step into this pretend union, neither of them anticipates how their arrangement will evolve into a haven, where they might uncover feelings that challenge their initial intentions.
I Died So You Could Suffer

I Died So You Could Suffer

2.4k Views · Ongoing · Ruby
That night, I was dragged into a parking lot and beaten until my hands could never hold a scalpel again.

I thought it was random. Until I heard my own brother and fiancé talking—

"Those thugs went too far, but the result works out, doesn't it? This time, the award will go to Charlotte."

Charlotte. The "poor orphan" my family adopted.

For twelve years, she stole my papers, my opportunities, my glory. And the two men I trusted most handed her everything on a silver platter.

They called me spoiled. Selfish. Difficult.

They even believed I started the fire that killed our parents twelve years ago.

But here's the truth: Charlotte started that fire. I was the one who dragged them out.

They thanked the wrong sister. For twelve years.

Now they want me dead.

Fine. Let Penelope Ashworth die.
When Love Turned into Betrayal

When Love Turned into Betrayal

461 Views · Ongoing · Kim Castro
I catch them mid-twist on the SoHo couch we picked out together—Ethan's shirt crumpled on the floor, his hands fisted in Layla's hair, her dress hitched high on her hips, her head thrown back in a gasp that curdles my blood.
My fingers go slack on the doorknob; the Lombardi's bag, his favorite chicken parmigiana, my promotion celebration, slams to the hardwood.
Violet's world shatters the moment she walks into her own living room and finds her husband tangled up with her stepsister. The man she loved. The sister she trusted. Both betraying her in the most humiliating way possible.
Now, with her marriage destroyed and her heart in pieces, Violet vows to take everything from them—her husband's empire, her stepsister's peace, and her own power back.
But when a mysterious billionaire, Liam Knight, walks into her life offering partnership and passion, Violet finds herself torn between revenge and the chance to love again.
Will she burn her enemies to ashes… or risk her heart one more time?
Alpha's Wolfess Hybrid Turned Luna

Alpha's Wolfess Hybrid Turned Luna

410 Views · Ongoing · ibrahimbashiru20244
My name is Heather Williams and I ran away from my destiny. I ran away from the Reds, my pack, when I was fourteen. After many months of surviving in the woods and on the streets, pick-pocketing and snatching purses to live, I finally found a lovely couple who offered to take me in.
If I could call them lovely.

Carol and Phil are a couple in their late forties who are rich and influential. They live in Los Angeles so that should describe their social status. Getting adopted by them introduced me to the dark world of celebrities and many rich people and their fetishes. Carol and Phil own a whole BDSM industry fixated on training willing girls to be submissive and find their own wealthy Dom. As a way of asking me to pay them back for their generosity, I had to be one of those girls. I was sold to two hot men who were ready to take me on a sexual adventure. Darren and Kyle did not only succeed in opening me up to the BDSM world but also brought me back to my past as they were both the Alpha and Beta of the Reds.

My name is Heather Williams and this is my destiny.
Summer Nights ( Montenegro Series 1)

Summer Nights ( Montenegro Series 1)

71 Views · Ongoing · Frezbae Montemayor
Aurora is A simple maiden living in the occupied lands of Montenegro.

At a banquet truss, She was invited to the mansion of the Montenegro and one night changed her life when she met her siblings, Manuel and Ezekiel.
She discovered that the siblings had a strange feeling for her. She discovers that she also has a secret love for Montenegro.

How can he fight that love without hurting the other one?
Every Time I Tried to Get Married, They Destroyed the Ring

Every Time I Tried to Get Married, They Destroyed the Ring

1.2k Views · Ongoing · Lily
It was my fourth time putting on a wedding dress.

To protect myself against my own parents, I hired a ten-man security detail.

I specifically chose the most isolated chapel in the suburbs.

Because at my first three weddings, they acted like absolute maniacs—destroying my rings and making me a complete laughingstock in front of everyone.

I just couldn't understand what kind of parents would do such a thing.

This time, I actually thought I could finally marry Liam in peace.

Until the bridal suite door was kicked open.

And my dad, once again, snatched my diamond ring away.
A Summer's Tragedy

A Summer's Tragedy

321 Views · Ongoing · Author Warren II
One summer, Callisto and his family visited the town of Isabela, the place where the legendary Mt. Octover could be found. In a short time, Callisto met and fell in love with a strange girl named Stalin. However, their relationship wasn’t easy because Stalin had been cursed by a goddess named Estrella, and she had lost her sanity.
During their vacation, Sebastian and Dorothy, Callisto’s parents, reminisced their memories from seventeen years earlier, when they were a young couple. But not all those memories were pleasant; some were nightmares they wished to forget forever. Due to amnesia, however, Callisto’s father couldn't remember any of it.
Callisto had a sister named Ruth, but she wasn’t his sister by blood. Ruth was adopted from an orphanage. Unbeknownst to the family, she was actually one of Estrella’s minions.
Now it's your turn to accompany Callisto in his journey to unravel the mysteries of his parents’ past, the curse haunting his beloved Stalin, and the true intention behind Ruth’s return.
The Don's last supper

The Don's last supper

514 Views · Ongoing · Dripping Creativity
When the formidable matriarch of the city's most powerful mafia family dies, she leaves behind one final command. Every member of the family must return to the ancestral estate and remain there for seven days. Each evening, they must gather for dinner. Only if they fulfill her wishes will her fortune be divided.

None of them expect the true inheritance to be buried beneath silver.

As the first dinner begins, an ornate silver dome is lifted to reveal a secret the family has spent decades hiding. The following night uncovers another. With every revelation, old alliances fracture, accusations fly, and the walls of the estate close in around them. Lies become weapons, blood ties become liabilities, and everyone at the table has something to lose.

For the Don, the week becomes a nightmare. The family he trusted is not the family he thought he knew, and the memory of his dead wife—killed in a tragic accident three years ago—haunts every secret brought to light. Meanwhile, an overlooked cousin from an illegitimate branch and a mysterious distant relative unexpectedly find themselves caught in the center of a deadly game neither of them asked to play. Can they ride out the storm by clinging to each other?

Someone has spent years preparing this reckoning. Every dinner is another move in a carefully orchestrated plan. Every secret brings the family one step closer to ruin.

By the seventh night, the final silver dome will reveal a truth so devastating that nothing—not the family, the empire, or the inheritance—will ever be the same.
The Forsaken Summoner Reborn

The Forsaken Summoner Reborn

1.2k Views · Ongoing · sarah nolin
Claire Whitfield died in a world of delivery routes and ordinary regrets.

She woke up in a body that was never meant to be ordinary.

Now trapped inside sixteen-year-old Ivy Whitfield—a girl born into one of the powerful Warden Houses—Claire inherits more than a new life. She inherits betrayal. Three years ago, Ivy’s own brothers sealed her Sovereign-class summoning core, convinced she was too dangerous to control. Too unstable to trust. Too much of a risk to the family name.

They were wrong.

Beneath the seal lies something vast. Ancient. Waiting.

As fragments of Ivy’s past surface, Claire begins to piece together the truth: the “accident” that led to the sealing was no accident at all. Lies were planted. Fear was cultivated. And someone in the Whitfield household made sure Ivy would never rise.

But Claire isn’t the girl they remember.

In a world rebuilt after collapse—where spirit beasts soar beside drones and ancient magic powers modern empires—strength is everything. And Claire has no intention of staying weak.

To reclaim her power, she’ll have to break the seal no one was meant to touch. To survive, she’ll have to outmaneuver the very family sworn to protect her. And to uncover the truth, she’ll have to risk unleashing something even they were right to fear.

They sealed her power.

Now she’s about to show them why they should have killed her instead.

The Forsaken Summoner Reborn is a gripping fantasy of rebirth, betrayal, and unstoppable ascent—perfect for fans of fierce heroines, slow-burn power progression, and worlds where magic and technology collide.
Billionaire's Life time Bet,Turned regret

Billionaire's Life time Bet,Turned regret

629 Views · Ongoing · Bosy Elselhdar
It was supposed to be a bet to make her fall in love with him, break her, and humiliate her in public as revenge for his best friend, but that playboy, Henry, never knew that the hunter would be hunted and she would be the one who broke his heart into a million pieces.
But none of them will win this bet.

“So, you say you liked me from afar? But I have never met you even once before!” Elissa stood up, confused. He seemed more like a stalker, but he was handsome as hell, and seemed to be from a powerful and wealthy background; she just couldn’t end it simply.

He stepped closer, leaning to her ear and saying with his husky, hot manly voice, “You didn’t see me. But I have been watching every step of yours. I know your….”

He paused, then continued with a smirk, “I know every inch of your body.”

She jumped back, looking into his eyes, searching for the lies, but he didn’t seem a liar. She gulped nervously, “How and … what…” she stuttered.

But he pulled her close to his chest, “What do I want from you?” he moved his hand on her waist down to her hip, then said, “Of course I want to sleep with you!”

Even so, she was scared, but she, without hesitation, pushed him with all her strength and slapped his face, saying angrily, “Sleep my ass! In your dreams”

His eyes glowed with interest. No girl ever rejected him and slapped him boldly. He muttered before she could leave, “I will. We will. Very soon.”
Cruel Desires: My Bully Turned Stepbrother

Cruel Desires: My Bully Turned Stepbrother

1.8k Views · Ongoing · Hector Constantine
Look at the target, Gabe," Derek hissed, his voice a low vibration that settled in my bones. "Imagine it's my heart. Imagine you are finally putting me out of my misery."

I was trapped between the cold metal of a gun and the burning heat of his body. My finger trembled on the trigger, but I couldn't pull it.

My name is Gabriel. To the world I am the nerdy quiet university student. To Derek Miller, I am his toy. He found my secret sketchbook, page after page of his naked body drawn with obsessive detail. Now, he uses those sketches to keep me on a leash blackmailing me whenever he wants a taste of my dignity.

But the nightmare was only beginning.

When my religious mother announced she was marrying Derek’s billionaire father my world shattered. My bully wasn't just a ghost from campus anymore, he was my stepbrother.

We share a room. We share a bathroom and now my body. He is everywhere I breathe.

He claims me. He insults me. He treats me like trash. And the sickest part? I have realized I loved it rough.

Our obsessive love is impossible. My mother would disown me, the Miller name would be tarnished, and Derek’s tough love is starting to leave scars I can't hide.

Just as I am about to break, a new guy enters the picture someone who promises to love me softly. Someone who doesn't smell like gin and danger.

But in the dark world of the Millers, safety is a lie. Now I have to choose: Do I run toward a peaceful future, or do I stay with the devil I already know?
The highest bidder turned out to be my stepbrother

The highest bidder turned out to be my stepbrother

8k Views · Ongoing · floramaka2001
Eight years ago, I left him bleeding in a hospital bed and disappeared without a trace.
It was the hardest thing I had ever done.
It was also the only way to protect the secret growing inside me.
For eight years, I built a quiet life for myself and my daughter, far away from the Trevanti name and the dangerous family that nearly destroyed us. I had one rule.
Never let them find me.
Then I made a mistake.
One bad decision landed me in debt to the wrong people, and before I knew it, I was being sold to the highest bidder.
I expected a stranger.
Instead, Fabian Trevanti walked through the door.
The boy I abandoned.
The man I never forgot.
The only man I’ve ever loved.
Eight years should have been enough to forget him.
It wasn’t.
Not his smile.
Not the way he looked at me.
Not the way my heart still betrayed me whenever I heard his name.
The worst part wasn’t that Fabian found me.
The worst part was realizing I still wanted him.
Because Fabian isn’t the sweet boy I left behind anymore.
He’s powerful.
Dangerous.
Possessive.
And after spending eight years searching for me, he’s no longer willing to accept my excuses or my distance.
He’s never letting us go again.
But Fabian finding me is only the beginning.
A ghost from our past has returned.
A man we thought was dead.
A monster who stole years of our lives and left scars neither of us ever truly escaped.
And this time, he wants more than revenge.
Caught between old secrets, deadly enemies, and a love neither of us managed to bury, Fabian and I are forced back into each other’s lives just as the past comes crashing through the door.
The problem?
The more danger closes in around us, the harder it becomes to remember why I ran in the first place.
And when the truth finally comes out, I might lose far more than my secret.
I might lose my heart all over again.
The Genetic Report That Turned My Family Into Monsters

The Genetic Report That Turned My Family Into Monsters

1.4k Views · Ongoing · Lily
"Help! Somebody help me! Julian is trying to kill my baby!" I scream at the top of my lungs, bursting into my gender reveal party.

Just minutes ago, Julian was my perfect, doting husband. Then he opens my unborn baby's genetic screening report. The unadulterated ferocity and revulsion simmering in his eyes makes my entire body shake. He grips my arm, demanding I terminate the pregnancy.

I already died once because of that piece of paper. In my past life, they dragged me to a freezing lab, pumped me full of drugs, and murdered my child before locking me in an asylum.

This time, I hide behind the guests. But my parents storm in. After seeing the report, instead of saving me, Dad kicks me squarely in the stomach.

"You shameless little whore," he spits.

They are about to drag me out the back door when two police officers step through the glass doors. The cop hands me the confiscated report.

I look down at the printed words... and finally understand.
HOW TO BECOME RICH IN 30 DAYS

HOW TO BECOME RICH IN 30 DAYS

897 Views · Ongoing · babewiteb
Four desperate men—Adrian Kane, Liam Cross, Ezra Black, and Damien Hart—receive identical invitations promising unimaginable wealth in just thirty days.
There’s only one condition: survive.

Taken to a secluded estate and cut off from the outside world, they are thrown into a series of escalating challenges where failure is not an option—it’s a death sentence. What begins as a high-stakes competition for money quickly turns into something far more sinister: a controlled experiment designed by a shadowy organization that rewards ruthlessness and punishes hesitation.

Alliances form. Trust shatters. And every decision comes with a cost.

As the days grow darker, the truth becomes clear—this is not a game meant to be beaten. It is a system designed to break them, reshape them, and choose only one survivor.

In the end, only one will walk away.

And survival may be the worst fate of all
THE ALPHA BILLIONAIRE AND I

THE ALPHA BILLIONAIRE AND I

1.9k Views · Ongoing · The Guitarist
Alpha Alexander, the most powerful billionaire alpha in Europe, realised he wanted a wife, a luna who wasn't solely motivated by money but was willing to bear him a child and then leave once he grew tired of pretending to be a happy family for his grandmother's sake. Despite these conflicting needs, Alpha Alexander was convinced that his ideal Luna existed somewhere in the world, and he was determined to find her, no matter what. But she was a challenge he never expected.
30 Days to Leave My CEO Husband

30 Days to Leave My CEO Husband

1.5k Views · Ongoing · Sophie Langston
She sacrificed a brilliant career to be his secret wife. But on their anniversary, he gifted his precious first love a $15M piano, while tossing her a dog-eared cookbook. In that moment, seven years of silent devotion died. The countdown began.

For thirty days, she watched his other woman move in. For thirty days, she endured his neglect and cruelty. She let them believe they had won. All while quietly securing the world-class career she once walked away from.

When the clock struck zero, she boarded the flight without a look back. He was left holding the empty life she built, finally screaming a name he never truly valued—into a silence she no longer cared to hear.
Daddy’s Little Slut: 30 Steamy Daddy Tales

Daddy’s Little Slut: 30 Steamy Daddy Tales

6.9k Views · Ongoing · Roxannie
"You want Daddy to ruin that tight little p***y, don’t you, babygirl?"

"Mmm… yes, Daddy… please… I need it harder…"

"Get on your knees and beg like the filthy slut you are. Tell Daddy exactly how you want to be used."

"Oh f**k… Daddy, fill me up… I’m your dirty little secret…"

Prepare to surrender completely in a world where limits don’t exist and taboo is the only rule. A raw, unfiltered space where forbidden cravings, dark desires, and sinful Daddy dominance take center stage.

Step inside 30 Steamy Daddy Tales — an explosive collection of thirty scorching hot stories packed with intense, no-holds-barred encounters. From possessive Daddies claiming their brats, to wicked stepdaddies, ruthless older men, and every filthy fantasy in between.

This stories delivers it all: rough domination, breeding, age-gap tension, spanking, bondage, public risk, breeding kink, DDLG, and plenty of creamy, screaming climaxes. Whether it’s one-on-one, sharing with friends, or full-on group debauchery — these pages are dripping with pure, unapologetic lust.

r**w… if you’re brave enough to call Daddy “Sir.”
I Hope You Suffer, My Ex Mafia Husband

I Hope You Suffer, My Ex Mafia Husband

26.5k Views · Ongoing · Coralie Sullivan
My husband Dante's best friend Luigi died three months ago, and with his last breath, he made Dante promise to take care of his pregnant widow, Maggie. From that moment, Maggie invaded our lives, and I was only four months pregnant at the time.

Then Maggie got caught in a gang shootout. She needed an emergency blood transfusion, and she had this rare blood type—Rhnull. Turns out, I'm Rhnull too.

To save Maggie and her baby, Dante forced me to abort mine.
Blood Sucker

Blood Sucker

178 Views · Ongoing · Arline Laure ll
Half Vampire half Werewolf, meet Van Floyd Vaughn the goofiest of the Vaughn brothers. He loves Aphrodite so much but he never thought that he would also learn to love a woman who would change the course of his life. Cleopatra was always by his side whenever he needed someone to talk to, whenever he was sad and whenever he was hurt. Cleopatra is a cold and rugged white alpha. He was the one who reminded Van that not everything he wants is easy to get. Despite their love, the Black Alphas who want to spread evil in their town will grow strong again and they will need Cleopatra's blood to keep their leader alive, but Van will not let this happen because Cleopatra is just for Van, no one can approach the woman he loves the most.
Reborn I Deny Revival Tattoos, He Turns Corpse

Reborn I Deny Revival Tattoos, He Turns Corpse

651 Views · Ongoing · Alice Ellan
I’m Scarlett, the last true revival tattoo artist, capable of defying death with my cursed ink—for a brutal price. I lost everything saving my fiancé Hunter in my past life, only to be betrayed and killed by him .

Reborn when Hunter dies again, I refuse to sacrifice myself for my murderers. In an unthinkable twist, the powerless fraud Wendy resurrects Hunter, winning universal praise while I’m branded cold. Only I know the truth: he is not alive. He is a decaying, cursed corpse. I gamble everything for revenge and resurrect the only man who once saved me.

But tampering with death twice stirs a fatal, unspoken curse.
Oop's I Married The Billionaire Playboy

Oop's I Married The Billionaire Playboy

13.4k Views · Ongoing · The Guitarist
I never dreamed I'd marry Art William Jr.—a billionaire CEO, tabloid sensation, and New York's most notorious playboy.
He was sullen, domineering, and barely looked at me—except at night, when he couldn't sleep alone and would sneak into my bed and torture me with stolen kisses like a psychopath.
Our marriage was a sham. I was living in hell of luxury, and he was the prince of that hell. I thought it was going to be boring, until things got complicated—I unexpectedly became pregnant with his child.
I decided to run, to escape it all. But when love and betrayal threatened to destroy everything, could I escape unscathed?
When the Succubus Turns Heartless

When the Succubus Turns Heartless

869 Views · Ongoing · Fiona
This was the ninety-ninth time Shen Yunxiao had disappeared during my heat period.
This time, as always, I found traces of him through my sister Shu Lan's Moments.
[Heat season is here again~ Luckily, someone's been guarding me nonstop for seven days straight.]
The accompanying photo showed Shen Yunxiao kneeling on one knee, his head bowed, kissing the top of her foot in profile.
Unlike the past, I didn't yell or cause a scene. I just liked the post.
I'm a succubus. Since birth, I've been bound to Shen Yunxiao.
So, my succubus heat periods could only be resolved through him.
But he never gave me a second glance, never cared about any of my needs.
Even during my most severe heats, he'd still sit there in his suit, watching me curl up on the floor, trembling.
He knew that a bound succubus could only be loyal to one person.
I used to think he was naturally disdainful of succubi. But when I saw the tenderness in his eyes as he helped my sister Shu Lan through her heat...
That's when I knew. He wasn't disdainful of succubi. He was disdainful of me.
Convinced I couldn't leave him, he brazenly went on every date with Shu Lan.
But he didn't know that surviving one hundred heat periods on my own was the deadline I'd set for myself.
He also didn't know that by binding myself to a top-tier succubus, I could sever my connection to him, a mere human.
So, this was the last chance I was giving Shen Yunxiao.
After My Mafia Stepfather Turned Me Down in Bed: I Left for Africa to Teach

After My Mafia Stepfather Turned Me Down in Bed: I Left for Africa to Teach

819 Views · Ongoing · Hannah Air
At fifteen, my parents died on their way of volunteer teaching in underprivileged areas. I was adopted by the Miller family’s Don, Vincent and was brought up by himself. For ten years, he hauled me out of the mud, gave me a home, gave me favor no one else got and taught me what a “family” was supposed to mean.
On my eighteenth birthday, I climbed onto his bed and kissed him.
He called me disgusting with a face like ice. Later, he brought Isabella home, forced me to be her bridesmaid, and made me go with her to pick out wedding dresses and jewelry.
One shove from her was all it took for him to lock me in a pitch-black confinement room and he even had the light removed.
That was when I finally understood: everything I had could be taken back from me at any moment.
I Loved the Monster. Then I Blew Him Up.

I Loved the Monster. Then I Blew Him Up.

348 Views · Ongoing · Piper Hayes
It's supposed to be our last class trip before graduation. The bus loses control on a mountain road and goes over the edge.

I think we're all going to die.

When I open my eyes again, I'm sitting in a classroom that looks like it's been rotting for decades.

A system alert blares through my skull:

【Welcome to Ravenwood High. Unnameable creatures roam the campus. Survive 7 days. Uncover the truth behind the campus Boss's death. Every player who dies adds $800,000 to the prize pool. Make it out, and the money is yours.】

Everyone loses it. Screaming, crying, total chaos. The first thing Brett does is shove me toward the door to check the hallway. Because of course he does. I'm the class punching bag. The girl nobody would miss.

Everyone assumes I'll be the first to die.

What nobody sees is the smile pulling at the corner of my mouth as I stand at that door, staring at whatever is writhing in the shadows of the hallway.