Metal

Yenah Arabella a girl with a disability. Ipinanganak siyang bulag ngunit lumaki kasama ang matandang itinuring niya nang ina. Siya ang naging pasanin ng kaniyang abuwela dahil sa kaniyang kapansanan. Until her grandmother died. Mas naging mahirap na kay Yenah ang mabuhay. She's only seventeen. Her age isn't suitable for work. Pero sinikap niyang maghanap at sa kauna-unahang pagkakataon ay lumabas siya sa kaniyang comfort zone at nakipagsapalaran sa labas. Inayawan siya ng mga in-apply-an niya dahil sa kapansanan niya pero hindi ang mga Rojo. Dahil tinanggap siya ng mga ito. Hindi lingid sa kaalaman ni Yenah na napakarami nang umalis na katulong sa bahay na iyon. Ang lalaking nakakulong sa basement ng mansyon ng mga Rojo na pinagsisilbihan niya ang dahilan ng lahat. Ang nakakagulat ay sa lahat ng katulong na pumasok sa silid na iyon ay si Yenah ang hindi nakalabas.

A darkness is coming, and it’s the same darkness that took Amy’s husband. Now it wants her son. A merciless, bloodthirsty hitman who has a dark secret will target the former actress and MMA fighter. She will also have to deal with a bomb, a terrorist group called the Infantry-men, and an evil version of herself. Will a mother uncover the truth behind her husband’s disappearance? Will she die herself while trying to find out what happened to the love of her life? Amy needs to survive the night so she can protect her son while searching for her husband. The clock is ticking, and the mother will have to protect her only baby from a dark and malevolent force that seeks to annihilate everything in its path.

Layla is standing too close to him. She knows it the moment she stops moving, when the space between them shifts from accidental to deliberate. Luca doesn’t step back. He never does. He only looks down at her, dark eyes steady and unreadable, as if he’s been waiting to see whether she’d do exactly this. “You’re doing it again,” he says quietly. “Doing what?” Her voice gives her away—soft, breathless. “Standing where you shouldn’t.” His gaze drops briefly to her mouth. “And pretending you don’t know.” Heat coils low in her stomach. “Maybe I don’t care.” That gets his attention. Something sharp flickers across his expression—control tightening. He reaches out slowly, giving her time to pull away. She doesn’t. His fingers hook lightly under her chin, tilting her face up. The touch is barely there, but it steals her breath all the same. “Careful,” he murmurs. “That’s not something you say to men like me.” “Why?” she whispers. “Because you might misunderstand?” His thumb traces her jaw, deliberate. “No,” he says. “Because I won’t.” His hand stays there, steady, grounding. She feels the restraint in him now—the effort it takes not to close the distance completely. “There are lines I don’t cross lightly,” Luca says. “And once I do, Layla, I don’t step back.” She swallows. “Then why are you still here?” He leans in just enough that his breath ghosts her skin. “Because you haven’t asked me to.”

My insanely wealthy parents always tell me that they came from a poor background. As their children, my siblings and I mustn't waste our lives away on fun and games. They set up a trial for me by requesting that I submit an application in advance for all expenses that are over 50 cents. On the day I'm supposed to take my SATs, it's raining heavily outside. Since my exam venue is located 18 miles away from home, I decide to submit an application for a 100-dollar Uber fee. But my dad slaps me in return. "We used to scale over mountains just to get to school back in the day! Don't think you get to enjoy the perks of transportation just because we have money!" After that, he empties my pockets before kicking me out of the house. I end up all sprawled on the muddy ground while feeling raindrops pelting on me relentlessly. When I finally reach the exam venue on foot, I notice the news being played on the huge screen across the street. It turns out that my parents and William Gentry, my older brother, have spent ten million dollars on a popular band to celebrate my adopted sister, Selene Gentry, earning a passing grade on her math test. Apparently, passing her math test is her trial.

"Do you know what it feels like to know that all the decisions that you've ever taken in your life are masterminded by someone?" Eleanor Welsh is an intelligent, independent girl who always wanted her life to be in her control since the tragic fatal accident that claimed her parents' lives at twelve. Being an orphan at a such tender age, her father's best friend, Antonio Welsh, took her into his custody but sold her off to a contracted marriage later on to a heartless billionaire, Ethan Grayson, in dire need to save his business from bankruptcy. What happens when the mysteries of her parent's death unfold with her protective husband backing her up? Ethan walked into the dark room unhurriedly with both hands in the pockets of his pants. He was furious, yet he had his usually calm expression. He walked to the fireplace in the room which was the only source of light in the room and pulled out a hot metal. From the way the metal glowed in a dark-red crimson color, even a fool can tell that the metal had been in the fire for hours. Walking to where a man who was chained to the wall with blood all over his body was with the metal still in his hands, Ethan stood before the man, his eyes black from the lack of light in the room. "Mr. Grayson, please..." the man pleaded in almost a whisper "I didn't know she was your wife." Before anybody in the room could blink, the hot metal was placed on the man's face. The man screamed in pain as hot tears fell from his eyes, before fainting. "Take him to his boss as my gift. Anyone that touches my property, I will burn him in hell." Max nodded.

I received an order to feed someone's dogs at home. But when I opened the door, what greeted me wasn't a hungry pet—it was the campus belle herself. She stuck out her tongue, a glint of metal from her tongue piercing catching the light, and said, "I'm starving…"

Ean's face twisted with anger as he grabbed me by the arm, dragging me toward the old, rusted freezer in the corner of the warehouse. "You're going to feel what Helen felt," he spat. "Maybe that'll teach you not to mess with her." I struggled against him, panic rising in my chest. "Ean, this is insane! It was an accident! Let me explain—" He wasn’t listening. He shoved me inside the freezing metal box and slammed the door shut. The echo of the lock clicking into place made my heart pound in my ears. I banged on the door with my fists. "Ean, please! You can’t do this!" I screamed, but the sound of his footsteps grew fainter as he walked away. He left me with nothing but a single bowl of water, like I was some kind of prisoner. I slumped against the cold metal, shivering. The temperature plummeted almost instantly. The hum of the freezer kicked in, and I realized too late—it wasn’t broken like he thought. It was working, and I was trapped. My body shook uncontrollably as the cold seeped into my bones. I screamed for help until my throat was raw, clawing at the walls in desperation. My bloody handprints smeared across the icy surface, a silent plea for mercy that no one would hear. Seven days passed. When Ean finally returned, the look on his face was one of smug satisfaction. He had expected me to beg, to apologize. But when they pried open the freezer, all they found was my frozen body, stiff and silent, my suffering long over.

"Wider, Millie. Yes, that's it." I lay weakly on the examination table, my hands unconsciously gripping the sheets. The voice behind me was low and restrained, but it made my ears burn. This examination position was too embarrassing. My buttocks were forced to arch high like some kind of submissive gesture. "Doctor, I can't open any wider..." I bit my lower lip, my voice trembling deliberately. I could see my reflection in the metal bars of the examination table. My messy hair stuck to my flushed cheeks as my eyes shone with a watery, dreamy glow.

Calen was a benchwarmer on the university swim team, someone who never actually competed. The captain, Karl, was everything he wasn’t, a campus golden boy. Three records broken. A new girlfriend every other week. One night, Calen realized he’d left something behind and went back to the locker room. That was when he heard it. Ragged breathing. Strained, barely held back. And beneath it… the slow, awful sound of metal bending under pressure. He pushed the door open. Karl stood with his back to him. His bare muscles writhed beneath his skin, moving wrong, his spine standing out in sharp ridges. His fingers were dug deep into the steel locker, nails tearing through metal, leaving long, brutal gouges. The air was thick with the smell of blood… and something wild. Predatory. Karl snapped around. His eyes burned gold in the dark. Blood stained the corner of his mouth, and when he bared his teeth, the canines were far too long. Far too sharp. He ran. He barely took two steps before something crashed into him from behind, slamming him to the floor. Karl’s weight pinned him down, his body radiating heat… too hot, almost painful. A low voice brushed his ear. “You saw something you weren’t meant to see.” “I won’t say anything….” Karl lowered his head, his nose grazing his neck as he inhaled slowly, deeply. “…You smell fucking irresistible.”

This is wrong,” he stated the obvious. Eyes locked with mine like a metal to a piece of magnet. “Yet feels so right,” my response came out curt and sharp. That’s how much the tension has me caged. He came in contact with me, his breaths erratic and mine weren’t any different at the feel of his touch. Something has shifted and he it was no longer what it used to be between us. No psychic is needed to spell that out. But how? He’s Noel, the guy I’ve sworn to spend the rest of my life tormenting. And I’m Cheryl, the girl he’s promised to never let know peace.