On My Own Pretending He's Beside Me

I had cancer. And Carl—my boyfriend of seven years—ditched me at the hospital to play fake boyfriend for his so-called best friend, just so she could dodge her parents' marriage pressure. When the results came in, I broke down. Clutching the report, I sobbed as I called him. "Carl, I... I..." My voice cracked. I didn't even know how to say it. I thought he'd comfort me. Instead, his voice came sharp through the phone. "Can you not? Mia's just a friend. What's so wrong about me helping her?—do you have to be so dramatic? I already promised to marry you this month. What more do you want?"

I spend a decade as the woman behind Corey Larson. I help him save his company from the brink of bankruptcy and turn it into a public-listed company. He's on the cusp of success, and I'm about to propose to him. That's when he brings his childhood sweetheart into the picture to take my place. He thanks me for my decade of hard work. Then, he tells me I'm no longer a good fit for the company as it's about to embark on a new journey. I stare at him. I've loved him for ten years and given him my everything, but he brushes me off with a bank card. My blood turns to ice. The decade I've spent with him has ultimately gone down the drain. He doesn't seem to realize the consequences, though. Once I quit and leave, his company will cease to exist… just like my love for him.

For five years, I was married to the heir of the Romano family, Italy's biggest crime family. Every night, he'd hold me and whisper, "Just give me an heir, and I'll give him the entire Romano empire." But I never got pregnant, and the Don's disappointment in me grew with every passing month. Until I found out my husband had been secretly swapping my folic acid for birth control pills. I was still reeling from the fury when I saw a post from his ex-girlfriend: an ultrasound photo. Her caption was sweet and smug: “Ten weeks along. Vincent said he can’t wait to meet the baby.” Seeing the flood of congratulations, my mind was made up. I found the contact info for my ex-boyfriend—the one who’d spent the last five years trying to get me back. I sent him a single text. 【Give me one month. Then I’m coming with you.】

She ran away from the mafia families because she wanted nothing to do with them, but fate had other plans for her. A mafia lord named Antonio Valencia has requested that she be delivered to him in exchange for not killing her family. But Amari wants nothing to do with the mafia. Can she avoid Antonio and still save her family? Or will she bring about their deaths?

Do you believe in werewolves? Because I don’t. At least, I didn’t until the night I saved one. I was ten years old, foolish enough to protect a stranger too handsome to die. I didn’t know he was a werewolf… or an alpha. That night, he smirked and made me promise: “When you grow up, you’ll be my wife. And little girl, promises can’t be broken.” Fifteen years later, I graduate and receive a job invitation I never applied for assistant to Malaki, the most powerful man in the city. Everyone fears him. OilTech may be his company, but the truth is darker. Behind the empire hides a mafia boss. Behind the mafia boss hides… a werewolf. The same werewolf my family has hunted for centuries. The same alpha whose pack my father destroyed. Now Malaki wants revenge. And he’s come for me his bride, his possession, his pet. How do you escape a 1000-year-old werewolf who swore you were his?

I vowed to transfer schools with my childhood friend when he claimed he was being bullied. But the day before we were to finalize the transfer, he backed out. His friend teased him. "Man, you faked being a punching bag just to get rid of Alice Wiley? That's cold. You two have been thick as thieves since forever. Are you really cool with her going to a new school alone?" Shane Page brushed it off. "It's just another high school across town. Not a big deal. I'm tired of her always being up my ass. This works out perfectly." I stood frozen outside the door for a long time. Finally, I turned and walked away. On the transfer form, I crossed out Oatheport High and filled in the international academy my parents had been pushing for. Everyone seemed to forget that Shane and I were never equals.

I told Charlie my biggest secret—I was the long-lost daughter of the powerful Moore family in Dreslane. He swore he'd help me reunite with them. But the night before I met them, the Moore family made a grand declaration—they'd already found their missing daughter. A ceremony was set. I rushed there, heart pounding, only to see Charlie standing beside his childhood friend, Raine. She was being introduced as the Moore heiress. And somehow, she had the exact same birthmark as me. Before I could do anything, Charlie locked me in a restroom. "It's just a name," he said. "You still have me. So why does this matter? Raine's parents died saving me—she never had a real family. For my sake, can't you just let her have this?" Then, to erase any doubt, to make sure Raine could live as me without fear—Charlie took a knife and carved the birthmark off my body. The shock. The pain. I lost my three-month-old unborn baby that night. And as I lay there, blood soaking through my clothes, I finally gave up.

I dated my lawyer boyfriend for five years. He canceled our wedding. Fifty-two times. First time? His intern messed up some paperwork. He ditched me at the beach to fix it. I waited all day. Alone. Second time, we were mid-ceremony when he bolted. Heard that intern was getting heat from another lawyer and left me to face the guests and their stares. After that, every time we tried again, there was always some "emergency" with her. Always. I finally hit my limit. I was done. Packed up and broke it off. But the day I left Ainsley? He totally lost it trying to find me.

Si Annie ay isang 16 years old girl nang makilala niya ang isa sa mga VIP client ng company ng kanyang Papa. Na siyang binabantayan naman ng kanyang Kuyang si Edmon. Bagamat hindi naging maganda ang simula nang kanilang pagkikita ay nakadama parin siya ng kakaiba para sa binata. Sa hindi nila inaasahang pangyayari ay natagpuan si Annie sa silid mismo ni Dave sa mismong hotel kung saan ginanap ang kanyang seventeenth birthday. At dahil doon ay kapwa sila natali sa isang kasunduang magdudugtong pala sa kanilang mga puso at buhay. Ano na kaya ang mangyayari sa kanilang dalawa? Matutuhan kaya nilang aminin ang mga damdaming nakatago sa kanilang mga puso? Magawa kayang ibigin at mahalin ni Annie si Dave kahit na ito ay mas matanda sa kanya ng labing anim na taon? Maamin naman kaya ni Dave ang tunay niyang damdamin para sa dalagang noon pa pala niya minamahal?

Fiona had been nothing but a prude in the office, her wild and happening days left far behind for her to feed herself and her sister. But one night to loosen up and have some fun leads to her doing the unthinkable, sleeping with her scary and enigmatic boss. And now suddenly, he is obsessed with her.