Lahat ng Kabanata ng Forbidden Romance Tales: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

The night had not been kind to Leana. The text message glowed on her screen, a neat little bullet point summarizing the collapse of her professional dignity.“After careful consideration, the position has been designated to Jameson Croft. Your dedication is valued…..”Leana didn’t read the rest. She let the phone clatter onto the polished surface of the bar, the sound swallowed by the low hum of conversation and soft jazz. Months of late nights, of sacrificed weekends, of swallowing her pride and smiling at clients who talked over her. For a valued pat on the head and a rival with half her talent but twice the entitlement stole the prize.So, when her friends dragged her out for the night, insisting she needed a distraction, she hadn’t argued. She’d dressed up, slipped into her heels, and let them pour her shots until the bitterness dulled. The liquor burned faintly on her tongue, but it wasn’t enough to erase the sting of the day.“Stop sulking,” her friend Andrea sang out from the bo

The fine linen of the tablecloth felt impossibly stiff beneath her fingertips, though Leana barely noticed. Her pulse hammered in her ears louder than the soft classical music that floated through the restaurant. She barely breathed, barely moved, as if any wrong gesture would make the world collapse entirely.Across the table, Ryan’s stormy gray eyes locked on hers. His face, calm and unreadable, held that familiar smirk that tugged at her nerves in ways she had spent the entire cab ride trying to suppress. But there it was, just a fraction wider, just a flicker before his expression shuttered into cool neutrality again.No one else seemed to hear her whisper. Her mother was beaming at David. But Ryan heard.He then gestured to the man who had just tilted Leana’s axis off its foundation. “Leana, this is my brother, Ryan. He just flew in from the West Coast last night to finally meet everyone. Ryan, this is Julie’s daughter, Leana.”The formal introduction was a brutal piece of irony.

The sky over the city glowed a muted gold as the sun dipped toward evening, turning the glass towers into shimmering monoliths of light. It had been four days since the dinner. Four days since she’d told herself she would stay away from Ryan, David’s younger brother, her mother’s fiancé’s brother, the man who had already upended every sensible part of her life and she’d failed miserably. Every time her phone lit up, her pulse leapt before she could stop it. She’d even caught herself replaying his words in her mind.  “I haven’t been able to think of anything but you.” She looked around the wedding planner’s studio. 

The sun was sinking low, painting the quiet suburban street in gold and amber. From her second-story windowsill, Myra watched the world go soft and hazy. But her focus, sharp and unwavering, was fixed on a single point, the man next door.Steven.He moved through his garden with the quiet reverence of a priest tending an altar. He wasn’t her uncle, not by blood or law, but the title had stuck from childhood and over those years, something more had grown in her, a dangerous, thrilling pull she couldn’t name.Steven was thirty-five, but there was a youthful strength in him, a vitality that made her chest tighten every time she looked. He was everything she desired. His dark hair, still thick and unruly, was pushed back from a forehead lined with the faint traces of thought and sun.Myra, at nineteen, knew every one of those contrasts by heart. For five years, she had studied him. She had imagined this moment countless times, rehearsed conversations and scenarios in her head, letting the

Steven’s breath hitched, the sound loud in the silent room. His eyes devoured her. The tension mounted, unspoken yet palpable, and the room seemed to shrink around the quiet intimacy of the moment.Suddenly Myra shuffled, turning slightly onto her side. Her eyelids fluttered and she inhaled sharply, suddenly jolted awake by the sensation of cool air on her bare skin. Her gaze flew to the figure hovering over her bed and she stiffened, recognition and shock flashing across her face."Steven!" she gasped, her voice rough with sleep. She sat up abruptly. Her nightgown had slipped down to reveal the swell of her breasts and the creamy skin of her thighs. She made no move to cover herself, wanting him to look at her, to drink her in, a mischievous smile playing at the corners of her lips."You're here," she purred, her eyes gleaming with desire. "Finally."Myra had been waiting for this moment for so long, dreaming about it, plotting how to make it happen and now, here he was, standing ov