Thomas Crane Library Hours Novels & Stories

On the day the true heiress and I swapped places, my childhood sweetheart, bound to me by a promise made in youth, gripped my hand before our families and declared, "I chose you, not your title." Anna Pedersen, tears brimming in her eyes, enveloped me in a trembling embrace. "Joanne, we'll always be family. I'd never take what's rightfully yours." Everyone assumed I'd turned misfortune into fortune. Though I lost my status as the Pedersen heiress, I gained a steadfast lover and a selfless sister. But three years after fate corrected itself, photos of Calvin Thomas escorting Anna to a prenatal checkup flooded the internet. When I confronted him, he exhaled a plume of smoke and said coolly, "Anna is my true betrothed. This is just setting things right. Why are you so worked up?" He seized my wrist and dragged our engraved engagement ring across the back of my hand, leaving a bloody gash. "This scar will remind you of the twenty years of life you stole. Your life and I belong to their rightful owner."

Emma Harrington never dreamed of stealing her twin sister’s groom. But when Sophia runs away hours before the wedding, Emma is forced to walk down the aisle in her place to save her family from ruin. Alexander Voss, the ruthless billionaire CEO, only agreed to the marriage for a multi-billion-dollar merger. On their wedding night, he discovers he has married the wrong sister. Bound by unbreakable contracts and family pressure, Alexander cannot send Emma away without destroying everything he built. Trapped in a marriage he never wanted, Alexander’s cold fury slowly turns into burning obsession as Emma’s kindness, intelligence, and quiet strength melt the ice around his heart. What began as the wrong bride becomes the only woman he cannot live without.

My husband finally keeps his promise to take me on a trip abroad after I've given birth to his child. However, he disappears the moment we get off the plane. I roam the foreign land alone, unable to reach him. Two hours later, I stumble upon his childhood sweetheart's social media update. It's a photo of her and my husband sweetly feeding each other ice cream. It's captioned, "Someone who cares about you has you in their heart wherever they are." After a long silence, I comment, "Now you can live in his heart forever." I walk away after leaving nothing but a divorce agreement behind. That's when my husband, who's always been cold and aloof, panics.

Rachel Martínez is drowning. Shuffling multiple jobs, settling debts, and taking care of her sick brother, whose failing heart needs a surgery she can't afford, she's out of options. When the hospital gives her forty-eight hours to come up with twenty thousand euros or lose Benjamín forever, she's desperate. Then a stranger walks into the bar where she works. A billionaire tech CEO who left Spain years ago to escape his family. He's back, and his dying grandmother has one wish: to see him happy with someone real before she dies. Joseph makes Rachel an offer: fifty thousand euros for one night. Just show up to his grandmother's birthday dinner and keep him company.

It was the day of our wedding trip, and my fiancee only hurried over to the airport at the last minute. Right before we boarded, she got an urgent message from her male secretary. "Sorry, honey. There's a big project that needs my attention. Just showed up. You go ahead without me. I'll catch up once I'm done with work." It was a shame, but work was important. "Yeah, I get it." Then, I tore up the flight ticket after my fiancee was gone. My fiancee talking about a big project when I just bought the whole company hours earlier? Well, I'd like to see who was the idiot who worked around their new boss to talk to someone who did not exist.

Poor or rich, Influential or infamous, there will always be moments that has left us downcasted; moments becoming memories that has created a habitual space in our hearts. 24 year old Linda Solanke, daughter to political juggernaut and a career-crazy lady battles with her past which has become a strong contender as she thoroughly thrive to attain success in spite of nightmares, regrets from her past and confrontations from those she perceive as malicious. What do the world expect from a 24 year old lady? Success? Is marriage a necessity? When the troubled Linda meets the striving young man, Bode Thomas after giving up on love, we wonder if she will assure herself that life is not really as cruel as she had thought but can Bode's fiery nature make her tick? Will Linda look past her fears and doubts by finally pleasing the world by agreeing to the basis that she really need a man afterwards? Won't her past haunt her once more when things get better and the unexpected happens? When trouble set in once more, what should be done? Read and discover in "Sought-After Peace" a new thrilling novel!

While preparing for the SATs at the library, my brother is accidentally shot and injured, causing him to bleed profusely. I pass by this scene but turn a blind eye and quicken my pace to leave. This is because in my previous life, when I saw him, I rushed him to the hospital in a panic. He had intracranial hemorrhaging, and he urgently needed surgery. I quickly called my mom, the top neurosurgeon in the city, begging her to come to the hospital as soon as possible. However, she thought I was jealous that she had taken my adopted sister to the beach instead of spending time with me. She also believed I had fabricated the story about my brother's injury, and thus refused to return. By the time my dad and the rest of the family hurried to the hospital, it was too late for rescue efforts—my brother had passed away. The whole family blamed me for his death. They were convinced that I had deliberately misled my mom and delayed his critical treatment. When my mom returned from out of town, she lost her composure and pushed me down the stairs, watching coldly as I bled to death. After opening my eyes again, I had returned to the day my brother was shot at the library.

Billionaire CEO Damien Voss hasn’t slept peacefully in three years — not since the car accident that broke him. When his assistant drapes a forgotten lavender-and-strawberry scented blanket over him, Damien finally finds rest… until the precious scent is washed away forever. Desperate and unraveling, he turns to the blanket’s owner: Liora Kane, his assistant’s younger sister. With a single threat her brother’s job or her compliance Damien forces Liora into a contract: eight hours per night in his bed, nothing more. Her days remain her own. Six months only. He tells himself he is being reasonable. He only needs her scent to sleep. Nothing else. But Damien Voss was once the city’s most sought-after bachelor tall, devastatingly handsome, and powerfully built. Even after the accident, his striking looks and commanding presence remain. And though he has never been with a woman, he quickly learns how to use every inch of his body to seduce the innocent woman lying beside him. Night after night, Liora lies stiff beside the domineering CEO as he buries his face in her neck, inhaling her like a drug. What begins as clinical necessity slowly turns carnal. His touches grow bolder. His hips start to rock against her in the dark. He rubs himself against her thigh or stomach until he shudders and spills in his boxers, whispering filthy praises against her skin while she fights the unwanted heat building inside her. The contract promised safety. It promised only eight hours and nothing sexual unless she consents. Yet Damien’s obsession deepens with every shared breath. Jealousy ignites. Possession takes hold. And Liora finds herself dangerously seduced by the broken, beautiful man who needs her more than air a man willing to break every rule to make her crave him.

Within twenty-four hours, Hellena Crawley must repay her father's staggering debt, or her plus-size body will be used as collateral to satisfy ruthless loan sharks. Hoping to receive help from her boyfriend, she is instead rewarded with a cruel betrayal in bed. Broken and cornered by the threat of death, Hellena desperately lowers her pride and turns to Kael Willian—her cold-blooded CEO and notorious boss, known for his ruthless nature. However, the tyrant does not offer money for free. Kael presents her with an extreme proposition: a one-year contract marriage. For the sake of his critically ill mother, Kael needs an obedient wife who will not involve emotions. Living under the same roof, the professional boundaries between them gradually begin to dissolve. Will Hellena be able to resist her boss's irresistible charm, or will she be the one trapped by the CEO's fear of love?

When Ivy Moore’s estranged parents die in a suspicious crash, she’s placed in the custody of Victor Maddox, a cold billionaire tied to her through a secret clause in her family’s estate. He doesn’t ask. He commands. Within hours of arriving at his isolated mansion, Ivy is given one choice: sign a 90-day contract of submission or lose everything. No love. No limits. No escape. But Victor isn’t just strict. He’s obsessed. He’s been watching Ivy for years. Now that she’s his, he will never let her go. Every punishment draws her closer. Every rule breaks her open. Every night, she learns what it means to be claimed, used, and owned. She thought she was just a ward. But she’s his obsession. And he’ll destroy them both to keep her.