Suspense⁠ Stories

Iris Van Houten is a masterpiece waiting to be shattered. As a senior high school student born into a suffocating, elite noble family, Iris's life is a cage of expectations. Her only escape is her art, shaping cold clay into fragile human forms. But her hands aren't the only ones molding her. Professor Yvette Cécile Federova, known to everyone in academic circles as Miss Federova, but to the whispers of the art world as "The Artist of the Decade." Older, untouchable, and dangerously magnetic, Miss Federova doesn't just teach art she dissects the mind. With whispered praise, deliberate touches, and an intoxicating warmth, she systematically tears down Iris's defenses until the young sculptor is entirely, hopelessly devoted to her. Iris believes she's found her ultimate sanctuary. She thinks The Artist of the Decade's obsession with her is love. She couldn't be more wrong. Miss Federova isn't building Iris up to set her free. She's sharpening her. Beneath the velvet touch and late-night studio lessons lies a cold, decades-old malice, and a single, absolute obsession: to use Iris to tear down, blood by blood, and completely massacre the entire Van Houten clan. Every sculpture Iris carves is a rehearsal. Every stroke of affection is a trap.

Johanna has spent her entire life knowing exactly where she belongs. Until a new officer arrives in town. Cole is supposed to be starting over, but there's something about him Johanna can't quite figure out-and he seems to know more about her than he should. When a mysterious message warns her about the new officer, Johanna starts wondering if Cole came to their small town by chance... Or if he came for her.