Yolanda Olson

I don't know where I am. I'm the last of nine. He calls me Faith, because he said that faith is blind. That's how he justified taking my eyes. See No Evil.That's the role I play here. If you can hear me. If you can see me.My name is Ione Winslow. PLEASE HELP.

A family's love can be everything ... From the Wreckage of Illicit affairs and the Lies that Bind us close together, how can it be wrong when it seems so right? Even Against the Spread of an Indecent Craving, there is a hope that can't be broken between the blood that runs through our veins. And if you look closely enough in the South of Nowhere, you'll find that even the most Intimate Relations end in ways that satisfy the curious mind that follows their heart.

We met under the New York skyline. None of it was real, but for a split second, it seemed to be. He was kind to me. Too kind. I knew he was hiding a secret—I just didn’t know what. When I found out, New York fell away from me. Every warm smile and softly spoken word seemed to hurl me back to reality. I remembered that I was in the Devil’s Den. What I didn’t know was that monsters lurked in the city of angels. And it wouldn’t be long before I found out exactly who those monsters were.

There's a monster before me that's killing everything I believe in.A villain that sees me for what I'm worth and wants the pound of flesh I've offered up as repayment for my sins. The burden I carry is heavy on my shoulders, but as pieces of me are stripped away to bare the horrors within, I can feel myself becoming worthy of the pain.I'm not a monster.No matter how much it hurts to admit it, and no matter how terrible the truth will be when brought to light, I know that I'll end this cleansed and whole again.It's what I truly want and that's why I'm here.The nights are long and full of torturous deviance and yet I still manage to keep a smile on my face, because while the ultimate prize at the end of this game is to claim my life, there's a secret my tormentor doesn't know.If I go down, it will mean the end of both of us.

I always wanted to find a place where I belonged. A place where I wasn't looked at differently for being one in a million. I left home when I was seventeen looking for this nirvana on Earth that I knew had to exist somewhere, and I finally found it in a small revival of traveling performers. No one here looks at me any differently because of my illness. See, even though I look like the perfect picture of health, that couldn't be further from the truth. I don't believe that my anomalies make me any less of a person than someone who has the ability to feel certain things. My new family has welcomed me with open arms, and even made me a top billing because of what I can withstand—which to say is a lot. Until him. I never knew that I didn't care to feel anything until he joined us. I want to feel him. I need to feel him. I’ve finally found the one thing I’m unable to withstand, and when I feel his eyes on me, I know that things will be alright eventually. He wants to help me—I can see it in the way he looks at me. Whether he admits it or not, I know that he’s come here for me.

We know each other quite well by now and I think you won't find any surprise in me telling you that I'm not the holiday cheer kind of guy. I'm only doing this to give the kid one more nice Christmas because I think she deserves it. I extended an invitation to some of her favorite friends—all special monsters you've met elsewhere before. I don't know why she gets such a kick out of them, but whatever. It makes her happy and gives me a moment of peace. Tis the season, right? Anyway, I'm kind of hoping you won't leave before the party really gets going because I'm sure there will be some surprises along the way. Presents for the kid. Dinner for the rest of us. Maybe even shake a couple of these bastards loose from the shit they carry every day before we all go our separate ways again. I can tell that this is going to be a bad idea in the long run, but what baby girl wants, baby girl gets. And in the end? Eventually so do I.

A dark tale of forbidden love and the consequences that follow. It all started with one mistake. But that’s what life is, isn’t it? One mistake after the other, hoping that one day, things will finally go right for a change. I left when I got the chance. I thought it would make everything okay. But sometimes, things go awry and we all have to go back to the places that hurt us the most. I should have expected it. After all, everything can’t be perfect forever. Age gapStudent/teacherHe falls firstSecond chance

Loss is not something I’m accustomed to. However, it’s what I’m faced with now because I can’t remember. I’ve tried so hard to find what I’m looking for, and while I’ve done my best, it still eludes me. The memory comes and goes in glimpses of a faded past and possible future, yet I can’t grasp it. Not yet. Stay close and don’t look back. This is going to be a hard road, but we’ll get through this together. We have to. You’re the only hope I have left.

Cinere is not a standalone. It's advised to read Inferno before reading this novella. I've always thought of myself as a damn good father. The first three shouldn't define what you think about me. It's not my fault that they were fuck ups; I did my best with what I was given and I almost got it right. I think I've learned enough from those mistakes to know that I'll do better this time. After all, fate has decided to bestow a beautiful baby girl on me, and she doesn't know what the others went through. I've been doing alright with her so far. She loves me the same way she loves picking wildflowers out in the yard, but she doesn't understand that sometimes, innocent love just isn't enough. Especially not for a man like me. I don't tend to fail much in what I do, and I don't see the last few years as failing. I see it as learning from my missteps and becoming a better man because of it. Times are getting harder on me without someone special to warm my bed at night. I've got another chance to do it right, and this time, I'll be the man that my little girl deserves.

If you can’t get what you want then take it with force. That’s the motto that these individuals live by. Captivated by the darkness inside them, they don’t take no for an answer. Their desire is all-encompassing. Their needs are overwhelming. There’s a thin line between villain and hero but these master manipulators will stop at nothing to claim what is theirs. Coerced is an extremely limited dubcon anthology of addictive stories from a collection of USA Today and bestselling authors.

I came here for a do over, but the past has a way of repeating itself. It torments me, playing over and over again in my brain. Nothing can stop the memories. Not until I see her. Everything changes the moment I see her delicious curves and pouty lips. But it has nothing on the haunted look in her eyes. I want what I can’t have, but I never was good with rules. From USA today bestselling author, Yolanda Olson and Abigail Davies comes the beginning of a thrilling forbidden series. Corrupt is the prequel to “a tale of treachery” series.

I deal in beautiful things. I'm paid to create unique masterpieces and I enjoy my work. I'm the best there is because I'm patient, kind, and quick. I wear the mask of humanity when I need to, and I play the part of just another stranger walking past you on the street, but there's something I want that I can't quite seem to get my hands on. For all of the blood I shed—for all of the flesh I've stripped, there's only one touch that I long to feel. I may be a master of manipulation, yet when it comes to the hope of something that's just mine—something unexplainable toward another living creature that I long so desperately for, I'm a coward. But there's only so many times I'll be willing to stand by and watch what I want walk away from me before I acquire it. I've had enough patience and I've scolded myself more than once over this and I refuse to wait any longer. We belong together.

I had always been able to accomplish anything I had put my mind to. Sometimes I felt like it was a gift, and other times it felt like a curse. Hard work and dedication were things that served me best when nothing else could. When I got the idea to form my own little Garden of Eden, I knew that only the best and most beautiful flowers would do. But much like anything that’s given the opportunity to grow, discipline is a need to ensure prosperity. Wildflowers aren’t what I wanted, however, one managed to sneak by under the guise of demure obedience. When I got her back, I thought it would be the right thing to do to show her how life should be as opposed to what it was.

Embers is not a standalone. It is highly advised to read Inferno, Cinere, and Sparks first. I swore to myself that I would never love you. I promised my children that they wouldn’t suffer for my sins. But it’s so hard, Daddy. It’s hard to not love the man that gave me life. It’s hard to not love the man that’s taken care of me the only way he knows how. I know it’s not your fault, and maybe one day, I’ll find out why you became a monster. While we still have time left together, I want you to know that I forgive you for everything you’ve done. I want you to know that I do love you, even if not in the way you would have hoped for. It’s almost over, Daddy. Close your eyes and go to sleep; I’ll be here with you, holding your hand and letting you know that everything will be alright. Because it will be, won’t it? That’s the promise that you made to me—that no matter what happens between us, everything will always turn out okay. I know you don’t care much for anything you can’t control, but sometimes life folds its cards and we have to go when it’s our time. Please stop fighting it, Daddy. It hurts me to see you suffering so much. I’ve done my best to take care of you, but it’s time to go. Hurry along and know that we’ll be behind you shortly because I can’t live in a world that doesn’t have you in it. I love you, Daddy. Always and forever.

Momma never cared for me. I've known it down to my very bones even when I was a little girl. I think she loved me because she had to. It never bothered me much until she decided to send me off to her brother for the summer break. I don't really remember Uncle Huck. I know that he's quiet for the most part and likes to be left alone. Showing up on his doorstep unannounced isn't going to go very well, but I don't have a choice. Momma doesn't want me. Maybe Uncle Huck does. Someone has to want me because I'm not sure how much longer I can hang on feeling so unloved.

Someone once said that if you talk about the devil, he’s bound to appear.Most would keep silent, hoping that they’d never be found by such a monster, but I prayed for his touch every night.I knew the devil when I was a child and fell in love with him the first time he taught me that I wasn’t as damaged as I was led to believe that I was.He cared for me, helped me learn how to smile, and see the world in a different way even though he didn’t realize that he had done so.But they feared him; hated him.So seventeen years ago, they ripped him away from me.What they didn’t know was that he had already created a monster in his very image.I thought I’d never see him again—I finally resigned myself to that. But then he came back, just like he promised he always would through that smile of his.We’re together again.And now, no one will be able to keep us apart ever again.

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I don’t know where he lost his way, but we’ve been made to pay the price.To bear the burden of his … love.A sickening feeling stirs deep inside each time he looks at me because I know what it means.I have to follow the rules; be his good girl.It’s the only way to survive in this house.Being in the dark never scared me, being alone was something I used to cherish until he began to use it against me.Against us.I just want to find the light now.The place where I know his darkness can’t reach.A place where maybe everything will make sense one day, but for now, I have to be strong.I won't fall down again.I can't.Not before I find my peace there.I have to do it soon because I'm not sure how much more I can take.The original, unabriged version of Inferno can be found on my website.

Before I was discarded for the final time on the doorstep of this place, I had been treated as a hand me down. A pushover that no one wanted and needed to get rid of, but I was happier then. The rules were never as strict, the punishments nowhere near as brutal, and no unkind word was ever spoken to me above a whisper. Things changed after I felt the cane for the first time. Spare the rod and spoil the child extends far greater than anyone can know inside the walls of Our Lady of Heavenly Hope—a place where no such thing exists, and if it does, it died inside of me such a long time ago that I can't remember what it feels like. The halls have gone silent lately and I like it best this way. I'll learn to be kind again and I'll bestow it on the person that needs it the most. And in the end, everything will be okay.

He was from the wrong side of the bayou. A place where voodoo was revered and fallen angels whispered. I didn’t care. I loved him from the first time we played together, and I love him still. I haven’t seen him in so long. I went back to New Orleans when I could. I never stopped thinking about him. My bayou boy with the heavy Cajun accent. I just didn’t know that the happy little boy had turned into such a different man. I didn’t know that he had been looking for me too. I didn’t know a lot of things. But finding out was much worse than staying in the dark.

My son is a good man. I know what you think about him, because I know what he's done, but you have to understand that it's not his fault. He was something of a misanthrope in his youth and that can be attributed to his father. Please understand that I will take the blame for my part in wrecking his soul, but it's so hard to resist a boy so sweet. He's always loved me most of all and I took advantage of that. Until you feel what I felt in his arms don't judge me too harshly. Don't hate my son for the sins of his mother. I betrayed his trust. I made him into the man he's become. God help me. This is my confession.

Running away has always been something I'm good at. I've run far away from home and back again thinking that each time would be the last. But things are a lot different lately. I've learned that tides turn, seasons change, and sometimes, people do too. I haven't seen Hoyt Blackburn in a decade because I was so convinced he wasn't worth my time anymore. I guess this is where I've changed since I found out that his execution is one of those inevitable things that life handed him. I can't ever remember him being a bad man, yet I can't shake that something isn't right about what's happening to him. Maybe it's because I miss him. Maybe it's because I wanna lay eyes on the man one last time. Will he remember me? Will he even care? I don't know; the only thing I can honestly say for sure is that there are still some secrets we have left between us that have to be spoken before he draws his last breath. Otherwise, when that day comes, they may have just killed me too.

Life hasn’t been easy since the accident. It’s the only way I can describe things because I was there. I saw what happened. I’ve had so many nightmares about it. And now I find myself starting over in a new place where no one should have known about it. Instead, I’m branded an outcast by the people that heard whispers of what she did. Rumors instead of truths. The very things that have a way of breaking someone, and I’m so goddamn close to being broken. Especially now that she’s found me again. I think the Devil is here. Inside of her—squatting like an infestation. I can’t run anymore. I have to help her. No one else will.

A boy and a girl met one night and fell in love. One was broken and delicate. The other was callous and violent. They hid their true selves from each other until it was no longer possible. They both know that people are cruel. They see what’s on the outside and never care to look past the surface. Secrets are kept close within, and while some are never shared, others come to light bringing to bear the starkest truths. And this? This is the story of how the delicate girl and the violent boy began their love affair.