One Step Too Far

While taking the high-speed train home, I came across a post online. “My brother-in-law is pushing thirty, but no wedding bells so far. Would it bother you if he came back to visit all the time?” The comments were all over the place. With the post blowing up, the poster started arguing with commenters. “It’s bad enough that he doesn’t start his own family, but he took one of my yogurts. I can’t stand him. “Geez. Does he know nothing about keeping boundaries? I’ve been dying to put him in his place. “I converted his room into my walk-in closet. Well, that should show him for staying here.” At that point, I stopped reading. Since I paid for the family home back then, one room would always be reserved for me. As I stepped off the train, my mother texted me. “I booked you a room at the hotel, Miles. “You might want to skip staying home this time.”

Katherine Harrison swore one night with Dorian would be nothing more than a reckless mistake. A secret to bury. But when her father drags her into a summer of forced family bonding with her new stepmother, Katherine finds herself under the same roof as the one man she can’t stand and can’t stop craving. Dorian lives to provoke her. Every smirk, every filthy word, every brush of his body against hers feels like a dare she’s seconds away from losing. He knows exactly how to get under her skin, and the line between hate and desire blurs more with every stolen glance. She tells herself to ignore him. To remember he’s off-limits. To keep her distance. But Dorian has other plans…plans that could expose their darkest secret and burn their world to the ground. This summer, Katherine will have to decide, fight the fire or let it consume her whole.

The day my sister slipped away from her engagement party, she was certain Marshall Patton could never truly fall in love with me. Confident in her belief, she left the country without hesitation, leaving me behind to hold her place and secure the title of Mrs. Patton in her stead. I didn't cry or make a fuss. Instead, I played the part of the obedient stand-in, giving everyone the courtesy of maintaining appearances while I quietly bided my time. Then, I poured every ounce of effort into making Marshall fall for me, bit by bit. And when my sister finally returned, I made sure to walk away.

I turned my head and looked at the Alpha, trying to ask him why Kristen was dead. Did they come late? Or, did they just rescue me in time? However, the Alpha’s face was cold as ice. I even felt that he hated me to the core in that instant. He had never looked at me that way. He was always kind to me as far as I could remember. “Lindsay Blackwood, Gamma Jen’s daughter, brutally murdered my sister, Kristen. Is there anything else you want to say before the judgment is served?”

At the annual company raffle, I had barely stepped onto the stage when my supervisor, Lily Smith, pressed a crumpled slip of paper into my palm. "A special reward for our top salesperson," she chirped. "Go ahead, open it. Let everyone see." Under the eager gaze of the crowd, I unfolded the note. Written in messy handwriting were the words: Clean the company toilets for three days. The room erupted in laughter. Lily folded her arms, cocked her head, and smirked at me. "Nice, right?" she said. "Everyone knows those sales of yours came from sleeping with old men. Dirty money. To keep things fair, the others get a break, and you pick up a little extra work. You don't have a problem with that, do you?" The laughter surged again, nearly lifting the roof. From the side of the room, my boyfriend, Seth Hoffman, the company's CEO, watched everything unfold. As usual, he said nothing in my defense. They all thought I would fall apart, cry, or make a scene. Instead, I simply gave a calm nod. The very next day, the company was hit with over three hundred property cancellations. Its cash flow collapsed overnight. That was when Lily and Seth rushed to me, demanding I go plead with the buyers. I smiled and said, "No thanks. I wouldn't want to help the company recover and end up with strong numbers again. That might make everyone even more uncomfortable."

There was only one week left until my marking ceremony with Alpha Mason Wright. And this time, he was asking to postpone it yet again, all because his puphood sweetheart, Eira Padmore, the she-wolf who once saved his life, had another episode. She was in tears, begging to go to Bhador to see the snow, just like every time before, claiming she wouldn't be able to breathe otherwise. The ceremony had already been pushed back three times. All the wolves of the north had been waiting for us to complete it. But I was done waiting, and so was the pup growing inside me. If Mason refused to mark me, then I'd walk away and build my own future. But what I couldn't understand was... Why was it that the moment I left, Mason went mad searching for me, and suddenly insisted on marking me after all?

After a bad break up with Brandon from high school, naging maingat na sa relasyon si Kelly. She's now thirty-one at malapit na siyang mawala sa kalendaryo. Her housekeeping agency is not doing well and with the lease being raised by the new building owner, she won't say no to a job even if that meant travelling to Quezon and cleaning an old house by herself. What she wasn't prepared for was meeting the owner and spending time with an old boyfriend day and night…

"Ms. Harris, you're already six months pregnant. The baby is fully formed... Are you sure you want to go through with the abortion? The hospital strongly advises against it." The doctor said hesitatingly. Phoebe Harris instinctively placed a hand over her swollen belly. Six months. The child had grown inside her, from something no bigger than a grain of rice to the size it was now. They say a mother and her child share an unspoken bond, and she could feel it too. If she weren't utterly broken inside, what mother would ever have the heart to give up her baby who was about to enter the world? After a silence that seemed to stretch on forever, Phoebe took a deep breath. Then, with a resolve that left no room for doubt, she said, "I'm sure."

Emillia Lucille has everything. Money, looks, fame, family. You name it, she has it. Her luxury is never ending, so is her career as a model in an international agency owned by her father. Many envy her. Many tried to be her, but they failed. She is invincible. With her cold heart and charming look, she became the person every man and woman wanted and hated at the same time. But everything changed when she received a photo from an anonymous sender. A photo she ought to keep until she dies. A photo that can harm not only her career but also herself. A photo that will reunite her with her lost self and its acquaintances. Will she be able to reconnect to the past and fight the situation she was fated to face? Or will she be forever locked from it? And just like it, will she remain so far away?

During a round of truth or dare, my boss, Victoria Hale, leaned in and kissed my husband, Ethan Graves. As just another junior employee, I didn’t even have the chance to call her out in front of everyone. Instead, I slipped away to the restroom and asked Ethan for a divorce. He brushed it off as if I were only sulking. "Don’t take it so seriously. She’s just had too much to drink. In the corporate world, you have to entertain, play along for the sake of the project." However, in the very next round, when Victoria was dared to kiss someone else, Ethan flipped the table in front of everyone. "Touch her, and see what happens."