(18+) CATALYST is a PERJURY prequel novella spanning across five years of Seraphina's life. When her mother marries a local drug dealer to escape their broken life, Seraphina trades one kind of hell for another. Trapped in a violent household, she watches her mother slowly destroy herself while she becomes the victim of a manipulative and abusive relationship. Seraphina slowly discovers how comforting the wrong hands can feel... and how much they can take from you.

❝Is this what you needed?❞ he rumbled, gripping the back of my neck while he thrust into me. ❝My cock buried deep inside of you? Have we been keeping you cock-starved? Needy girl,❞ he rasped, ❝making such a mess on my cock. Always so desperate, even when you're stuffed nice and full.❞ Oakley Larkin works at a flower shop while struggling to afford rent and groceries, unable to depend on her current boyfriend, whose role in her life is daunting. The only highlight is the seven men in her life, but things have been downhill for a while, and she isn't sure if she can stop herself from falling, or if they'll reach out and catch her. Weekly Updates every Monday at 4 PM EST.

Claire was just 17 when she got married. Allegedly - she honestly has no idea what papers she signed under duress. But knowing the exact details won't help. Not with who her husband is, and certainly not with a legal system that refuses to care. What can a girl do against enthusiastic efforts at systematic reconditioning? The answer: not very much. (A look into the mechanics of survival under prolonged abuse.) WARNING: Contains abuse. Nothing gratuitous, but we will be touching on a fair bit of learned helplessness, trauma bonding, battered person syndrome and other "fun" psychological conditions. Cross-posted to AO3.

I'm Brilliance. I'm Gifted. I'm Phenomenal. ~~~ Clarissa has a new neighbour. He's charming - in that Irish way (even if his name is French). She's only thinking in terms of being 'a good neighbour' and a friend, of course. She has a boyfriend who she loves - even if her roommate DESPISES him. (He's really not so bad.) But as friends, she and her neighbour might just work. Especially when he comes home one night looking like he'd fought a frying pan and lost, and she ends up patching him up. Not that he'll tell her what happened. He just dismisses it, brushes it off and changes the topic. And then it happens again. And again. What the heck is he involved with? He says it's not illegal. His brother says that he's special. And Clarissa knows he's lost him somewhere along the way. But in what way has he lost himself? And can she help get him back on the right track? And in doing so, maybe she'll admit that she's also a little lost and needs help finding her feet again. ~~~ Phenomenal (Love and Other Catastrophes Book 1) ~~~ ~~~~ Please note: Mild Language Cover Photo by: (Locating Photographer's name)

With her mother's business almost in ruins, twenty-three year old Chiara visits her father over the summer in New York after two years of estrangement. Chiara runs into Silas "Si" Winters, a social-media star who captivates her heart at first sight, enticing her into his world of travel and adventure like she'd never experienced before. Look good, have fun, post a picture on social media and get paid. It's a dream come true; she could save her mother's business and even make her father finally proud while having the adventure of a lifetime with a boy she hardly believed existed. Just when everything's going well, Chiara realizes Si might not be who she thinks he is, and she finds herself stuck in a sick game of play-pretend to save her own life.

Summer Adams was supposed to have it all - the perfect fiancé, a promising future, and the kind of life people envy from a distance. But behind every perfect picture is a truth that doesn't photograph well. But small towns remember everything. And so does David Haines, the boy she once loved and the man she broke without warning. He's rougher now. Quieter. Carrying his own wreckage. As the walls close in around them, secrets start to surface, the kind that can ruin reputations, careers, and lives. The people she loves are suddenly caught in the crossfire. To save them, Summer has to decide how much more of herself she's willing to lose. Some things are worth fighting for even when you're the one on fire. A story of survival, second chances, and the haunting pull of a love that refuses to die

Liana Vescari has always been the nice one, the girl who smooths over arguments, puts others first, and never asks for more than she's given. At eighteen, in a family everyone admires, her kindness is praised as maturity, her silence mistaken for strength. When she was fifteen, her older sister's boyfriend, charming, trusted, and deeply woven into their family, began crossing lines so subtly that Liana convinced herself it was nothing. She didn't want to be dramatic. She didn't want to hurt anyone. What felt like care slowly became control, and by the time she was old enough to understand what was happening, she had already learned to blame herself for not saying no. Determined to protect her family's image and her sister's happiness, Liana keeps quiet. She tells herself she's fine, even as depression settles in and bulimia becomes a way to punish her body for taking up too much space. Survival, she believes, means enduring without complaint. When three new friends enter her life and offer a kind of safety she's never known, Liana begins to question whether being good should hurt this much. But as her abuser tightens his hold and the truth threatens to surface, she faces an impossible choice. Speaking up could finally free her, but it may also cost her the family, identity, and love she's spent her life trying not to disappoint.

Evelyn thought love was supposed to save her. At twenty-one, she's living in a cramped Adelaide rental with Jaxon-the boy who once made her feel chosen. He's passionate, intense, and when he's good, he's everything. But when he's not... he's cruel in quiet ways. With words that cut. With silences that scream. With promises that make her stay. Because love is supposed to hurt a little, isn't it? When Jaxon crosses a line she didn't know she had, Evelyn runs-with no plan, no bag, just a cracked phone and shaking hands. She ends up on her brother Jake's doorstep. Safe, but not whole. Then there's Kade. Jake's best friend. Her childhood tease turned quiet protector. He sees too much-asks too little. And something about the way he looks at her makes it hard to breathe. Living with them was meant to be temporary. But Jaxon still calls. Still says all the right things. And Evelyn can't stop loving him-not really. Not yet. As the past claws at her and something softer begins to bloom between whispered conversations and lingering glances, Evelyn is forced to choose: the man who once felt like gravity... or the one who makes her feel weightless. For the full story, go visit my Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/author/gracesmith.author

Started: 11/6/2020 Completed: 12/26/2020 "I hope you remember what I said, Atlas," he said. He went back to his firm tone of voice now that we were alone. He glanced up at me as he packed three pairs of jeans into the bag. I was too busy trying to figure out how the hell I had three brothers who suddenly wanted custody of me after all these years of me being in foster care that I didn't even remember what Mr. Harris had told me last night, but it clicked. He had told me those things because he knew that I was leaving him today. "You will never be loved by them if they find out what you are, what you've done. And if they do find out, I'm sure they'll send you right back here to me where you belong," he said calmly as he placed the rest of my turtlenecks next to the jeans and lastly put in a coat. He zipped the bag that he had apparently finished packing for me and I looked around the room. "Let's go," he said firmly holding the bag in his hand as he walked out of my room. I didn't know if I should be happy or scared to be leaving Mr. Harris. I never imagined that I would be leaving him. Ever. He had told me last year on my birthday that he was going to marry me when I turned 18 and aged out of the system. *** For Atlas Bishop, moving in with three older brothers she never knew she had meant a chance at freedom she believed she didn't deserve. But there's no rest for the wicked. Every decision she must make in her new life will hide the fact that she was harboring the devil inside, deceiving everyone around her so she doesn't get punished ever again. Ace Innocenti has never been in love before, but he's certain he's in love with an innocent angel, the new girl Atlas Bishop. He's determined to keep his anger issues in check and his illegal activities at bay to keep her that way. But, innocence has a dark side that lies and cheats, and Ace learns his lesson the hard way.

[BLOOD AND BOND BOOK #1] 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞. "𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐳𝐳𝐨 𝐝𝐢 𝐭𝐞." [𝐈'𝐦 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮.] 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞. "𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧?" 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐬. 𝐔𝐡. 𝐆𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐞. "𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲." 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲. 𝐒𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐞. 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞. "𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐳𝐳𝐚 𝐝𝐢 𝐭𝐞." 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐥𝐲. 𝐎𝐡, 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐦𝐞. Isabella Fiore Celano was never treated nicely by the world. She was only 10, when she was sex trafficked by the Russian mafia. Since then, she was known as dead to her family. After 10 years, she is found again by childhood friend and Italian mafia Don, Alessio Giovanni Costello. Alessio takes Isabella under his care as a tribute to his close family friends. Now a mafia Don who has never know gentleness or care must learn to care for a precious girl in need of all those things. Will the sweet precious girl, bring the big bad mafia Don to his knees? Or will they be ripped apart before the chance of love ever exists? Started: October 20, 2021 Finish