SEQUEL TO THE ART OF MANIPULATION Jonika thought the bullet ended everything-his empire, his hold on her heart, and the man she loved but was forced to betray. She tried to rebuild, to bury the grief under the illusion of a normal life. But grief doesn't stay buried. It claws. It festers. And some ghosts don't stay dead. When fate drags Jonika back into the shadows she thought she'd escaped, she finds herself hunted by the very man she once destroyed. His face is the same, his eyes colder, his love and fury tangled into something she can't escape. Now she doesn't know if he has returned to reclaim her heart... or claim her life.

" I don't even like you like that." Her face scrunched up in disgust watching water drip from curls in his hair. " 'Cause you love me. Just like I love you." He retorted with a grin, disregarding the deflecting she was doing. --- They were two sides of the same city-until one move split them down the middle. Elijah and London were inseparable once, bonded by childhood summers, beat-up bikes, and secrets too deep for anyone else to know. Unfortunately, when Elijah's mom packed up and moved her family across Onyx to a rival neighborhood, everything changed. She always thought when she spoke to him again he would've changed like her. She was witty, sarcastic, and had a low tolerance, but he was still the same calm , sweet, cute boy with a heart the size of the sun. Some things haven't changed. Some things never change. The pull between them, the memories that still burn etched marks in their brain, and the words they never said out loud. In a world where loyalty can be life or death, and love isn't always enough to cross old lines, Elijah and London find themselves circling each other again. --- STARTED; MAY 26th, 2025 PUBLISHED JUNE 6th, 2025 FINISHED; SEPTEMBER 27th 2025

She's a man-eater with a badge and a body count of broken hearts. As a DEA agent, Jonika's mastered the art of seduction, manipulation, and emotional detachment - using her beauty like a weapon and keeping her feelings locked behind armor no one gets past. But when her mission leads her straight into the arms of a dangerously magnetic man, the game changes. He's charming, calculated, and unknowingly the exact criminal she's been sent to take down. By the time she pieces together who he truly is, he's already slipped past her defenses - touching something real beneath the surface she swore no one would ever reach. Now, with a federal sting operation closing in, Jonika stands on a razor's edge: turn him in and complete the mission... or betray everything she's sworn to protect for the only man who ever made her feel something.

"Beautiful things don't ask for attention." In a world that thrives on conformity, August is an anomaly. Raised in a secretive overbearing family, she was chosen to leave its hidden grounds-not for freedom, but for duty. Sent to college to become the strategic mind for her generation behind the family's growing empire, she tries to move through the world like a ghost, draped in gothic shadows with secrets too heavy to share but her style is just too much to go unnoticed by judging eyes unscathed. Then she meets Kason through his older brother. A rising rapper with a reckless charm and a hunger for something real, dealing with battles of his own, he's instantly drawn to August's eerie demeanor and the quiet storm that lingers behind her dark mysterious eyes. She's nothing like the women he's used to-unbothered by trends, and untouched by the need for validation. The more she resists, the deeper he falls, his infatuation turning into an obsession he can't shake. One he cant let go of. As their worlds collide, the slow burn of their connection threatens to ignite everything August has been taught to suppress. With her past closing in and expectations pressing down, she must decide if she's willing to defy everything she's ever known for the chance at something dangerously real. In a society that demands she fit a mold, August stands in defiance. Unfortunately, love has a way of making even the strongest question their silence. STARTED; February 22nd , 2025 PUBLISHED; MARCH 18th, 2025 FINISHED; MAY 27th, 2025

Mylion 21, suffers from severe PTSD after her oldest brother (Elijah Gillus) was gunned down before her eyes by 2 men one identified as Eli's own best friend although the second suspect has yet to be determined. While on campus Mylion runs into Cairo, a young man who has his head on tight. He's a basketball player on the road to league although he hasn't always been focused. Cairo has a dark past having to survive the rough streets of Chicago. He has a lot to look forward to in the near future but his past still haunts him. You can consider things coincidental since Cairo is indeed the 2nd suspect in the murder of Mylion's brother. Will Cairo's secret ever be revealed?

A promise. It seems like the simplest thing in the world to keep. But so often, they're broken, empty and hollow. They seem like the easiest thing in the world to believe, but after the words are left out to bleed, after they leave you waiting and wanting, after all the emptiness and hollow words-how are you going to believe the one who actually say what they mean?

Damn, college really is the best part of yo life. Especially at an HBCU.

Delete the old version of me in your head please, I'm not her anymore.

Being married to a superstar ain't easy. For a few years, Vivian Walker was Blake Griffin's trophy wife, but now she's divorced from the only man she's ever loved. Blake, on the other hand, regrets the day he signed the divorce papers. Vivian and Blake attempt to move on from each other but in reality, they both just can't seem to stay away. An unexpected situation forces Blake and Vivian back into each other's arms. You can't help who you love; in this case, Blake and Vivian are prime examples.