I’m Uche. I’m the kind of woman who always has the answer. Or at least, I used to be—until life started asking questions that don’t come with answers. I thought I was strong. I thought grief was something you could pack away neatly, tape shut, and carry without making noise. I thought I could lose my father and still stand. I was wrong. And I thought Daniel—the man I trusted with my body, my heart, my vulnerability—would stay. He didn’t. Days after my father died, Daniel left. He didn’t just walk away. He left me shattered. Bleeding. Carrying a pregnancy I didn’t even know was already killing me. An ectopic pregnancy. A cruel, silent thing that nearly took my life and stripped me of everything I thought I still had. I was alone. Broken in ways no one could see. Numb, but somehow still breathing. Then came Chen. My best friend’s brother. Reckless. Smug. Carrying grief of his own and wearing it like armor. We made a deal: no emotions. No expectations. No attachment. Just something quiet. Something temporary. Something to forget. But pain doesn’t follow rules. And neither does desire. Now his mother wants me gone. His exes want me ruined. And Steph—my best friend, my anchor—feels like a stranger I don’t know how to reach anymore. Daniel is back. Secrets are piling up. And I don’t recognize myself in any of this. This isn’t a story about healing. Not yet. It’s a story about everything that broke me— and how I’m trying, piece by fragile piece, to survive it

I knew he was watching—and that was the point. Bent over the fridge in nothing but a crop top and sweatpants, I gave him a show. He didn’t touch me at first. But when he did, it was with the hunger of a man who’d waited all day to taste sin. I gasped, arched, and let him in—not just into my body, but into the chaos I call life. My name is Alice Jaja. I’m 22. Wild, rich, and untouchable. Or so I thought. My world is money, sex, secrets, and betrayal. And in Port Harcourt, Abuja, and Lagos, everything has a price—even desire.

313 days before my life was cut short. Jasmine was just a teenage girl—with dreams, doubts, and a haunted kind of knowing. Then her classmate Brianna drowned under suspicious circumstances. Soon after, Jasmine began receiving cryptic notes suggesting it wasn’t an accident—and that she was supposed to be next. Now, everything is unraveling. The investigation spirals into something surreal, blurring dreams and memory, truth and delusion. Someone is erasing girls like her, one by one. They say Jasmine is dead. The headlines agree. There’s even a memorial. But there’s no body. No explanation. And Jasmine? She’s still here. 313 days before the end, she was just a girl navigating school, parties, and the quiet ache of being misunderstood. Now she exists in a liminal space—unseen, unheard, and desperate to understand what was taken from her. As she digs through fractured memories and unraveling friendships, Jasmine realizes: She was never just a victim. And death isn’t the end of her story. It’s where it truly begins.

Soft Thorn is a powerful collection of interconnected stories about women who find themselves trapped in the delicate yet dangerous space between affection and abuse. These are not tales of strangers behind closed doors; they are the stories of women you knowsisters, students, lovers—each learning too late that love can be a blade wrapped in silk. As relationships unravel and identities blur, these women must confront hard truths about the ones they love and the selves they’ve lost. From emotional manipulation to physical control, each story blooms with pain, survival, and the quiet strength it takes to leave. Raw, intimate, and unflinchingly honest, Soft Thorn is a haunting exploration of love’s darker side—and the resilience it takes to grow beyond it.