A Yearning Beyond Years

Modern

I stood at my mother's open grave in the freezing rain, my heels sinking into the mud. The space beside me was empty. My husband, Hilliard Holloway, had promised to cherish me in bad times, but apparently, burying my mother didn't fit into his busy schedule. While the priest's voice droned on, a news alert lit up my phone. It was a livestream of the Metropolitan Charity Gala. There was Hilliard, looking impeccable in a custom tuxedo, with his ex-girlfriend Charla English draped over his arm. The headline read: "Holloway & English: A Power Couple Reunited?" When he finally returned to our penthouse at 2 AM, he didn't come alone-he brought Charla with him. He claimed she'd had a "medical emergency" at the gala and couldn't be left alone. I found a Tiffany diamond necklace on our coffee table meant for her birthday, and a smudge of her signature red lipstick on his collar. When I confronted him, he simply told me to stop being "hysterical" and "acting like a child." He had no idea I was seven months pregnant with his child. He thought so little of my grief that he didn't even bother to craft a convincing lie, laughing with his mistress in our home while I sat in the dark with a shattered heart and a secret life growing inside me. "He doesn't deserve us," I whispered to the darkness. I didn't scream or beg. I simply left a folder on his desk containing signed divorce papers and a forged medical report for a terminated pregnancy. I disappeared into the night, letting him believe he had successfully killed his own legacy through his neglect. Five years later, Hilliard walked into "The Vault," the city's most exclusive underground auction, looking for a broker to manage his estate. He didn't recognize me behind my Venetian mask, but he couldn't ignore the neon pink graffiti on his armored Maybach that read "DEADBEAT." He had no clue that the three brilliant triplets currently hacking his security system were the very children he thought had been erased years ago. This time, I wasn't just a wife in the way; I was the one holding all the cards.

Romance

"We...shouldn't be doing this," Stacey moaned as she felt Noah's lips kiss the side of her neck. "Tell me to stop, and I will," he whispered. "I'm twelve years older than you; what would the world say?" "I don't care what the damn world says. The only thing I care about is the woman in front of m

Romance

When Marilyn prepares a surprise for her husband, she finds out that he has been cheating on her with her best friend. To make things worse, it turns out that their marriage was nothing but a scam to steal her inheritance. In her despair, she runs into Ethan, an attractive man who has been drugged a

Billionaires

My husband, David, and I had been married for ten years, a perfect New York power couple on the outside, a carefully constructed lie within. I used his money, he had his affairs, even a secret child. Our lives ran on parallel tracks, never interfering. It was a cold, silent agreement. Then the scho

Literature

Thirty Years a Slave: From Bondage to Freedom by Louis Hughes. Louis Hughes was born in Virginia (1832), but was sold (1844) in the Richmond slave market to a cotton planter and his wife who lived on the Mississippi River. Later, he traveled with them to their new home in Memphis, Tennessee, and spe

Romance

After Beth, the love of Kingsley's life, left him, his world fell apart. Drowning in heartbreak, he vanished into obscurity... until Katherine found him and helped him heal. Her familiar aqua-blue eyes brought him peace and, eventually, love but secrets, lies, and the return of his ex-fiancée, Beth,

Short stories

"What if you could wake up in your dreams and live out your wildest fantasies, every night? What would you do?" Catherine wishes all her dreams were just like those that everyone has. Yet her dream was different. Her dreams weren't rainbows and sunshine however, her dreams became her reality. Aft

Romance

My life was always a supporting role to my brother, Caleb – a "spare part" for his childhood illness, my parents' love a finite resource entirely consumed by him. As "E," I finally felt seen, connecting deeply with Olivia after her accident-induced blindness. But my world shattered when Caleb, orch

Modern

For ten years, I secretly loved my guardian, Ethan Hayes. After my family fell apart, he took me in and raised me. He was my entire world. On my eighteenth birthday, I gathered all my courage to confess my love to him. But his reaction was a fury I had never seen before. He swept my birthday cake

Others

When freelance journalist Cassandra Winters stumbles upon a stolen painting tied to an ancient secret, she is thrust into a world of intrigue and danger. Enter Nicolas-a mysterious man with a shadowy past and a mission of his own. As they race against time to uncover the truth, trust becomes a luxur

Modern

For five years, I was the devoted wife who helped Brandon build his tech empire. But the moment his first love, Kristal, returned with a feigned injury, he handed her the diamond necklace meant for our anniversary and abandoned me in a torrential storm. He knew my PTSD from a past kidnapping made

Romance

The blinking cursor on Liam Miller' s screen mocked him: "Invalid Certificate Number." He sighed, leaning back in his leather chair, the city lights shimmering behind him. Their five-year marriage certificate, an official document, yet it wouldn' t register for their new foundation. Chloe, his seem

Young Adult

"Join Enoch, Iyiola, Chris, and Amaka on their journey from the halls of secondary school to the campuses of university life. From navigating the pressures of SSCE exams to exploring the freedoms of higher education, this group of friends has been through it all together.As they grow and evolve, Iyi

Romance

For eight years, I clung to Liam' s drunken promise, a joke he' d made at 14 that felt like a sacred vow. I transformed myself, chasing perfection for him, believing our 22nd birthday was finally our moment. But then, I overheard him plotting: our "promise" was a cruel lie, a scheme to get rid of

Romance

For seven years, my life was a cold, silent prison. My husband, David Chen, the tech world' s golden boy, saw me only as his sister Emily' s murderer. What happened to Emily that day at the lake was an accident, a tragedy. But to David and my adoptive mother, Olivia, it was my fault, a debt I had

Romance

For five years, I was her dog. Sarah Miller, the woman I once loved, owned me, reminding me of it daily. The contract, my reason for existence, was almost over. Then, Alex Thorne, her COO, smirked, "Try again," smudging the glass I just polished. Her private office door opened; Sarah emerged, beaut

Romance

My wife, Sarah, and I had a perfect life plan: no kids, just us, travel, and careers. To seal the deal, I underwent a vasectomy. I came home that day, a bag of frozen peas on my groin, feeling a strange mix of relief and finality, ready to celebrate. But Sarah didn't want to celebrate. She sat besi

Romance

The system overload alarm shrieked, sparks flying, monitors flickering. My own algorithm, my miracle cure, was dying, and it was taking me with it. Liam Thorne, facing me, declared, "Bring her back, Ava! You said your algorithm could heal anything!" His face a mask of cold fury over his lost love,

LGBT+

My brother, Kevin, just got the bizarre diagnosis. He had a fully functional uterus. I, a bio-ethicist, saw it as a severe medical condition, but Kevin, fueled by delusion, declared himself the "next step in human evolution." My mother, Eleanor, encouraged his madness, seeing it as a shortcut to

Fantasy

Chloe Miller and Blake Harrison were husband and wife, a title that masked three years of mutual hatred and separate beds. Then, a gang abducted and brutally murdered Chloe. But instead of peace, she woke to the Grim Reaper' s voice: "Ms. Miller, you have desires you have not resolved. You cannot

Romance

Tonight was supposed to be perfect, our fifth wedding anniversary, and I, Ava Monroe, was glowing, a secret smile playing on my lips for the news I planned to share with my loving husband, Liam. But then, a strange, unlocked phone in his study revealed a picture: Liam with another woman, Sophia Che