Tranquil Pines Torment

Modern

"I'm badly injured. Get over here right now!" Fresh off a grueling twelve-hour open-heart surgery, I received a frantic call from my boyfriend, Derik. Without even changing my scrubs, I rushed through Boston's freezing autumn rain to the bar. But the moment I pushed open the VIP room door, my blood ran completely cold. Derik was sitting perfectly unharmed on the sofa, with a scantily clad, third-rate model straddling his lap. Seeing me soaked to the bone and looking like a mess, the model didn't get off him. Instead, she leaned into his chest with fake innocence: "Sorry to bother you, sis. I just twisted my ankle, but Derik was so worried he insisted a top doctor like you come take a look." The cold rain dripped from my hair. Swallowing the sharp pain in my chest, my voice trembled: "I'm a cardiothoracic surgeon. I can't treat an ankle." "If you can't even look at a twisted ankle, what use are you?" Derik interrupted impatiently, looking at me like I was a cheap object. "Don't forget, my family funded your medical degree. You're nothing but a free maid we took in out of charity! As long as you behave, I might still let you keep the title of my girlfriend." In that instant, my four years of walking on eggshells and compromising felt like a massive joke. Instead of crying and begging like he expected, I looked at him coldly. "You're right, I can't treat it. So I'm officially giving up the position of your girlfriend to her." Leaving Derik staring in shock, I turned around, walked out of the room, and rushed straight into a restroom stall. Just as I was about to let out a sob, the door was violently kicked open. A towering, blood-soaked man forced his way in, pinning me hard against the wall. The overwhelming scent of fresh blood and dangerous masculinity instantly enveloped me. "Keep your mouth shut if you want to live." Hearing the assassins' footsteps approaching outside, my doctor's instinct kicked in. I yanked his belt loose, grabbed his collar, and kissed him fiercely. I thought I had just saved a stranger, until a few days later when Derik's grandmother suffered a severe heart attack. Her life was hanging by a thread, and the surgery required the signature of the family's ultimate patriarch. Outside the ER, Derik arrogantly showed up with his arms around that model. "She's already carrying my child! Once my grandmother wakes up, I'm kicking you out of this hospital!" he yelled at me. Suddenly, the temperature in the hallway seemed to drop below freezing. Flanked by two rows of bodyguards, a terrifyingly powerful man strode out. Derik, who was acting so high and mighty a second ago, instantly turned pale. He shrank like a frightened mouse, trembling as he bowed his head: "U-Uncle..." My mind completely short-circuited, my heart hammering wildly against my ribs. The dangerously lethal man I had fiercely kissed and stripped to bandage in that dirty restroom late that night... was actually Derik's most feared and revered billionaire uncle?!

Horror

Elara Vance found solace with her guardian, Marcus Thorne, after her parents' death, viewing him as a stable "Uncle Marcus." On her eighteenth birthday, however, her romantic advance on him was met with shocking fury, leading to her banishment to "Tranquil Pines Academy," a place he intended for "c

Literature

Lydia of the Pines by Honore Morrow

Romance

A fierce, sharp-tongued girl returns to a forgotten town shrouded in secrets and mist, haunted by the whispers that lie beneath the pine trees rather than the past she ran away from. Before the forest started calling her name, June didn't think that ghosts or curses existed. Zayden has been burd

Fantasy

My mother was dying, her laughter stolen by a rare disease. A cosmic system offered me a deal: travel to another world, make a man named Ethan Stone love me, and she would be cured. It seemed easy; Ethan was sweet, attentive, and kind at first. But then, everything changed. Ethan became a monster,

Billionaires

"What? You thought we were sharing a room? You will have our baby through artificial insemination." I watched as she deflated like a pierced balloon. Thrown into a contract marriage by circumstances, Nora Reidy, a 25 year old medical student, finds herself fighting for her life. Some members of her

Billionaires

Lauren short is an orphaned CEO with a serious identity crisis. As in her nearly identical cousin and her mother's twin sister are constantly trying to take everything from her by pretending to be her and her mom. Her aunt failed to steal her father, but her cousin successfully stole her fiancee. Th

Sci-fi

For seven years, my husband Jake, a firefighter captain, made our home a tomb. He blamed me for his high school sweetheart Chloe's death in a wildfire, a fire where he "saved" me only because I was pregnant with his son. His constant accusations and cold silence were a living hell. Then, he annou

Modern

Three years ago He accidentally fell from a building, resulting in a disability in both legs. The doctor said the hope of recovery was slim. I accompanied him to grasp that slim hope. Three years later, he recovered. He's once again a hotshot business tycoon. But he told his friend, "I have alw

Modern

Another wave of pain hit me, a familiar, gut-wrenching cramp. I was bleeding again. This was the tenth time. Each time it happened, my husband, Liam Stone, would bring a woman home. A woman who looked exactly like his first love. Tonight was no different. He stood in our bedroom doorway, a wom

Romance

For five years, I was Julian Heath's dirty little secret. As the CEO of a tech empire, he was a king, but a rare neurotoxin made him a prisoner. My unique biochemistry was his only antidote, requiring hours of intimate contact to keep him alive. He was convinced I was the one who poisoned him—an ob

Literature

Annie F. Johnston, originally from Indiana, was a noted author most famous for her Little Colonel series. "Little Colonel" , a smash film starring Shirley Temple, was based on this series.

Modern

When I was undercover in the gang, I disguised myself as a kidnapper and kidnapped the family of wealthy businessman Fu Songchen. I even forced him to strip dance while he delivered the ransom. After the mission ended, I returned to a normal life—delivering food during the day and driving a taxi at

Adventure

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally impor

Modern

The cold, sharp edges of the resin necklace dug into my skin, a constant, physical reminder of Alexander Vance' s twisted grasp. Just hours ago, I, Scarlett Hayes, had almost tasted freedom, only to be dragged back to this gilded cage. He didn't yell, he never did, not at first; his silence was al

Modern

I was dying from a mysterious illness, but my family, including my fiancé King, dismissed me as a drama queen. At my adopted sister Isabel' s promotion party, my body finally gave out and I collapsed, coughing up blood. Instead of helping, King accused me of ruining Isabel's big night. He tore up m

Romance

Kiara Watson has lived an unhappy life within her own family, always overshadowed by her sister, Cloe, who draws all the attention with her beauty. But Kiara's fate takes an unexpected turn when, by mistake and by force, she ends up bound to Archie Villarreal the most desired man in the powerful Vil