If I Locked Away

I loved Jason Lacroix for six years, but I never told him. I was his adopted sister. We weren’t related. I was also his assistant, responsible for everything in his life. I did not know who exposed my feelings toward him in public. I could never forget the icy glares in his eyes. “Madeline, you should know your place.” He thought I was mentally unstable. He listened to Camila Fisher, his first love, and sent me to a mental asylum. After I was discharged, he regretted his decision.

Lucian Alastair, an actor by passion and successful in both looks and talent. He had inherited his father's Italian traits by looks and brain. A tragic past made himself distant from his family and the only way to gain them back is to take up the CEO position in his father's billion dollar empire despite him not being interested. And to marry a stranger. Especially when he knows all the females are Gold Diggers....**********Adelia Wentworth had just completed her degree in Business Administration and joined her dad's firm as a trainee. She is shocked to see the firm is currently facing problems and one possible way to solve the problem is getting the contract renewed with Alastair Enterprise. Even though her parents say that everything is alright, she knows it is not the case and decided to solve the problem by dealing with the new CEO Lucian Alastair. Adelia knows that she cannot get Lucian Alastair's appointment and decides to meet him with an element of Surprise. Little she know that the surprise is on her and that too a life changing one...

Stephen's beloved Phoebe fell into a coma. To everyone, I became the villain—accused of harming her out of unrequited love for Stephen. Mute, I had no way to defend myself before Stephen locked me away in the basement. He said I would only be freed when Phoebe woke up. Broken and hopeless, I succumbed to fear and starvation, eventually developing amnesia. Day by day, my memories began to slip away. Yet, Stephen, tears in his eyes, begged me not to forget him. But all I wanted was to leave it all behind and keep moving forward.

When my husband Joshua dragged his student Linda Moore into our apartment, I didn't even blink—I gave up the bed. Last time, it'd been pouring when he showed up with her in the middle of the night. Told me to crash on the floor with my daughter Mia and gave Linda the bed like it was nothing. I lost it. Fought with him, snapped at her. She bolted, slipped into a ditch, and supposedly drowned. Joshua said nothing. Then, one night, with the storm going wild outside, he pried open a manhole and dumped me and Mia in like trash. "Linda's my mentor's daughter. She's dead—how am I supposed to face him? You two can apologize yourselves." We didn't even get to scream before that freezing, disgusting water swallowed us whole. Turns out, Linda faked the whole thing. Just a twisted joke to punish me. Joshua moved her in right after, like nothing happened. Now, thunder cracked again as the door opened—and there he was, Linda right behind him.

Cinta memang butuh pengorbanan, tetapi menjadikan keyakinan agama sebagai bentuk pengorbanan cinta, apakah bisa dibenarkan? Inilah sepenggal kisah Chanyeon dan Anna yang harus menemukan jawaban itu dengan nuraninya.

Saziana Libera is the only daughter of her multi-millionaire parents. Spoiled brat at playgirl. Hindi lang sa mga mamahaling materyal na bagay hayok si Saziana, pati sa mga lalaki. Ngunit ang ugali niyang ito ang magnanakaw ng kaniyang kalayaan. Ipapakasal siya ng kaniyang ama sa isang bilyonaryo na si Amancio Dellano bilang kaniyang parusa. Hindi nakawala si Saziana sa pagbabago ng kaniyang buhay. Halos isa siyang preso sa loob ng mansion ni Amancio. Dahil labag sa kaniya na ikasal sa lalaking bilyonaryo, magagawa kaya niyang tumakas para maging malaya? O hahayaan niya na lang na makulong doon sa mansion na sa una ay tinuring niyang impyerno ngunit naging langit kalunan?

The seventh time Claire Fisher bailed on our marriage license appointment, I finally cut her out of my life—for good. From then on, if she was at a party, I wasn't. When she was scheduled to perform at our college's anniversary celebration, I made sure to leave early. The moment my company announced a collaboration with hers, I resigned without a second thought. Even on Christmas Eve, when she showed up at my parents' house with gifts, I slipped out with a half-hearted excuse about "visiting a friend." I blocked her number. Deleted her from my contacts. Burned every bridge and salted the earth behind me. No calls. No texts. No social media. I didn't reach out. She couldn't reach me. Simple as that. For the better part of my life, I was hopelessly in love with her—waiting on her, caring for her, putting her first in every way that mattered. I gave her all of me without ever holding back. But after the seventh time she left me sitting alone at the City Hall, something inside me broke. I was done. If that meant spending the rest of my life alone, so be it. Better that than sitting in an empty apartment, listening to the silence, holding on to hope for someone who never planned to show up.

I used to be the one and only girl spoiled by my family. But everything changed on my 18th birthday, when my father adopted a she-wolf orphan named Sophia from the Werewolf Charity House. My elder brother, Alex, started to love her more and began to look down on me. My mate, John, who had grown up with me, liked her and ignored me. Even my father said that Sophia, an orphan, was ten thousand times better than his own birth daughter. It was my graduation day from Werewolf University. But instead of celebrating with me, they broke their promise because of Sophia.The 101st time. I counted. And it hurt worse than all the hundred before. I couldn't help crying out, "Am I really part of this family?" My father looked at Sophia—whose eyes turned red because of my words—with pity. Then he slapped me across the face. "You're still fighting for affection? I wish I had never given birth to you," he shouted. Alex snapped at me too. "You make me sick. I'm ashamed to have a sister like you. Get out of this den!" I didn't say a word. I simply packed up my things and left in silence. After I left, the den fell into a strange quiet. They took Sophia to the South Pole to see penguins, as if nothing had happened. No one contacted me or showed concern, because they assumed I would eventually come back—just like before. They never planned to do anything for me. They never had. But this time, they didn't know I was leaving for real. I called my mother, who lived in another pack far away, and told her I'd finally agreed to go live with her. Because this time, the family… Was no longer a place I needed.

After her father had left them, Sofia Bryl dela Merced strives to be a good daughter to pay-off her mother's sacrifice in raising her alone. At dahil sa trauma ng ginawang panloloko ng kanyang ama sa kanyang ina, she build invisible walls to guard her heart from breaking — again. Ngunit sadyang mapaglaro ang tadhana dahil natagpuan niya na lamang ang sariling nahuhulog sa isang binatang halos isumpa na niya hanggang sa kadulu-duluhan ng mundo dahil sa sobrang yabang at antipatiko — si Cherro Clark Geronimo. By just looking at those ocean blue eyes, she knew she was in trouble.

Bos galak itu tiba-tiba mendekatiku. Dan dengan tidak tahu malunya melamarku di depan banyak karyawan lainnya dan yang lebih parahnya, calon tunanganku juga menyaksikan adegan lamaran itu. “Bos, saya tahu saya bersalah karena sudah menampar Anda. Tolong pecat saya saja dan jangan membalas dendam dengan cara seperti ini!” Bukannya memecat Hanum, Bosnya malah semakin mendekatinya. Berbagai cara Abian lakukan untuk bisa dekat denga Hanum. Tapi penolakan adalah hasil yang selalu dia dapat. Hingga Hanum merasa lelah dengan kelakuan Abian. “Menyingkirlah, Bos!" BOOK COVER by @my_dalart (saya sendiri)