I worked diligently and conscientiously as James's secretary for nine years. Just when I was finally about to be promoted to deputy general manager, he brought in his first love and replaced me. He said she had a higher education and was better than me. I looked at the man I had loved for ten years, speechless.

Finding out we were going to be parents was supposed to be the happiest time of our lives. Instead, I feel my husband, Ethan, drifting away from me a little more every day. He's late coming home from work, he disappears for long periods of time, he's irritable and closed off, and nothing I say or do seems to reach him. As tensions between us mount, I'm discovering parts of my husband's past that I never knew existed. And when everything comes tumbling down, I'm forced to ask myself: how well do I really know the man I love?

Aniya thought marriage meant partnership, love, and maybe the occasional argument about Netflix passwords. What she didn't plan for was Farrah - Spencer's charming, passive-aggressive "work wife" who somehow made "emotional cheating" look like part of the job description. At first, it was small stuff: snarky comments about Aniya's yoga career, a suspicious number of office selfies, and a mysteriously missing anniversary mug. But when Farrah starts hashtagging Spencer as her "WorkHubby" and scheduling dinners on their actual anniversary, Aniya realizes she's not imagining it-this woman is trying to steal her man, one team meeting at a time. Now Aniya has two options: 1. Let Farrah run the show while Spencer plays the clueless nice guy. 2. Or remind everyone - including her husband - exactly who's married to him. Told with sharp humor, brutal honesty, and enough chaos to fill an HR report, Delete Her Number, Spencer is a modern love story about marriage in the social media era - where loyalty is tested, egos are fragile, and no one is safe from a "work bestie" with boundary issues.

I never believed in marriage. Not after growing up watching it tear my family apart. Wanting someone was easy. Loving someone was dangerous. But promising forever? That felt impossible. And then came Dean Ashford. He never asked for much; just me, just us, just a future he swore he'd protect with everything he had. And when he asked for that future-when he held out a ring with hands that were shaking-I did the one thing I never wanted to do. I walked away. He broke. I broke. And the next morning, when I finally found the courage to choose him-really choose him-I had no idea he'd spent the night destroying everything we ever were. I had no idea what I was walking into. I had no idea what he'd done. I thought the worst thing I'd ever feel was the fear of losing him. I was wrong. Because nothing prepares you for the moment the person you love looks at you with eyes full of secrets... Nothing prepares you for the truth that the one night you walked away was the one night he didn't. And now I have to decide if the love I built my world around can survive the one mistake that broke both of us.

Eden: Griffin has been the quiet complication in my life since high school-steady, serious, and always a little too aware of me in ways no one else noticed. There were moments back then, quick and charged, that nudged me toward him, but nothing ever happened. He left for the military before I could face how much I didn't want him to go, and when he came back, everything between us shifted. He had a future without me, and I taught myself to fit around the edges of it. I pretended it didn't hurt. Leaving felt like the only way to escape what I'd never said. Now I'm home again, and Griff is a father to a little boy who attaches himself to me instantly. Griffin looks at me like he remembers every unspoken moment we left behind-and I'm realizing time didn't erase anything; it only made it heavier. Griffin: Eden was always someone I felt before I saw-my sister's best friend, too sharp and soft in ways I shouldn't reach for. Before I enlisted, there were stretched-out seconds and weighted silences we never named, and walking away was harder than I admitted. Life happened. Responsibility. A future I didn't plan. Eden stayed like a steady pulse I tried to ignore-until she left, and I told myself that was cleaner. But she's back now, and nothing feels settled. My son gravitates to her immediately, and I understand why. When I look at her, I feel every moment we never let ourselves want. But my past isn't finished with me... and I'm not sure how many pieces of her I can afford to lose again.

Elio Moretti's world was bleak. Grey. Dark. When the woman he loved, Alina Romanov, died in his arms, she took all the light with her. He drifted through the years like a ghost, tethered to duty, a life waiting for the end to claim him, but no matter how recklessly he walked the edge --- it never did. Then came Hanna Park. Sharp. Clever. Enigmatic. Disarming without trying. What began as a no-strings-attached arrangement, a fleeting connection, began to fracture, reshape, and bleed into something deeper. Grief, however, does not loosen its roots so easily. And Hanna, she had never meant to fall for a man whose heart still beat in the rhythm of someone gone. Yet the closer she got, the less she could resist. When loss hollows you to the bone, can anything grow in the emptiness? And when love promises to burn you alive, do you flee --- or let it quietly consume you? ------------------------ *Afterlight is a standalone set after The Lies We Rehearsed; reading TLWR first is recommended.*

Iris Mercer was never meant to be loved. Not in that marriage. Not by a man like Elliot Graves. It was supposed to be an arrangement. It became a year of shared silence that was never empty, of touches that were careful not to want too much, and a love that grew anyway, stubborn and deep. Then Elliot forgot her. The accident took the year that belonged to her. It left Elliot with memories of another woman, a different life. A life before Iris. He remembers nothing of the marriage that changed him. Iris remembers it all. She watches her husband move through their home in a body that knows her but a mind that does not. She hears Elliot's voice form another man's words. She grieves for a love that existed only in a single, stolen year, because some kinds of love are not repeated. They are built once, and lost forever. This story contains explicit intimacy, strong language, emotional trauma, and themes of memory loss, manipulation, and familial abuse. Intended for mature readers only.

Dane always said love was like a puzzle: you start with the edges, build a frame, and trust the rest will fall into place. For years, he and Callidora fit perfectly, until his loyalty to his late friend's little sister became the missing piece that didn't belong. What began as compassion twisted into late-night calls, quiet rescues, and promises he had no right to make. When Calli reaches her limits, his apologies are desperate, his love real, but the picture they'd built together had already been pulled apart. Can Dane convince Calli that the picture they once started is still worth finishing, or has their puzzle already fallen apart for good?

Rory Hayes was born a gang princess - raised to be protected, promised to a future that was never really hers. After her best friend's death, danger begins circling closer, and the last thing she wants is protection. Especially not from Alexander Cross, the man who appears out of nowhere with a dangerous smile and an interest in her she can't quite resist. He makes her feel safe. Seen. Wanted. Until she discovers everything between them was built on a lie. Now someone is hunting her, the truth about the past refuses to stay buried, and the only man she can't trust might be the only one who can keep her alive. But in a world built on loyalty and blood, betrayal always comes at a price. And this time, it might cost her everything. __________________________ My submission for ONC 2026 using the Prompt #78 - You begin to realise everything is not what it seems. This will be uploaded irregularly but as its a submission for ONC it will be completed by the end of April for judging.