𝟏𝟖+| 2026 WATTYS SHORTLISTER | A spicy enemies-to-lovers romance with a fake marriage contract trope. To find her missing best friend, Sofia Reyes is forced to marry her arrogant boss, only to realize her entire life has been built on lies. Can be read as a Standalone. || Book 1 of The Kiss Clause Series ************ Sofia Reyes has fought her way to the top of New York's legal scene, hiding scars she can't fully remember. But just as she's about to claim the promotion for Junior Partner she's worked so hard for, her best friend, and her boss's fiancée, Kiara, disappears. This forces Sofia into a marriage she never asked for; an alliance bound by secrets, contracts, and survival. Xavier Kingston is everything she loathes: ruthless, cunning, and impossibly arrogant. Yet behind his cold, calculating exterior lies a hunger for something real, something neither of them dares to admit. As Sofia navigates their fake marriage, the line between duty and desire blurs dangerously. Their chemistry ignites, but the truths Sofia uncovers: about the law firm, Kiara's disappearance, and her own hidden past, threaten to destroy everything. In a world of billion-dollar deals, betrayals, and forbidden glances, love might just be the deadliest game of all. **Cover image by Freepik** ** @TheWattys 2026 Shortlister in Romance (Mature) ** ** @TheWattys 2025 Shortlister in Romance ** **@TheAmbys 2025 Favorites (Top pick) in Romance**

➶ 2026 Wattys Shortlisted Story. ➶ They say belief is suicide. They're not wrong. Where I come from, faith gets you a bullet in the head. Still, I believe. So does Basil, my only constant in a world stripped of everything soft. We've been hunted for years, slept under stone, eaten from dirt, prayed in secret, and watched good people vanish for whispering the wrong words. We've made it all these years with nothing but our prayers and each other. But then came the rumour about a sanctuary. A lie, probably. A trap, almost definitely. Basil wanted to chase it anyway, because we owed it to ourselves, he said, and to others who share our struggle. I went with him only because I couldn't bear to watch him go alone. I should've stopped him... (Complete first book in the Ghuraba' Trilogy!)

"We're the smartest people in this school. We can figure it out." "You think solving maths equations makes you a detective?" 🥀🥀🥀 At Giele Rose, secrets and rumours are currency. After a year's absence, Kimiko Sinclair has returned to her senior year at the Giele Rose School, one of the most prestigious institutions for children of royalty and wealth. Coming back was supposed to be a distraction from her personal disasters, but it turns out to be more complicated than that. Soon after her arrival, her best friend is pinned as the prime suspect of a school murder, and she has no choice but to take matters into her own hands to clear her name. Liam Anderson is known to keep to himself, but when his best friend's life is threatened, there's nothing stopping him from seeking out the killer. But he isn't the only one. He teams up with the one person he can't stand to achieve a mutual goal. She wants justice; he wants vengeance. But at Giele Rose, everyone is a liar, and the murderer will stop at nothing to keep their secret buried. 🥀🥀🥀 Achievements: 🏅 Featured in The Watty's 2026 Shortlist 🥈 Second place Crime/Mystery winner in IdolVerse Icons Awards

⭐ 2026 WATTYS SHORTLISTED STORY⭐ The most dangerous security breach in Maxwell Muga Makori's life isn't from hackers targeting his servers, but the woman in his boardroom. Kaitu Makinia was only supposed to be a subcontractor. A brilliant cybersecurity engineer and a rising star in Nairobi's fashion scene, she's brought in to investigate a series of crippling cyberattacks on Makori Logistics.But as she digs into the system, the professional lines between her and Maxwell blur into something electric and undeniable. However, the charming and principled CEO is devoted to his girlfriend and bound by a personal choice to remain celibate. The deeper Kaitu digs into the code, the closer the conspiracy gets to the people Maxwell trusts most, and they'll destroy anyone who gets in their way. Now Kaitu is caught in a web of lies crafted by those closest to Maxwell, while he stands at a crossroads; torn between a life of devoted loyalty to his girlfriend and a thrilling, risky connection with the woman who sees past the CEO's façade and cracks the code of his heart. If you're looking for high-stakes romantic suspense, slow-burn attraction, corporate espionage, faith tested resilience, then Cracks and Code is for you. ──────•✦•────── As of 12/04/2026, we were ranking #1 - espionage #1 - tech thriller #1 - nairobi #1 - women in business #1 - fashion drama #1 - East Africa #1 - love and ambition

No one has seen anyone come out of Apartment 4D. People have gone in only to not be in there the next morning. Everyone has heard stories of what may have happened in 4D, a drug deal gone wrong, a lonely man may have k****d himself by h*****g, a jealous lover k***s his sweetheart, so on and so forth. I have lived here for years and still don't have any answers about that apartment. Tonight, that all changes follow Carmen as she spends her nights figuring out what went on in apartment 4d and why does she feel a connection towards it.

𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐌𝐞 When Elodie sees the words scrawled on her neighbor, Amy's window, her weekend at the secluded farmhouse takes a dark turn. Is Amy in danger around her enigmatic husband Alec? Elodie knows she must get closer to the Bergers to uncover the truth, but something feels off. The more she watches, the more cracks in their perfect life appear. As Elodie is pulled deeper into their twisted secrets, she starts to wonder: Are they the perfect couple---or is their entire life a perfect lie? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭? 𝗔 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺, 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿: 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗽𝗹𝗲, 𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗲?

Hired by an infamous art collector, an art historian must decide whether to expose a painting's truth or risk everything for the woman who may be deceiving her. * * * * * When Michelina "Mikey" Amato, a struggling art historian, catches the eye of an alluring art collector at auction, sparks instantly ignite between the two women. But Mikey learns the collector is none other than Domenica Fiori, a woman with no maximum bid whose name is synonymous with scandal. Hoping to restore her reputation, Domenica offers to hire Mikey to authenticate a painting in her collection. Mikey sees it as an opportunity to make a name for herself and accepts despite all the whispers of forgery. Working closely alongside Domenica in her secluded Sicilian villa, Mikey starts to see beyond the collector's tarnished and guarded past. But inconsistencies with the painting---and Domenica---create more questions than answers. As Mikey's suspicions begin to grow, so do her feelings for Domenica, threatening to cloud her integrity. When the forgery rumors start to look true, Mikey must decide whether to expose the painting's truth or risk losing everything for the woman who may be deceiving her. #wlw

Shortlisted in the 2025 Wattys. Massachusetts State Police Trooper First Class Kevin Thornton joined the force for all the wrong reasons, and as such he's done so little that the only promotion he's received is the automatic one to trooper first class after five years on the job. So when a plane full of drug money crashes on the highway while he's on night patrol, he doesn't hesitate to help himself to it.

Dominic St. Claire never expected to fall in love. Melody Harrington never expected a chance encounter at a bar to change her life. But in a town haunted by fear and secrets, some people are not who they seem - and some shades of red mean more than love.

Three neighbors. One dead body. A whole lot of chismis. When a hated neighborhood matriarch is murdered, a retired cop, an aspiring vlogger, and a stressed freelancer team up to catch the killer-only to realize the real danger isn't just the murderer, but how easily the truth gets twisted.