

Love and Anguish
Maria Searfoss · Ongoing · 72.2k Words
Introduction
After crushed by her husband's murder, Jayme suddenly found herself caught up in a killer's game. As Steve’s death brought more and more secrets to the surface, she felt like she didn’t know the man she married to at all. Two men stepped into her life after the tragedy, Steve and Rex, shinning new hope to her life. Little did she knew, these two men were not what they appear like, and they would change her life forever in a different way. The shadow of murder is chasing her nonstop, and she would try anything to survive with her unborn baby.
Chapter 1
Seeing his car in the driveway, Jayme knew Scott was home as she pulled into the driveway, parking behind him. Knowing he should still be at work, Jayme wondered why he was home. The mid-autumn sun was pouring onto the trees, making their colors more vivid. With her hands full of groceries, Jayme managed to open the door, then pushed it shut with her foot.
“Scott?” Jayme called out.
Setting the items on the counter, she put the milk in the refrigerator. Then the cheese and sour cream she purchased. “Scott?” She called out again as she left the kitchen and began to search the house for him.
Thinking it was strange that he didn’t answer, she assumed he may be in the shower. But the bathrooms were empty. Knowing he had devoted all of his time into completing the nursery before the baby came, Jayme opened the door but did not find him there either.
“Scott?” She called out again but there was no answer. She began to think that maybe he wasn’t home.
Opening the door to his office, she immediately noticed everything out of place as if there were a scuffle in the room. As she reached down to pick a picture frame up off the floor, she saw his foot. Instantly, a bad feeling came over her as she walked around the desk and found him laying on the floor. There was a large pool of blood laying beneath her head.
Initially, she screamed and panicked. Then she spoke his name, already knowing he wouldn’t answer. Through all her nursing training, it never taught her how to deal with this, the sudden death of a very close loved one. But by the way the scene was looking, it clearly involved foul play.
Her hands were shaking as she reached to feel for a pulse. His body was cold to the touch and she knew he had been there, dead, all day. His appearance was pale and he was already bloated. She could see the entrance wound where the bullet went in and knew the exit would was much worse. Having been an emergency room nurse for five years already, she realized that she was looking at her dead husband and there was no bringing him back.
Although she was used to seeing gory details of mangled or murdered bodies, this was her husband and she was in emotional shock. Knowing she needed to call the ambulance, she looked away from him and reached for the phone on the desk. Reporting the discovery, Jayme cried to the woman on the other end.
Soon, her house was filling with policemen and detectives, one escorted her out of the house and began to question her. Jayme answered all their questions to the best of her knowledge but there were still unanswered questions. Many of them.
Sitting in one of the police cars, Jayme wrote her full statement of her gruesome discovery. When she finished, she located her cell phone and called her parents. They were shocked and worried about their daughter, who was already seven months pregnant. They feared the perpetrator was still in the area and he would come after her. They insisted on bringing her back home, where she grew up, in Hillman.
As the hours passed through the intense investigation, the sun had set and dipped below the horizon. Jayme’s parents had arrived and she was waiting for the officer to end the investigation so she could gather some belongings to take to her parents with her. Jayme’s parents would not let her drive after the trauma of losing her husband.
After gathering some clothes, she went into the bathroom to gather her hair brush, tooth brush and other items. Looking up, she released her long, curly, brown hair, which had been pulled back and wrapped into a bun. It looked straggly and needed to be brushed. Her cheeks were stained white from the tears that she had been crying since the moment she found him dead.
She quickly changed out of her nursing uniform and slipped into a pair of sweat pants and a hoodie that covered her long-sleeved t-shirt. Sitting on the toilet, she slipped on her walking shoes and tied them. Gathering her things, she carried the heavy suitcase down the stairs and out the door.
“Good heavens, Jayme, you don’t need to be carrying that, it looks heavy.” Her father, Simon, said and took it from her hand.
“Come on, don’t forget to lock the door…” Jayme’s mother, Paige, said and followed Jayme out the door.
Laying across the back seat, Jayme cried uncontrollably. Not only was she devastated over the loss of her husband, she realized she would be alone in the raising of their child. Although she would have the help and support of her parents, they were still an hour away from her home. She worried about having the financial stability.
As they arrived home, Jayme went straight to her old bedroom where she laid on her bed and continued to cry. She felt weak, tired, and nauseated from the devastation she endured. Intermittently, her parents would come upstairs and check on her. It was merely an hour she laid there before she cried herself to sleep.
Hoping it was all just a bad dream, Jayme was hesitant to open her eyes in the morning. But when she saw that she was in her old bedroom at home, she knew it was her tragic reality. Still, she felt nauseated but her stomach was growling.
Stepping down the fifteen steps, Jayme knew her parents were both already at work when the house was quiet and empty. Entering the kitchen, Jayme looked for anything she could eat instantly, without having to cook. Seeing the fresh fruit in the basket, she grabbed an apple, a banana, and an orange and took them to the living room.
Sitting on the couch, she grabbed the small trashcan beside the couch and used it to throw her banana and orange peels away. Watching the news, Jayme saw a story about a woman who had been reported missing that morning. She was from Greenville, a town neighboring Silver Creek, where Jayme and Scott lived.
The woman was a twenty three year old, with two children. It was a woman who worked with Scott and Jayme wondered if the murder and missing persons reports were related. Wanted for questioning, Jimmy, Kelly’s husband, has been unreachable. Showing a picture of him on TV, Jayme knew she had never seen the man. He was rough looking, with an untrimmed beard and mustache. His eyes were hazel but he had a familiar look to him.
The report said the woman had been missing for two days before being reported. It was usual for her to not come home on occasion but never more than one night. When she hadn’t returned home the second night, her husband reported her missing. The last anyone had seen her was at work two days ago. From the time she left work at five in the evening, she hadn’t been seen since.
Despite whether or not the two were related, Jayme found the coincidence very strange. As the story came to and end, Jayme flipped through the channels, looking for something that was more interesting. Settling on a crime drama, she set down the remote and tried to relax as she ate her fruit.
By the time her mother arrived home, Jayme had went stir-crazy, being alone in the house all day. She needed to get out, do something to occupy her mind. Seeing Jayme in her present state, Paige suggested they go shopping. She wanted to splurge on her first grandchild, even if it hadn’t been born yet. However, Jayme, and Scott, had decided to wait until birth to learn the baby’s gender.
Traveling twenty miles farther to a larger city, they visited a store specifically for kids and babies. There wasn’t much that Jayme needed, she already had the crib, changing table and rocking chair placed in her nursery. She was more in need of clothes, diapers, and other accessories.
After her mother spent close to five hundred dollars, they left the store and returned home, carrying the items into the house. However, Paige would not allow Jayme to carry in any items that weighed more than twenty pounds. They purchased gender-neutral clothing, toys and other items that Jayme would need from birth to six months.
Waiting for Simon to return, Jayme and Paige agreed to go out for dinner. Neither felt like cooking. Returning home at just after four, Simon agreed, also, to go to dinner. The three of them climbed into Simon’s car and left the premises.
During dinner, they spoke of Garrett, Jayme’s brother. He lived over six hundred miles from them and was planning on visiting the first week of November, which was just two weeks away. They also spoke about Jayme moving back to her home town. Jayme informed them that they had just purchased the house Scott was murdered in. They had only lived there for six months, just after their wedding.
To Jayme, being home felt like extreme comfort, especially in her time of trauma. There is no where else she would rather be. She knew it would be difficult to return to the house where her and Scott lived. But she knew eventually, she would have to go back, and it would be sooner than later.
Last Chapters
#46 Chapter Forty Six
Last Updated: 1/7/2025#45 Chapter Forty Five
Last Updated: 1/7/2025#44 Chapter Forty Four
Last Updated: 1/7/2025#43 Chapter Forty Four
Last Updated: 1/7/2025#42 Chapter Forty Two
Last Updated: 1/7/2025#41 Chapter Forty One
Last Updated: 1/7/2025#40 Chapter Forty
Last Updated: 1/7/2025#39 Chapter Thirty Nine
Last Updated: 1/7/2025#38 Chapter Thirty Eight
Last Updated: 1/7/2025#37 Chapter Thirty Seven
Last Updated: 1/7/2025
You Might Like 😍
A pack of their own
From Substitute To Queen
Heartbroken, Sable discovered Darrell having sex with his ex in their bed, while secretly transferring hundreds of thousands to support that woman.
Even worse was overhearing Darrell laugh to his friends: "She's useful—obedient, doesn't cause trouble, handles housework, and I can fuck her whenever I need relief. She's basically a live-in maid with benefits." He made crude thrusting gestures, sending his friends into laughter.
In despair, Sable left, reclaimed her true identity, and married her childhood neighbor—Lycan King Caelan, nine years her senior and her fated mate. Now Darrell desperately tries to win her back. How will her revenge unfold?
From substitute to queen—her revenge has just begun!
To protect what’s mine
The Prison Project
Can love tame the untouchable? Or will it only fuel the fire and cause chaos amongst the inmates?
Fresh out of high school and suffocating in her dead-end hometown, Margot longs for her escape. Her reckless best friend, Cara, thinks she's found the perfect way out for them both - The Prisoner Project - a controversial program offering a life-changing sum of money in exchange for time spent with maximum-security inmates.
Without hesitation, Cara rushes to sign them up.
Their reward? A one-way ticket into the depths of a prison ruled by gang leaders, mob bosses, and men the guards wouldn't even dare to cross...
At the centre of it all, meets Coban Santorelli - a man colder than ice, darker than midnight, and as deadly as the fire that fuels his inner rage. He knows that the project may very well be his only ticket to freedom - his only ticket to revenge on the one who managed to lock him up and so he must prove that he can learn to love…
Will Margot be the lucky one chosen to help reform him?
Will Coban be capable of bringing something to the table other than just sex?
What starts off as denial may very well grow in to obsession which could then fester in to becoming true love…
A temperamental romance novel.
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother
"What is wrong with me?
Why does being near him make my skin feel too tight, like I’m wearing a sweater two sizes too small?
It’s just newness, I tell myself firmly.
He’s my boyfirend’s brother.
This is Tyler’s family.
I’m not going to let one cold stare undo that.
**
As a ballet dancer, My life looks perfect—scholarship, starring role, sweet boyfriend Tyler. Until Tyler shows his true colors and his older brother, Asher, comes home.
Asher is a Navy veteran with battle scars and zero patience. He calls me "princess" like it's an insult. I can't stand him.
When My ankle injury forces her to recover at the family lake house, I‘m stuck with both brothers. What starts as mutual hatred slowly turns into something forbidden.
I'm falling for my boyfriend's brother.
**
I hate girls like her.
Entitled.
Delicate.
And still—
Still.
The image of her standing in the doorway, clutching her cardigan tighter around her narrow shoulders, trying to smile through the awkwardness, won’t leave me.
Neither does the memory of Tyler. Leaving her here without a second thought.
I shouldn’t care.
I don’t care.
It’s not my problem if Tyler’s an idiot.
It’s not my business if some spoiled little princess has to walk home in the dark.
I’m not here to rescue anyone.
Especially not her.
Especially not someone like her.
She’s not my problem.
And I’ll make damn sure she never becomes one.
But when my eyes fell on her lips, I wanted her to be mine.
The mafia princess return
The Badass Mafia Princess and Family
Omega Bound
Thane Knight is the alpha of the Midnight Pack of the La Plata Mountain Range, the largest wolf shifter pack in the world. He is an alpha by day and hunts the shifter trafficking ring with his group of mercenaries by night. His hunt for vengeance leads to one raid that changes his life.
Tropes:
Touch her and die/Slow burn romance/Fated Mates/Found family twist/Close circle betrayal/Cinnamon roll for only her/Traumatized heroine/Rare wolf/Hidden powers/Knotting/Nesting/Heats/Luna/Attempted assassination
“Burn those who burned me!”
Burn those who burned me is an anthology book circulated on truth; justice; and REVENGE!
Story #1 The Ballad of Rabena Price.
Story #2 The rebirth of Clara Granger
Story #3 The violin of Graceland Teague
Story #4 The list for Josie Taylor
Story #5 COMING SOON!
Off Limits, Brother's Best Friend
“You are going to take every inch of me.” He whispered as he thrusted up.
“Fuck, you feel so fucking good. Is this what you wanted, my dick inside you?” He asked, knowing I have benticing him since the beginning.
“Y..yes,” I breathed.
Brianna Fletcher had been running from dangerous men all her life but when she got an opportunity to stay with his elder brother after graduation, there she met the most dangerous of them all. Her brother's best friend, a mafia Don. He radiated danger but she couldn't stay away.
He knows his best friend's little sister is off limits and yet, he couldn't stop thinking of her.
Will they be able to break all rules and find closure in each other's arms?
I Am His Wolfless Luna
Ethan also kept emitting deep roars in my ear, 'Damn... I'm going to cum... !!!' His impact became more intense and our bodies kept making slapping sounds.
"Please!! Ethan!!"
As the strongest female warrior in my pack, I was betrayed by those I trusted most, my sister and my best friend. I was drugged, raped, and banished from my family and my pack. I lost my wolf, my honor, and became an outcast—carrying a child I never asked for.
Six years of hard-won survival turned me into a professional fighter, fueled by rage and grief. A summons arrives from the formidable Alpha heir, Ethan, asking me to return as a wolfless combat instructor for the very pack that once banished me.
I thought I could ignore their whispers and stares, but when I see Ethan's emerald-green eyes—the same as my son’s—my world tilts.
Balance of Light and Shadow
Little did she know how much both worlds need her to bring peace and true freedom.