A Thousand Splendid Suns

She wasn’t his weakness. She was his ruin, and he would bring the world to its knees before he let her go. *** Kisarel thought she had it all figured out, until the night she caught her fiancé in bed with her cousin. The same cousin who was engaged to her boss, the ruthless and untouchable billionaire, Mr. Oceans Stark. Heartbroken, humiliated, and trapped on a business trip with the man her cousin was set to marry, Kisarel did the unthinkable – she begged her boss to make her forget her boyfriend's betrayal. Oceans swore he didn’t touch his employees. He swore his heart only belonged to a certain strange woman he'd been looking for, who saved his life so many years ago. But the moment Kisarel kissed him, every resolution he made shattered. And after their one sinful night together, Mr. Stark couldn't let Kisarel go. He began to do everything within his power to get her even more entangled in his web of obsession. There were a thousand reasons she should have stayed away from him. She ignored every single one. He knew every part of her belonged to someone else. But every part of him didn’t care. What neither of them knows is that Kisarel was the woman he’s been searching for all along. Now, Oceans is set to call off his wedding with Kisarel's cousin, and he expects Kisarel to also call off her wedding with her cheating fiancé. Kisarel is now tangled in an obsession so hot that it might consume her whole. And Oceans is ready to drown his entire empire just to keep the woman he truly loves.

It was Sienna and Clyde’s second-year anniversary, at nagplano na isurprise ni Sienna si Clyde sa pamamagitan ng isang dinner sa isang restaurant. Nakaplano na din siyang ibigay ang virginity niya dito na matagal na nitong hinihingi sa kanya, pero hindi siya nito sinipot at hindi sumasagot sa mga tawag niya. Para hindi masayang ang kanyang gabi, naisipan niyang pumunta sa isang bar para mag-enjoy. Tinawagan niya ang bestfriend niyang si Valentina, and just like Clyde, hindi niya rin ito makontak. Iyon pala ay niloloko na siya ng mga ito. At sa bar na iyon ay nakilala niya ang isang estranghero na nagligtas sa kanya sa pambabastos ng mga lalaki noong nalasing siya. His name was Tyler Anderson. Nauwi sila sa isang one-night stand at ito ang nakakuha ng kanyang v!rginity. Wala na sanang problema dahil hindi na sila ulit magkikita. Ang kaso, ninong pala ito ni Clyde. Hindi niya alam kung paano haharapin ang ninong ng boyfriend niya lalo na’t sinabihan din ito ni Clyde na siya din ang maging ninong sa kasal nila. Noong magkasakit ang kanyang tiyahin, si Tyler ang sumagot ng pagpapaopera nito, dahil ayaw siyang tulungan ni Clyde. Para makabayad sa utang niya kay Tyler, inalok siya nito ng one-hundred thousand pesos per session ng kanilang pagniniig, at pumayag siya. Paano niya ngayon mahihiwalayan si Clyde gayong nahulog na rin ang loob niya sa ninong nito?

I married Kael Throne—the infamous king of New York’s mafia—not for his power, not for his fortune, but because I loved him. He was unlike any man I’d ever known. A man who could have a thousand women at his feet, yet dismissed them all with a single glance. I believed his faithful love until the day I learned the existence of a college girl. He’d “respected” me enough to keep her hidden… until I forced the truth into the light. Kael didn’t rage. He didn’t deny it. He only looked at me with that calm, dangerous gaze and said, “Then we divorce.” I refused. He offered me his money, his casino, his everything. Still I said no. Because I loved him. That’s when his love turned black. He had me kidnapped. My mother, too. All to force my signature on those papers. “You found out,” he said, almost bored. “And there’s no more fun in hiding. Leave now, Vivienne. Give me—and Nyssa—our happy ending.” I watched as the man he’d sent slit my mother’s throat. My answer came too late. Kael Throne was a monster. I collapsed, my head cracking against the floor. And when I opened my eyes… I was back on the day I first learned Nyssa existed. This time, I didn’t confront him. I played the perfect wife, smiling sweetly while I waited for the perfect moment to vanish from his life forever. I just never imagined that when I finally disappeared… Kael would lose his mind.

“Sofia, you're really going through a lot. I wish I could help you out” Lisa said, “That man, he deserves to die!” she pulled Sofia in for a warm embrace. They pulled out smiling at each other.  Sofia sniffed her nose and stood up, heading for her bag laying on top of the mini cupboard. "He gave me a check afterwards," Sofia said. Lisa was bewildered, shocked as hell. “How much?” "Two hundred thousand. He even sent a letter last night, saying I was doing very little paying off the debts.I truly want to pay off this stupid debt, quit this job and have my life back"  Sofia explained with a frown. "What?” Lisa exclaimed. “I am so speechless Sofia. You mean he paid that huge amount of money to you? Wow. Some guts he has there. Did you accept it?”  “No, I rejected it. Two hundred thousand can't restore my dignity. I was ashamed of myself tonight”. “But, how do you intend to pay the rest of the debts?” Lisa asked with concern in her voice. “Sofia, I'm scared for you” Sofia dreaded that thought. Thoughts of how she would raise enough money to clear the debts.  The man she met had this ominous, dangerous aura around him. She silently prayed she  would complete his payment so she could finally get her life back. Sofia's peaceful life became chaotic, the moment her mother was unable to pay the debts she owed the Mafia Lord before she died. She was forced to do his biddings. He was cold and ruthless. She fell in love with him. Now she must navigate a world of danger and deception. But can their love survive the secrets and lies that surround them?

Giorgo Romero, the Don of the Romero family, gets ambushed by a suicidal madman who has bombs strapped to him. When that happens, my husband, Fabio Lopez, and his troops have already gone to a fashion show with his childhood sweetheart, Reina Digiorno, so that they can protect her there. Instead of pressing the signal button on my ring, I launch myself at Giorgo despite being heavily pregnant. Just like that, I'm able to protect him from the explosion with my body. In my previous life, I had pressed the button. Fabio had ditched Reina in favor of hurrying back to the scene to save Giorgo's life. Because of his contribution, he gets elevated to the position of Underboss. But Reina got mad at Fabio for leaving her in advance, resulting in her crossing the highway out of pure spite. That was how she got hit by a car and died. While Fabio didn't say anything, he chose to send me to an underground auction house on the day I went into labor. "The Don had so many soldati protecting him! Why did you force me to come back in the first place? Isn't it because you just want the glory of being the Underboss's wife? "If it wasn't for you, Reina wouldn't have died! You must go through a thousand times the suffering she did!" I could only watch as the guests bid for my organs one by one. Not even my newborn's umbilical cord could be spared from the auction. In the end, I died from an infection that had occurred while my organs were being removed. When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the day Giorgo gets ambushed.

"A man from my past shattered my heart into a thousand pieces. I decided from that day on I would never give my heart to a man to be broken again. I know it sounds foolish because I was so young. However, that heartache has affected how I am with men. I am terrified to give my heart away like that again only to have it shattered." Natalia still felt the hurt and betrayal like it was yesterday. "I promise to never break your heart. Give me a chance to prove that I won't hurt you. I've never felt like this for anyone before I met you. I know it's only been two days, but you're all I've thought about since seeing you that first time. Let me erase the pain that's in your heart." Hayden took both her hands in his. --------------------- Natalia Crawford is the top female CEO in the city. She has worked tooth and nail to climb to the top without compromising her morals. She's beautiful with long blonde hair and green eyes. Men want her for her beauty, brains, and money. When she met Hayden Sumner, he was determined to make her his. She agreed he was easy on the eyes, tall with thick black hair and blue eyes, but she had no desire to be in a relationship. After a chance encounter, she ended up opening her heart for a chance at love. People all around them want to see them fail in both love and business. Even as one of them is fighting for their life, it doesn't stop others from trying to bring them down. Will love conquer all, or will everyone who wants to hurt them be successful in tearing them apart?

As a low-income student who's specifically recruited by the elite college this year, I can still feel my hands trembling as I clutch the letter that tells me I get to study for free. Not only are my tuition and miscellaneous fees waived, but I also get to receive 30 thousand dollars' worth of student grant per year. I even get to have free access to the leather seats inside the library, the equipment inside the gym, as well as the aerial garden on the roof. The best surprise for me has to be the cafeteria. All low-income students get a 50% discount on their meals, but the quality of their food doesn't decrease at all. Best beef is used in the steak dinners offered by the cafeteria, whereas a seafood platter showcases the entire huge lobster. Even the most basic mac and cheese meal has different types of freshly grated cheese baked into it. As I sit in the brightly lit classroom and look at the rich students around me, who wear custom-made uniforms and have branded watches latched around their wrists, all I have is one thought. I must be on good terms with them. But my seatmate, who's also a low-income student, isn't as thrilled as me. In fact, she just looks at the people around her with disdain in her eyes. After the first lesson, a rich student arrives at our table. He might not sound polite at all, but at least he's not putting on airs. "Do any of you have time to head over to the cafeteria and buy me breakfast?" I'm about to respond to him when a shrill voice booms out next to me. "You're so annoying! What, you think you rule the campus since you're rich? Had I known that this classroom is filled with useless scions like you who just waste their lives away on nothing, I wouldn't have enrolled in this college in the first place!"

Four years into her marriage, when the dazzling woman from her husband’s past returned, Alyssa Jones finally understood the truth. Her husband, Justin Scott, was not cold by nature; he had withheld both affection and intimacy, saving them for his first love. He gave Alyssa a monthly allowance of six hundred dollars yet spent six hundred thousand dollars on research for the woman he truly cherished. The difference between being loved and being ignored was revealed in the most humiliating way. Justin claimed he couldn’t bear to let his “true love” be worn down by the trivialities of marriage. Yet he demanded that Alyssa quit her one-thousand-a-month job and settle into the role of a full-time housewife, willingly fading into obscurity. What Justin never knew was that Alyssa was no ordinary employee. For four years, she had been in charge of a nationally classified research project. Her clearance was so high that even the woman he idolized was qualified only to work under her. What he also never realized was that the document he signed so casually was the divorce agreement that ended their marriage. One month later, Alyssa’s identity as a leading scientific authority was made public and the finalized divorce certificate was delivered to Justin. The CEO who had always been gentle and composed tore it apart, disbelief turning into red-eyed fury. “Other than me, who would want a divorced woman like her?” Yet the one who spoke so harshly was also the one who later knelt, begging for reconciliation. When they met again, Alyssa appeared with her arm lightly linked through the hand of Lucien Wells, the man in control of one of the most powerful elite families. She looked at her ex-husband without the slightest trace of emotion. Lucien raised an eyebrow and calmly produced a marriage certificate. “Mind your manners, Mr. Scott. You should address her as Mrs. Wells.”

In the eighth year of helping Keith Hunter pay off his debts, I was diagnosed with stomach cancer. I tested the waters and asked him, half joking, "If I got cancer, would you save me?" He laughed, saying I was overthinking it. Then he added firmly, "If it ever came to that, I would sell my blood to pay for your treatment." I lay awake all night, tossing and turning, still feeling like I couldn't drag him down with me. Before taking a sleeping pill, a notification popped up on my phone about a social media post. [How do I dump an older woman who paid off my debts for eight years without too much drama?] The profile picture looked eerily like Keith's silhouette from behind. He wrote, [Eight years ago, my family went bankrupt. She stuck with me, living off dry toast and squeezing into a rented apartment. She helped me pay back over 600 thousand dollars in debt. [Back then, I thought she was innocent and cute. Now, I feel like she's just a materialistic woman putting on an act. [Last month, she even asked whether I would save her if she got cancer. How does someone even ask that? [Obviously, she was trying to get money out of me. Good thing I didn't tell her that my family recovered three years ago. [Now, my family has arranged a fiancée for me. She's the daughter of a publicly listed company. [I want to cut things off with my girlfriend, but I'm afraid she'll cling to me. After all, she wasted a lot of her youth on me.] By the time I finished reading, I had crushed the stomach cancer diagnosis in my hand into a wrinkled mess.

Deck the halls with daddy issues and scream "yes, Santa" until the neighbors complain. She sold herself to save her mother. He bought her to settle a score. Neither expected twelve days of captivity to feel like coming home. Ten years ago, Evangeline Rose fled Willow Creek and the cruel boy who made her life hell. Now she’s back with a new name, a new body, and one desperate choice: enter the town’s secret Christmas auction where wealthy men bid on willing women. When the hammer falls at five hundred thousand dollars, Eva expects a stranger. Instead, she gets Grayson Holt—her former tormentor, now a devastatingly dangerous man in a half-open Santa jacket who just bought twelve uninterrupted nights with the virgin he once swore no one would ever want. She should be terrified. He's the reason she hid in bathroom stalls and cried herself to sleep. But the first time he kisses her, his hands shake. The first time she fights back, he groans her name like a prayer. And somewhere between the firelight and the snow and the silk ribbons around her wrists, they both realize the ugly truth: He didn't buy her to break her. He bought her because he's been broken without her. The boy who spray-painted "fat ugly bitch" on her locker is the same man who falls to his knees in the snow on the last morning and begs her not to leave. The girl who swore she'd never forgive him is the same woman who has to choose: walk away free, or stay with the monster who finally admitted he's been in love with her since the day he made her cry. Eva spent a decade learning to hate Grayson Holt. Turns out she's been loving him the whole damn time.