Fine Then Keep Your Secrets

The night before our wedding, my fiancee, Winona Yale, sleeps with her first love. He tells her he has cancer and wants to lose his virginity before he dies, and she agrees to fulfill his dying wish. Later that night, I, Liam Parker, receive photos of them together in bed. I laugh coldly and text back, "If she's that much of a saint, she's all yours." The next morning, I cancel the wedding and announce a party to celebrate staying single. Winona panics, showing up in her white dress with red-rimmed eyes. Her voice shakes as she sobs. "You don't want to marry me anymore?"

The day Jasper Carter's terminally ill ex, Natalie Klutz, gave birth, his parents—Josephine and Raymond—hired ten bodyguards to keep me, his actual wife, out of the hospital. But I never showed. Josephine clutched Natalie's hand. "She's not getting near you or the baby." Jasper wiped Natalie's forehead. "Relax. Dad's got men at every door. If Emily shows, we'll toss her." Hours passed. Still no me. Jasper finally let himself breathe. He didn't get what my deal was. He was just granting Natalie's dying wish—to be a mom. The second the nurse handed over the crying baby, he smiled like everything was finally worth it. If I came tomorrow and said sorry, he'd forgive me. Hell, he'd even let me raise the kid. What he didn't know? I had just submitted my paperwork. I'd leave the country, join Doctors Without Borders, and ghost him for good.

I make my final phone call to my boyfriend when a murderer is hunting me down. He thinks I'm messing with him and hangs up on me. That destroys the final sliver of hope I have for survival. He's celebrating his childhood friend's birthday when I'm being murdered. Later, as a restorative embalmer, he receives a body to restore. He loses his mind when he restores my shattered skull and realizes the body is mine.

Ivy never planned to fall, literally, into Liam’s arms. But the day she bumped into him in the hallway, everything changed. His girlfriend noticed. The school noticed. At first, it was side eyes and some attitude. Then came the rumors. Just as the drama became unbearable, her world crashed, her parents died on the same day.  She had to move in with an aunt who she barely knew.  She stopped going to school, because the pain became unbearable. When she finally returned to school, the tone changed. There were new whispers, but only about her. To the girls like Claire and her group, Ivy was a pity seeker. She was beautiful, quiet, soft, so obviously, they thought she was faking it. Especially when the boys, including Liam, started being nice to her. Even her best friend, Sophia, changed after a new girl, Maya, showed up. Soon, Sophia turned against her, started acting mean. Another betrayal. Ivy was losing people faster than she could have ever imagined. And when her aunt suggested going to therapy, Ivy finally cracked. Ivy didn’t ask to be strong, she was shoved into it. She wasn’t eased into being strong, wasn’t given the time to learn, or grow into it. She learned to talk back. She learned to slap back, literally. When Sophia humiliated her in public, Ivy hit back without apology. But that didn’t mean Ivy was suddenly strong on the inside. She still cried when she was alone. Still felt broken. This isn’t some perfect girl story. Ivy’s not a superhero. She’s just trying to make it through each day without falling apart. She’s just trying to breathe without breaking. And maybe, somewhere in all that mess, she’ll find her own kind of peace.

When fate brings Zara and Ryland back together, they must confront the lies that drove them apart and the prophecy that binds them together—will their love be enough to overcome the danger that threatens to destroy them?

Upon hearing about my husband's surgery, I braved a typhoon and torrential rain, driving four hours back to the city. When I arrived at the hospital, my husband, Xander Gray, was lying on the hospital bed, calling out loudly, "I want my wife! Get my wife here!" His buddies around him joked about how his wife had him completely whipped. Everyone said he loved me to death. Blushing, I walked over with a happy smile and held his hand, saying, "I'm here." To my surprise, he shook off my hand in disgust and snarled, "Get lost! You're not my wife! My wife is Beverly Long!"

Mia got involved with a married man and even had a child with him. When his wife found out the first time he asked them to take a break as he was busy sorting things out with his wife. It wasn't long before he went back to her. The second time she found out about her and the baby she fainted. The day she got out of the hospital she went looking for Mia and in their fight, she ended up killing her.

“Isang halik lang dapat… pero bakit parang gusto kong ulitin?” ani Alexis Vergara sa sarili, habang hinahabol ang sariling hininga matapos ang mainit na tagpo sa pagitan nila ni Ralph Santillian — ang bestfriend ng ex niyang cheater na si Julio. Isang gabing puno ng emosyon, galit, at alak, nagbago ang lahat sa isang iglap. Ang halik na dapat ay para lang ipamukha kay Julio na hindi siya nasira, ay bigla na lang nag-iwan ng init at kaguluhan sa puso’t isipan ni Alexis. Si Ralph, tahimik, misteryoso, at hindi interesado sa drama ng paligid, ay bigla na lang naging bahagi ng isang planong puno ng kasinungalingan: isang contractual marriage. Hindi sila in love, hindi sila magkaibigan, pero pareho silang may gustong patunayan — na kaya nilang makabangon mula sa mga nanakit sa kanila at gumanti sa ginawang pananakit ng mga taong minsang minahal nila ngunit sumira din sa kanila. Habang ginagampanan nila ang papel ng mag-asawa, unti-unting nabubura ang mga linya ng kasunduan. Si Alexis, na dating galit at puno ng poot, ay nahuhulog kay Ralph. Samantalang si Ralph, na tila bato ang puso, ay natutong ngumiti at masaktan para sa babaeng minsang bahagi lang ng isang plano. Ngunit paano kung bumalik si Julio para muling guluhin ang lahat? At paano kung ang dating kasunduan ay maging totoo na sa mata ng batas… at sa tibok ng puso?

Hindi akalain ni Mutya na magagawa nga talaga nyang pikutin ang among si Drake ngunit ngayon ay bigla na lang nabahag ang kanyang buntot at ayaw na niyang ituloy ang binabalak. Kailangan niyang makaalis ng kwarto bago pa magising si Drake. Dahan dahan niyang pinihit ang seradura ng pinto upang hindi sya makagawa ng ingay. Laking gulat na lamang nya dahil hindi pa man nya tuluyang nabubuksan ang pintuan ay may tumulak na nito mula sa labas kasunod ang maraming kislap at tunog ng camera. “Miss ikaw ba ang bagong girlfriend ni Drake Rufino?” “Nasa loob ba sya?” “Gano na kayo katagal?” Sunod sunod na katungan ng mga reporters. Sa takot ay napaurong sya. Hindi nya alam ang gagawin. Napatigil ang dalaga sa pag-urong nang bumangga sya sa matitipunong dibdib mula sa lalaking nakatayo sa kanyang likuran. Gising na si Drake. “Whats going on here?” halata sa mukha ng lalaki na bagong gising pa ito. Nakapulupot sa hubo't hubad nitong katawan ang puting kumot....

I was a keeper of many secrets, and I have been for a long time. Secrets that I can't ever share with the world because if I did, it would not only put me in danger but everyone I care about. I had given up the life that had taken so much from me, well, so I thought, but when the man that ruined everything for me showed back up, I don't have a choice but to get back into it. One more target and I will be free, that is what I keep telling myself. I have done this before; it won't be the first life that I have taken. I was hoping it would be the last. If I knew at the time, my target would be the man I was slowly falling for. I would have found a way to get out of it. But now I was in too deep, and I can't do anything about it, well so I thought. It turns out I am not the only one with dark secrets, and between us, it would be those dark secrets that would help change both our lives forever. Co-wrote with Emma-Louise