Showing results by author "T.L. Smith" in All Categories

He slips through the unlocked window. Creeps down the hall. A shadow standing in the bedroom doorway. Will you wake when death comes ripping? A string of brutal home invasion murders terrifies Dade County, Florida. The killer strikes in the dead of the night, savages innocent people in their beds, wipes out entire families. He attacks at random. Rich. Poor. Young. Old. No one is safe. When the city sleeps, he comes alive. Stalks the night. Walks among us.

Savior or seducer. I am not sure which one he's playing at. He is forbidden, after all. I am married to a rockstar. Appearances must be upheld. But what does it mean when your marriage is breaking, and the dark, mysterious savior is offering you things you have never felt before? Do you say yes? Or do you say no? He owns a club that's specific to every person's desires. So the promises he is making might very well hold true.

It wasn’t meant to be this way - she shouldn’t have fallen for my brother and left me for him. But she did. And now I’m left to pick up the pieces of my shattered, broken heart. And to top it off, they want me to come to their wedding. Do they think I’m a pushover? Do they think of me as a joke? There’s one unexpected surprise though: Storm. She blew in just like one and makes the pain diminish. She’s exactly as her name describes her - she is a storm. A beautiful and powerful one. But not all things are meant to last.

Some secrets don’t stay buried. Three elaborately staged victims. No clues. A public verging on panic. FBI profiler Victor Loshak heads to Kansas City to hunt another serial killer. But something about this case is all wrong. The three corpses lie posed. Face up. A glove laid to cover each right eye. The victims seem to be selected at random. Suburban. Upper middle class. Squeaky clean. It doesn’t make sense. A piece is missing from this puzzle.

We met at his ex's wedding, where she uttered their safe word in her vows. Immediately, his jaw clenched, and his hands balled into tight fists. Moments later, he told her I was with him. When in reality, I had snuck into the wedding. Knowing full well he was trouble, I tried to leave when he gripped my arm and whispered in a low, intimidating voice, "Do you sneak into weddings often?" His words had me stuck to the spot.

When the king of the underworld wants you. You have no place to run. No matter how hard you try, no matter where you go. He will find you. It’s just a matter of do you want him to find you? Or do you want to run?

A mass-shooter rages through Chicago in the days after Christmas. Brutal. Efficient. He etches a path of destruction through the city. Shooting up the mall. Opening fire in traffic. Rampaging through a movie theater. That's just his opening act. FBI profiler Victor Loshak heads to the windy city to investigate and finds himself swept up in a frenzied manhunt.

Love had cut me in so many ways I wondered if my heart could take any more. But then I saw him. He was my boss. A single father. And to top it off he was insolent. I didn’t intend to want him, that wasn’t my objective. But somehow I couldn’t say no. We shouldn’t have worked, but like witchcraft, I was under his spell. My heart’s been destroyed before. I’m not sure it can handle heartbreak again.

They say he's nothing but Mayhem, yet when he's with me, he's my salvation, everything I need and more. The problem is… he has a fascination for blood. I can't handle it—in more ways than one. He has a fascination for me. I hate it, even though I can't stop thinking about him, either. Some people should not be together, and that's us; we could never work. But letting go is impossible when my serial killer of a husband is determined to prove me wrong.

My husband sold me. Not only did he sell me, but he told me he loved me while doing the deal. What lies he tells. Only fools believe him. Unfortunately, one of those fools was me.

He kidnapped me. That was how I met Atlas Hyde - a man known by many names and admired by all. But most don't know he’s ruthless, conniving, and always gets what he wants - no matter the cost. I was a good girl. Never in trouble with the law. Never took drugs. Always did precisely what was expected of me. Even with his hand around my throat and words that cut sharper than knives, I couldn't help but wonder what happened to this beautiful man to make him that way.

He wasn't meant to be on my radar; he was definitely the off-limits guy. My brother's best friend, my friend's ex, but most of all he was my boss. Hawk Carnage resembled one thing, and one thing only. Sex. He used it, he knew it, he lived it. Hawk owned the largest lingerie company in the world, and I was his leading lady. In business. But now business and friendship were about to be crossed. The lines blurred, and I was ready to dip my toes in the forbidden water.

Some conspiracy theories turn out to be true. FBI profiler Victor Loshak works a brutal murder case in Watertown, New York - a woman found strangled in her basement, her face gone purple and baggy. But as he sifts through the crime scene details, his mind keeps drifting back to Kansas City, his last job. The human trafficking case there ended in something of a cliffhanger, and it's a loose end that everyone else in law enforcement seems in no hurry to tie up. The truth is out there. Always just out of reach.

Kisses were covered with lies. Lies were covered with kisses. Hate turned into lust. And lust turned into fantasy. That’s what we were, a fantasy. Nothing more, nothing less. Now it’s time to move on. But how can you when your heart wants to stay stuck in the fantasy? When, even through all the lies and kisses, you still have lust?

A wound to the heart, a hole so deep. Can it be fixed? Or simply replaced? People lie. Those closest to me, tell the most lies. Do they not know who I am? What I'm capable of? Sometimes I wonder if they do. Because when I unravel their lies, they will be delivered to the hell I once visited. And it won't be pleasant.

You would think that after 16 years of attempted co-parenting, even the worst situations would be better. How is it that most other single moms in your life have managed to make it through the trenches? Yet, here you are still dealing with "Daddy Deadbeat". Over the years, you've done all you can to create a functional co-parenting situation and a sense of balanced love and stability for your child. Still, you can't seem to win from losing.

Beth Chambers's life is no fairytale, even if she feels like a damsel in distress. After four years in a destructive relationship, Beth has decided enough is enough and leaves her girlfriend, taking with her only her dog Dudley, her broken spirit, and a shattered view of life. At her lowest point, she meets Amy Fletcher, a woman who has it all—and from whom she believes would never want more than friendship. What Beth fails to realize is that there are definitely two sides to every story. Could Amy Fletcher be Beth's Princess Charming? Could her story end with a happily ever after?

Death slays me, and I let him . . . Kingdoms are broken. The world has shifted. We are not the same as we once were. The queen is no longer the queen, but I am expected to take her place. The tricky part is I'm not sure I want that responsibility. My heart screams for Death while he stays as far away as possible, believing in the prophecy, whereas I believe in us. But sometimes, that simply isn't enough. The real question now is . . . what do I do?

We are a people of stories. We use them to entertain, to teach, and to instruct. Sometimes they warn us of the dangers of wandering too far into the woods, or they can be a detailed story to explain how magnificent landscapes came to be. Story has always been the way we pass time, the way we connect to each other, and most importantly, how we promote our values. Parables, especially, have a dual purpose. Not only do they keep us entertained, but they also make a point. Consider Aesop’s fables—tales of talking animals who learn valuable life lessons.

Everything changes, in seconds, minutes, hours. I know, it happened to me. It wasn't for the better, it was for the worst. I am broken, no that doesn't sound right, I am chipped. Pieces of me have been chipped so bad that it's impossible to claim them back. Even if I want to, even if it's for her.