Forty Thousand

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent me, heartbreak on a platter of gold. How thoughtful. Melody Hart once believed December carried its own charm, everything feels beautiful and magical, and she would be having a Christmas wedding, something she’d dreamed of since childhood. But magic turned to ash the moment she walked in on the man she loved, unwrapping someone else like a gift. Determined to start over, she runs to New York City with nothing but a bruised heart and an almost empty bank account . She isn’t searching for miracles anymore. She just wants a job, a bed that’s not a borrowed couch, and one peaceful night where she doesn’t cry herself to sleep. Just like she had her problems, Logan Russo had his. He needs a woman for Christmas, someone who would be able to act in front of his whole family, just to get them off his neck. Melody needs two hundred thousand dollars. Neither of them needs love. The universe brought them together, two desperate strangers who needed each other. What started off as a confrontation at the airport, soon blossomed into something beautiful. She got her Christmas miracle after all. All that was short-lived because the universe had other plans. But this time, how much can she take, how willing is she to protect what she's built? Only time will tell.

When my mother won a million dollars from a lottery ticket, she prepared an envelope for each of her three children. After we opened them, my younger brother and younger sister each found a bank card inside. But from my envelope, two 1-dollar coins clinked onto the floor. Seeing me freeze, a trace of unease flickered across Mother's face. "Cassian," she said hesitantly, "Logan and Sienna suffered a lot growing up because your father passed away so early. So I gave each of them 500 thousand dollars as compensation. "You're the eldest son—like a father to them. Don't fight with them over this, okay?" I glanced down at the faded down jacket I had worn for years, the fabric so worn that it had lost its color. Then, my eyes drifted to my younger brother's limited-edition sneakers and to the designer bag slung over my sister's shoulder. Mother seemed to have forgotten that when Father died, I had only been eight. I smiled faintly. "Alright. I won't fight them for it." Hearing this, Mother let out a long breath of relief. The next second, my voice turned cold. "Then I won't fight for the responsibility of supporting you in your old age either."

Heart has no other option to make except to ask for help from her manager. Kailangan ng kanyang ama na maoperahan sa puso sa halagang limandaang libong piso. Bilang panganay na anak ay sa kanyang mga balikat nakaatang ang bigat ng responsibilidad na iyon, na kahit ikabaliw niya ay kailangan niyang magawan ng paraan. Ilang linggo siyang magiging parausan ng lalaking hindi niya kilala, sa halagang two hundred fifty thousand pesos, dahil siya ay virgin. That was the offer of an unknown filthy man. Take it or leave it. Magpapagamit siya habang siya ay tulog para hindi siya magkaroon ng pagkakataon na makilala ang lalaking pagbebentahan niya ng sarili. Dahil sa sobrang kagipitan ay pumayag siya kaagad para sa amang nasa bingit ng kamatayan. Wala na siyang pagkakataon na alamin pa ang pagkatao ng lalaking makakatalik niya at aari sa kanya. She has to save her dying father, that's it! Kahit pa pinakapangit na nilalang sa mundo ang umangkin sa kanya ay papayag siya. Pero hindi pangit ang lalaki nang saglit niyang makita. He was so handsome and he's her boss, her billionaire boss, Deluxe Montesalvo, who was already married for three damn years!

Love Story in Heaven is a story about the love story of the God of Fire - León de Fuego, the god with the greatest power in heaven. He is someone who has the ability to create happiness and suffering for mankind, as well as destroy an entire nation. However, he is a very lonely person, living a boring life in heaven. One day, he happened to see goddesses modeling people with clay, he chose the cleanest and whitest clay to mold an extremely beautiful girl. Every day, the God of Fire - León de Fuego talks to the statue. The god of fire's close friend is the Thunder God Rey de Los Lobos, afraid that his friend would break the law of heaven, he threw the statue down to earth. The statue was shattered, but León de Fuego's tears saved it. A thousand years later, the statue became a goddess named Palomas Blancas. And their love story continues. During a feast in heaven, the Fire God León de Fuego met Palomas Blancas again. However, she pretends not to know him for fear that her love will affect both of them because heaven is absolutely devoid of love. That still couldn't stop his love for Palomas Blancas. He often covered Palomas Blancas when she arbitrarily visited the human world many times. Finally, the Fire God León de Fuego and the Goddess Palomas Blancas were also happy together by giving up all the privileges of the gods to become human.

I had been managing the company’s warehouse software for five years. Then the new manager came to me out of the blue, saying I didn’t understand frontline operations and that I was being fired. Looking at the five-thousand-dollar severance, I just nodded. “Fine.” He patted my shoulder after seeing me so compliant and started lecturing. “Young people should be out on the line, moving boxes! What’s the use of sitting in the office staring at data every day? “We’re a logistics company. Strength is what matters, not a tech geek like you!” I glanced at the high-end gaming computer in his office and obediently replied, “Yes, Mr. Fuller. Lesson received.” Maybe I had been too comfortable these past few years, and he thought I was dispensable. So, I handed over my ID badge and casually deleted all my personal login keys from my computer. Little did he know that the entire warehouse logistics, inventory management, and route planning software had been coded by me. I had let the company use it for free simply because the place was close to home and the work was easy. Now that I was gone, the system running on my personal cloud server was naturally inaccessible. Tens of thousands of items in the warehouse ground to a halt. As for any commercial software that could replace my system, a year’s subscription would cost exactly one thousand times my severance.

From the outside, her life looked like a storybook — young love, a growing family, and the hope of a future built on hard work and devotion. But behind closed doors, it was a different world — one filled with control, silence, and bruises too deep for anyone to see. Before she turned twenty-one, she had already survived a violent marriage, the constant threat of losing her children, and a battle between truth and lies that nearly destroyed her. Every time she tried to rebuild, life seemed to find a new way to break her — a false accusation that stole her children, a fire that turned into murder, and the death of the man who had helped her believe in love again. Echos of Ruin is the raw, unflinching story of a woman who refuses to stay broken. Through violence, betrayal, and unbearable loss, she finds the courage to keep moving — to fight for her truth even when no one will listen. It’s a story of motherhood and survival, of loving and losing, and of discovering that sometimes the only way to save yourself is to walk through the fire. Told with haunting honesty and sharp clarity, this memoir is not just about what was taken from her — it’s about what she refused to surrender: her spirit, her strength, and her voice. Because even when the world tried to silence her, she learned the most powerful truth of all — the human heart can shatter a thousand times and still find the strength to beat again.

BLURB: Reina Cole is an eighteen year old teenager and heiress of the Cole family. After her old life implodes due to an embezzlement scandal, she transfers to Gravemont Academy. An elite school where surnames is currency. Everyone here wears a mask, but none more dangerous than the boys who’ve trapped her between them. One of them being Adrian Vale. Heir to a tech empire, leader of the notorious House of M, and the kind of boy who can destroy a reputation with one sneeze. Adrian treats Gravemont like his chessboard. He should hate Reina, she defies him, resists him, ruins his control and yet he’s drawn to her like a dare he can’t stop taking. Julian Carter wants her too. Adrian’s charming, golden cousin. He’s everything Adrian isn’t. Patient, sardonic, protective. But Julian’s interest hides its own game, and his family ties are far darker than Reina knows. What happens when House of M, an elite powerful club run by Adrian; throws a challenge on both men? Whoever gets to have sex with Reina Moore first, owes the other five thousand dollars. Two princes. One fallen heiress. A maze of betrayals. Reina thought she’d come here to rebuild her life, keep her head down and graduate. Instead, she’s caught between two rival heirs. Hate me. Lust me. Love me. Welcome to Gravemont Academy

On my way home from the night shift, a patient who held a grudge against my husband, the hospital director, forced half a bottle of pesticide down my throat. Terrified, I called my husband, Jasper Flint, for help. He rushed over and saved me. I survived by sheer luck. But tragically, his first love, Ruby Gray, died in a car accident on her way home that same night. After Ruby's funeral, Jasper carried on as if nothing had happened. I thought he had finally let her go. But on New Year's Eve, he poisoned our food, tied up my parents and me, and took us hostage. Through tears, I begged him to spare my parents. He killed them right in front of me. Their blood splashed across my face. "If you hadn't been so jealous of Ruby, if you hadn't pretended to drink pesticide just to lure me away, she never would've driven off like that. She'd still be alive!" he snarled. "How does it feel to watch your parents die? When Ruby died, what I felt was a thousand times worse than this! Since you like drinking pesticides so much, go ahead. Drink up!" Jasper forced my mouth open and poured the poison down my throat. I died in agony beside my parents' bodies. And then I opened my eyes—only to find myself reborn alongside Jasper. This time, Jasper chose to save his first love.

I am the young lady of the vampire house of Kaelaris. Having reached marriageable age, I chose, from a stack of portraits, the eldest son of the human family Norefax. My family indulged my preference and arranged our engagement, awaiting the day of my wedding. I do not drink red wine, but for the sake of human ceremony, I secretly went out—without telling my family—to select a rare century-aged vintage, intending to prepare it for the engagement ritual. The woman beside me glanced at the cabinet I had pointed to and immediately instructed the sales associate, “That bottle looks quite fine. Let me have a look.” Without hesitation, the associate rudely brushed me aside and handed the bottle straight to her. A chill entered my gaze as I spoke, “There is an order to everything. I selected that bottle first. What you’re doing is hardly proper.” She looked me up and down with open disdain and let out a mocking laugh. “This bottle costs sixteen thousand six hundred dollars. Dressed like that, I doubt you even qualify to smell it.” “I am Ethan Norefax’s stepmother. In New York’s Upper East Side, so-called ‘rules’ have always been decided by the Norefax family.” What a coincidence—Ethan was precisely my fiancé, and the very reason I wanted to buy that bottle. I dialed his number at once and said evenly, “Your stepmother has taken the bottle of wine I reserved for our engagement. How do you intend to handle this?”

Ciril has always been a nobody. Found in the woods as a Cub by the most cruel Alpha and Luna, she was always treated like filth and she grew to encounter even worse. She was rejected by her first mate. And then by her second chance mate who happened to be the Prince of the Werewolf Reigns, Prince Landon. It was clear that nobody wanted to be with this weak orphaned girl who couldn’t even control her wolf. But then something happened… ** Once every thousand years, one the night of the Night of the Guirgon Full moon— the night where the moon shines brightest and is closest to the earth, the moon goddess descends and gives a part of her soul to a chosen Werewolf— one who is the bravest, strongest and purest of heart. They would serve as the Protector of the Werewolf race since the strength and spirit of a god would be in them. So Prince Landon, having been prophesied to be the chosen one since he checks out as the strongest and the bravest, begins to make preparations. After he rejects Ciril who he considers weak and useless, he goes on to mark a strong mate so that he could be stronger and ready to take the Moon goddess's soulful blessing. But then, on the day of the Transmigration Ceremony, the moon goddess's spirit descends but it doesn’t possess anybody in the room— including the Prince. The spirit leaves the Hall and travels through the Palace to a quiet and dark room where it blends into the body of someone nobody would have expected… ** Enemies will rise… Blood will be shed… Lessons will be learned… And in the end, battles will be won… but will it be enough for love to prevail? Find out…