Al Final Mueren Los Dos

A quince días de la boda, Santiago Velasco y yo tuvimos una pelea feroz. La razón no era otra: él quería tener un hijo con la hija de su profesor. —Solo iremos a hacer una fertilización in vitro, no hay nada entre nosotros —dijo con una calma que me heló hasta los huesos—. El profesor está muy enfermo, lo único que desea es ver a Valeria con alguien que la apoye en el futuro. —¿Y tú? —le reproché—. Nos casamos en quince días y tú vas a tener un hijo con otra mujer. ¿No te parece absurdo? Vi cómo Santiago cerraba la puerta de un portazo y, sin pensarlo, publiqué en mis redes: "Boda en quince días, busco un novio nuevo, ¿alguien se apunta?"

El día que se cumplían tres años del matrimonio de Camila y Lucas, él invitó a todos sus amigos para celebrarlo. Pero, cuando ella llegó al lugar, lo vio de rodillas, proponiéndole matrimonio a Renata, su amiga de la infancia. Camila lo confrontó con la voz contenida, pero él, con fastidio, simplemente dijo que era parte de un juego de «verdad o reto». No fue sino hasta que, por proteger a Renata, Lucas empujó a Camila por las escaleras, provocándole un aborto, que ella finalmente despertó del engaño. Ella le había dicho que le daría cinco oportunidades. Y ahora… las cinco se habían acabado. —Lucas, quiero el divorcio.

El día de la sentencia, mi prometido Diego González me tomó de la mano, sollozando, y me pidió que dejara de defender mi inocencia y firmara un acuerdo de culpabilidad. —Clara, sé que tú no hiciste nada… pero Isabella está esperando un hijo mío. No puedo permitir que ella vaya a la cárcel. Hazlo por tu bien, por favor —suplicó, con lágrimas que le empañaban la mirada. Sin dudarlo ni un instante, firmé el acuerdo. En mi vida anterior me negué a cargar con la culpa de Isabella García y, por eso, no solo terminé tras las rejas: la furia de Diego envió gente a torturarme hasta dejarme estéril. Esta vez me propuse complacerlo. A la mañana siguiente, los noticieros reventaron con la primicia de que yo había robado secretos comerciales de la Corporación López. Para colmo, Isabella se presentó como testigo. —Sí, fue ella; la vi con mis propios ojos infiltrarse en la compañía —declaró ante las cámaras. Pero aquella tarde, cuando inició la audiencia, el demandante Santiago López, director general de la corporación, retiró la acusación. Bajo la mirada atónita de la prensa, sacó un anillo, se arrodilló y me preguntó: —Clara, ¿en esta vida aceptarías casarte conmigo?

Alora Steppingstone spent her teenage life practicing in shooting range, boxing ring and running field. She moved to New York and trained by her uncle to be a great mafia herself to avenge once she gets back in the Philippines at 18 years old. Since her parents died in front of her, all she wants to do is to kill the family Spencer who lead the biggest assassin organization and the culprit of her family's murder case. She promise to herself that she will kill Mr. Robert Spencer including his family but when she met Calter Vin, everything has change. When Alora strives to unfold the truth about her family's death and set aside her romantic feelings, at the end of the story, the question is to whom will she shoot her final bullet.

I had been dating Andy Lawson for five years. He had gone bankrupt, and during the worst of it, we had to sleep in parks and scavenge leftovers for food. After a hundred days of that life, I was just going to the blackmarket to sell some blood for money when someone sent me a video. [Surprise.] It was a livestream site, set up for rich kids to prank the common folk—and a video of me was pinned to the top. My finger trembling, I tapped on it and saw myself hidden in a corner of a park, munching on leftovers to nourish my frail body. On the split video, Andy was reclining against the armchair of a five-star hotel and savoring his gourmet menu. "Oh, this is amazing! All Andy has to do is say that he's sick, and she's selling her blood for him!" "On the sixteenth prank, she fell into the ocean… And on the fifteenth, she was sent flying in a car crash! Why is she so hard to kill?" "Well, Andy already made it clear that if she survives until the end, he will marry her and swear off women!" "One month to go! Will she die from the pranks, or marry into the Lawson family with pomp and circumstance?" "I'm betting fifty mil that she dies tragically! Hahaha!"

My wife’s childhood friend, Peter White, needed surgery. He requested that I perform the operation as the lead surgeon. I followed every medical protocol exactly and did my best to save him. However, after being discharged, he accused me of practicing medicine illegally. He claimed I had made him permanently disabled. I asked my wife to back me up. But instead, she said to me, “I told you not to act recklessly, but you wouldn’t listen. Now look at what has happened!” The hospital security footage even showed that I did not follow the standard surgical procedure. I had no way to defend myself. In the end, I was stabbed to death by Peter’s wife, Janet White, who had been financially supporting him. Even during my dying moments, I could not understand why the surveillance showed that I was not following the medical protocol! When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day Peter came in for his initial examination.

In an East London lock up, two film makers, Jimmy and Sam, are duct taped to chairs and forced to watch a snuff film by Ashkan, a loan shark to whom they owe a lot of money. If they don’t pay up, they’ll be starring in the next one. Before the film reaches its end, Ashkan and all his men are slaughtered by unknown assailants. Only Jimmy and Sam survive the massacre, leaving them with the sole copy of the snuff film. The film makers decide to build their next movie around the brutal film. While auditioning actors, they stumble upon Melissa, an enigmatic actress who seems perfect for the leading role, not least because she’s the spitting image of the snuff film’s main victim. Neither the film, nor Melissa, are entirely what they seem however. Jimmy and Sam find themselves pulled into a paranormal mystery that leads them through the shadowy streets of the city beneath the city and sees them re-enacting an ancient Mesopotamian myth cycle. As they play out the roles of long forgotten gods and goddesses, they’re drawn into the subtle web of a deadly heresy that stretches from the beginnings of civilization to the end of the world as we know it. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

Jessica has some explaining to do. Not only has she lied to her best friend, but she is lying to the father of their daughter. But it's not her fault that she fell in love with the man the day they met. Jessica remembers that day like it was yesterday. His smooth skin, sparkling smile, and beautiful eyes are something that haunts her dreams every night. Jessica had told Christine that the father knew about Adamelia, but that was a lie. Jessica had told the father of her child that she doesn't love him, but that was also a lie. Jessica has even told herself that she has moved on. That was a huge lie. Wallowing in shame and guilt, Jessica has decided that it is her punishment. She was the one who created the web of lies in the first place. Now she will do everything in her power to right her wrongs.

On the day the Cole family went bankrupt, Adrian Cole left behind a suicide note and went alone to the snow mountains to end his life. I chased after him without hesitation, searching for him in the snow for a full ten hours. Just as despair hollowed me out completely, I saw his secretary, Zoe Bennett, livestreaming Adrian's proposal on social media. One of his friends joked in the comments, "You're about to be a groom. Aren't you afraid your woman will get mad?" His reply was icy cold. "I only promised her the title of Mrs. Cole. She shouldn't even think about anything else." Another comment followed. "She's marrying in with ten billion in investment. Is she really willing to swallow that kind of grievance?" I could almost see Adrian sneering as he typed, "She got ten billion for the position of Mrs. Cole. She's not losing out. If it weren't for her, Zoe wouldn't have been forced to go abroad. These last few days are my compensation to Zoe." My fingernails dug deep into my flesh. Calmly, I burned everything that had anything to do with him. On the day of the wedding, he went mad searching for me everywhere. In the upscale venue across the street, I had just slipped on a diamond ring given to me by another man, Julian Cross. Unbeknownst to him, while he was calculating the countdown to our breakup, I was also preparing to marry someone else.

I died on the day I was supposed to marry Ryan Wolfe. When I didn’t show up on time, he angrily married his childhood sweetheart, Lorelei Floyd, instead, and publicly announced, “Alexis Harding cheated before our wedding and called it off herself!” The rumors crushed my mother, and she died from a heart attack right then and there. But Ryan seemed to have forgotten that he, in a fit of rage to defend Lorelei, slashed my arm and locked me in a basement for ten whole days. I begged him and pleaded for mercy, but all I got was his cold reply. “You’ll stay here for a while, so you can fully understand the pain you caused Lorelei. And maybe, just maybe, it’ll rid you of your wicked thoughts.” When he found my corpse, ravaged by maggots, he lost his mind.