Operating Systems: Internals And Design Principles Novels & Stories

I faked my own death to escape a killer surgeon. Then I saved a mafia boss's brother and became his prisoner. I thought I was safe hiding in the shadows. Then Frank Costello dragged his dying brother into my clinic with a gun to my head: "Save him or die trying." Now I'm trapped in his world. Three months of service, he says. Treat his men, ask no questions, and he'll give me enough money to disappear forever. But Frank Costello doesn't play fair. He knows my secrets. He knows I'm running from a murderer who thinks I'm dead. And when that killer finds me again, Frank makes me an offer I can't refuse: Stay with him, let him protect me. The price? My freedom, my principles, my heart. I'm a healer. He's a killer. We're on opposite sides of every line that matters. But when the man I'm running from comes back for blood, Frank Costello might be the only thing standing between me and a bullet. The question isn't whether I'll fall for him. It's whether I'll survive long enough to regret it.

Ariana Torrey has been Brian Lodge's simp for three years. She casts aside her dignity and principles for him. But to Brian, she's only a plan B or even a zero. She's someone he can cast aside at a moment's notice. The whole of Gleaston knows Evelyn Granger is the one Brian loves. Ariana is nothing but a cheap substitute. On the day of their wedding, Ariana is abducted and tormented for three days and nights. However, Brian refuses to pay the ransom, even marrying Evelyn at a wedding that's supposed to be his and another woman's. Only then does Ariana wake up to reality. When she's reborn on the day of her engagement to Brian, she experiences him leaving her behind to go to Evelyn, who's threatened suicide. Everyone waits to see Ariana make a fool of herself. To their dismay, she doesn't shed a tear or kick up a fuss. Instead, she calls off the engagement, claiming that Brian, the CEO of Lodge Co., can't get it up. The news of this spreads like wildfire, stunning everyone. Meanwhile, Brian turns and pins her to the wall. "Is it fun playing hard to get, Ariana?" "Has anyone ever told you you're full of it, Mr. Lodge?"

Sophia Mitchell thought she had it all—a thriving career in interior design, a picture-perfect marriage to Nathan Carter, and a younger sister she adored. But her world shatters when she walks in on Nathan passionately entangled with none other than Chloe—her own sister. Heartbroken and betrayed, Sophia refuses to be a victim. She divorces Nathan, determined to rebuild her life, but revenge fuels her every step. A passionate one-night stand with a mysterious stranger, Alex, seems like the perfect way to forget her pain—until she learns he is Nathan’s estranged half-brother. With Alex harboring his own vendetta against Nathan, the two join forces to take him down. But as secrets unravel, Sophia finds herself caught between revenge, redemption, and an unexpected love she never saw coming. The best part? She just became Nathan’s new boss. Will she destroy him completely or find herself trapped in a web of her own making?

I was the real daughter—unloved, unwanted, and cast aside. The design draft I poured my heart into was stolen by my second brother and gifted to the fake daughter. Then he accused me of being a plagiarist. My father, the richest man in the city, had me blacklisted from the entire industry. The fake daughter pretended to apologize, then pushed me off a cliff. When I woke up, nearly all my bones had been shattered. I called my fiancé, the captain of the rescue team, but he was cradling the fake daughter's sprained ankle. He scoffed, "Oh, you had an accident too? Want me to save you? Why don't you just die already?" My body grew colder under the crushing pain. My eldest brother, the forensic pathologist, cut open my rotting corpse while grumbling that he was late for the fake daughter's birthday. Yet when they finally saw me again, they all cried, begging for my forgiveness.

When Jasmine Reed walks in on her fiancé in bed with her younger sister just three days before their wedding, her world shatters. Betrayed by the man she sacrificed everything for and dismissed by the family that always made her feel too much and never enough, the plus-sized fashion designer thinks rock bottom is her new address. But a mysterious billionaire named Noah Sinclair offers her a deal she can’t refuse: pretend to be his fiancée for six months. In return, he’ll destroy the company that stole her life’s work and hand back every design they took from her. What begins as a cold strategy turns into something neither of them expected- real feelings, dangerous secrets, and a hidden heiress truth that will force everyone who broke Jasmine to watch her rise. In this addictive tale of revenge and redemption, a woman who spent her life shrinking learns she was always priceless, and makes sure those who discarded her pay the price.

I'm one out of none, believe me. The world, let's say it will end no matter what. Everything around us surely decompose, nor crumble as the time passes, yeah? However; do you know better than what I discover myself? One abandon the world, the like of you, this lifetime. For what? For the purpose of saving the life beyond, right? You sure find the end you've long for so long. The bitter...end. Why, you ask? Let me tell you the reason I even share it to you. You even says we are not that close to begin with, so why...I'm doing this? I'm kind of debating whether you use euphoria, and actually tells me I'm some sort of a cult. That's why I have the question for you. Will you let me tell you the reason...or you already think I'm some sort of evil design to stop you? You know the Myth, right? It's deep within... us.

Maya de Cruz is at the lowest point of her life—her career is in ruins, her uncaring family has her backed into a corner, and her past continues to haunt her. In the depths of her despair, Maya’s world tilts when Aaric Salvaterre Bernardi—her ex boyfriend, now her sister’s fiancé—appears with an offer too tempting to resist, one that could either save her or destroy everything she once held dear. Aaric, with his deadly charm and power to subdue anyone, drags Maya back into the web of his dangerous world. What begins as a risky deal slowly turns into a seductive and inescapable game of desire. Maya struggles to suppress the emotions slowly invading her heart, but Aaric's undeniable magnetism pulls her deeper into his orbit. Every glance, every word, unravels her defenses, leaving her at war with a dilemma that threatens to shatter her principles and pride. Amidst a swirl of intrigue and dark secrets that are increasingly revealed, Maya finds herself at the crossroads between a burning forbidden love and the threat of losing herself. As reason gives way to desire, a single question lingers like a haunting melody: will Maya dare to risk it all for the man who shattered her world, yet awakened a flame within her she thought had long died?  

I paid Curtis Robinett 200 thousand dollars a month to be a standby blood donor. My fiancée, Eden May, thought it was a waste of money. So she reassigned him to work part-time as her personal assistant instead. When Curtis accidentally submitted my marriage license appointment as a divorce filing for the 99th time, I kicked open Eden's office door. She didn't even look up. "We're in no rush to get married anyway," she said calmly. "Curtis is just careless. That's how he's always been." Later, in the emergency room, I called Eden while doctors rushed around me, my throat shredded from yelling. "Where's my emergency medical kit?" I rasped. "What did you do with it?" Curtis answered instead, his voice warm and smug. "You mean the expensive leather bag you kept in the cabinet? I swapped it out for a large party snack box. It holds everything just fine, and honestly, it looks a lot more cheerful. "Ms. May's brother and sister-in-law are both career soldiers. Your bag didn't really match that image, so I thought this would be more appropriate." My vision dimmed. My hands shook as I told Curtis to come donate blood. Eden laughed softly and cut in, "Stop pretending you're anemic just to get attention. If you're actually sick, deal with it. You're at the hospital; I think the doctors are fully capable of keeping you alive. Curtis is afraid of needles. He's not coming." Then, she hung up. She didn't appear until the surgical lights finally went dark. "Curtis had me bring you chocolate milk," she said. "It's good for recovery. It's not that he didn't want to help. He just faints at the sight of blood." She placed a settlement waiver on my bed. "I was the one who told him not to come. That 200-thousand-dollar monthly salary is his pay as my assistant. It has nothing to do with you. You didn't have to call the police for that. Sign this, and I'll go get the marriage license with you." I thought of what I had just seen in the operating room. Eden's brother, Harvey May, was bleeding out on the operating table, waiting for a lifesaving drug that never came. In the final moments of surgery, he could do nothing but lie there and die. I looked at her and said evenly, "You're the immediate family. It's not my place to sign that."

With her father's design company bankrupt and her mother's medical bills crushing her, Elara Quinn had 72 hours before she loses everything. Then Lucien Blackwood walks into her office with an insane offer: marry him for one year, get paid $3 million and save everything. The catch? A contract. Lucien needed a wife to secure his inheritance after his grandfather's will trapped him with a deadline to get married before the age of thirty three. He needs someone who would marry him. Someone desperate enough to follow the contract but proud enough to make it believable. Someone he could never actually fall for. Elara needed money while Lucien needed a wife. It was supposed to be clean and transactional. Until it wasn't. Denying their bond could cost them their happiness. Admitting it could cost them everything else. Can love rewrite a marriage built on rules? What happens when the cursed clause becomes the only truth that matters?

North’s life was already on the edge of collapse when Lucien Crowe’s world found him. A final year law student crushed under his family’s debt, North sees the offer for what it is: a transaction. Becoming a billionaire’s kept secret feels like a silver lining, and he takes it without hesitation, unconcerned with consequences. Lucien Crowe built his empire on control. People bend. Systems obey. What fascinates him most are those who still believe in the law, especially before they learn how easily it can be broken. North was supposed to be temporary. Another indulgence. Instead, his indifference cracks Lucien’s perfect exterior, awakening obsession, jealousy, and a possessiveness he no longer knows how to contain. For North, everything has a price. Affection is leverage. He never intended to fall in love, especially not with a man who represents everything he despises. But when rules are broken and lines blur, North becomes the villain for refusing to give his heart in return. North’s revenge demands sacrifice, and love proves far more expensive than money. As power tightens its grip, North must decide whether he can truly love a man who embodies the system he hates, or if playing with Lucien’s heart will destroy them both first.