Port Isabel Public Library

I took a shortcut through the alley and watched Dante Marchetti put a bullet in a man like it was nothing. He saw my face. That was the end of my normal life. Within an hour I was in the back of his car being driven to an estate I had never seen before with gates that locked from the outside and a wardrobe full of clothes in my exact size waiting like someone had known I was coming before I did. He told me I wasn't a prisoner but a guest. He said people who wanted to find me were considerably worse than him and that his walls were the only thing standing between me and a conversation I wouldn't survive. Maybe he was right. The problem is the longer I stayed the harder it became to remember which one was true. Because the man who caught me in that alley wasn't the only version of him. There was another one that nobody else seemed to get to see. The one who stood alone in his dead mother's library looking tired in a way that had nothing to do with sleep. The one who had my cat brought to the estate because he heard me crying through a closed door and didn't know what else to do about it. The one who almost smiled when I threw a glass at his head. That version of him was the one I couldn't stop thinking about. I came here as a witness. I stayed as something else entirely. Somewhere between the locked doors, the candlelit dinners and the secrets we started sharing in the dark I stopped wanting to leave. The question was whether a woman like me could survive loving a man like him. I was about to find out.

She had dreamt about being in his arms again for five years. But, now, seeing him, she wanted nothing to do with him ever again. ~~~~~~~~~~ Valerie, a devoted wife and mother, gets into a steamy affair with her brother-in-law while married to her abusive husband. While their affair went on, a mysterious character was hell bent on ruining their lives and exacting an almost a decade long revenge. What happens when Valerie's husband finds out about his wife and his brother? How'd the Carsons manage to hide this big scandal from the public? Being one of the most influential and secretive families in the world drew more enemies to them. How long will Valerie and Alan manage to keep their affair on the low? How long will it take for them to find out who this mysterious character is before they ruin their lives forever? Read to find out Rated 18+ and contains the use of foul language, violence, and abuse.

Kyle Bennett has everything: the family name, the inheritance, and the perfect reputation as the university’s Student Body President. But under the shadow of his controlling father and a persistent ex-girlfriend he can’t shake, Kyle is suffocating. To keep his image intact and the pressure at bay, he needs a distraction, someone to play the part of a devoted partner. Enter Finn Parker. A focused nursing student with a sharp tongue and a practical head on his shoulders, Finn isn't interested in the elite world of the "Golden Boy." But the tuition for his degree is piling up, and when Kyle offers a transactional contract to fake a relationship for a semester, the money is too good to pass up. The rules are simple: no feelings, no personal baggage, and absolutely no honesty. But as the lines between their scripted dates and their private moments start to blur, the "Perfect Bennett" begins to crack. When the lie finally explodes in a public scandal, Kyle is forced to choose between his father’s millions and the boy who saw through his mask.

A Gen Z employee named Sylvie Mercer has reported me to the Department of Labor by claiming that I've forced all employees to work on the year-end holidays. But the truth is, I've given the entire company a nine-day vacation just to celebrate the year-end holidays. Those who are willing to work overtime shifts will be paid three times their usual salaries and given an additional five-thousand-dollar bonus. Sylvie keeps crying on the internet about how all the employees, including her, are forced to trade their lives for money. Thanks to her, the entire Internet keeps bashing me. So, I decide to follow the public opinion by releasing an announcement. "In order to ensure all employees' health, the company's doors shall be locked during the year-end holidays. Do note that the electric supply will be cut off as well. No one is permitted entry into the company." As soon as the announcement is released, the employees who plan on earning extra money in order to pay off their mortgages all rush toward my office in alarm.

I've been with an award-winning actor for seven years. We've been secretly married for five of those seven years. For the sake of his career, I drink so much that I get a stomach perforation. I also allow others to trample over my pride and dignity. Yet he goes on lakeside dates with another woman and kisses her underneath the fireworks. He even has the nerve to tell me not to be unreasonable. Later, I get caught in a landslide when I'm on a business trip. I make one last call to him in fear. All I hear is him singing his lover a birthday song. I ask for a divorce after losing hope in him. That's when he suddenly begs me not to leave. He even announces our relationship to the world on the day he wins an award. Our seven-year relationship is finally public, but I don't want it anymore.

Nathan And I have been best friends until we graduated from the University. Every of Nathan's family knew I and Nathan, including his grandfather whose dying wish was that I and Nathan became couple. After the marriage, Nathan only saw me like a younger sister since he was older. In the eyes of the public, I and Nathan was married but to Nathan, I was a naive little girl who wasn't matured enough for marriage. He believes I had gotten married to him just to fulfill his grandfather's wish, unknown to him that I had fallen deeply for him. Nathan has a lover called Erica and due to the sister and brother relationship we have despite being married, he would invite his lover over as they spend time together, unknown to him about my jealousy but t until Nathan's male friend came into the picture. Or rather, his twin.

Rossezekiel Dela Vega was the oldest son of one of the former business tycoon families in Asia. At the age of 27, he had already made his name by being the game-changer of their empire, according to Forbes Magazine. Having the Dela Vega surname was not easy, but he made it with his own dedication and principle. As others fantasized about him by his beauty, wealth and whatsoever, he was head over heels for his longtime girlfriend, Farah Herrera, who's been teaching senior high school students. Unlike Rossezekiel, Farah lives as a simple yet amazing woman. Their relationship was not on public display, but the whole nation knows that Dela Vega's oldest son has already settled to marry his beloved girlfriend. However, what if your so-called perfect relationship faces a test of fate, where you encounter not just heartache but also a love that has lost its own identity? .  .  .  Could you still save it or free yourself from those traumatizing days and nights?

"What are you doing, Ms. Samantha?" Jack angrily said after seeing the employee chit-chatting with some random guys while the other girls are waiting for her service.  The surprised look was evident to the librarian when she sees her boss in front of them. She also stood up in her seat, and she gave a quick bow to her boss. But Jack ignored it. He walks in the direction of a librarian. "This is not an hour of flirting. I'm not paying you a lot of money only to flirt. But, if you like to seduce some guys. So, why don’t we make it intense for the men you’re flirting with? Hmm?" He smirks at his librarian, whose name is Samantha. "S-Sir…I-I'm sorry…I-I will never do…i-it…a-again…j-just please…s-spare my life." "Oh, sweetie, I'm not going to kill you. But, I'll help you to seduce a guy, you want?"The woman quickly shook her head many times because of fear. "N-no…no… si-sir please…no!" But she can't stop her boss from ripping her uniform. When Jack finished tearing off her upper and lower uniform, he even grinned demonically. "You're welcome, sweetie, don't cry. I'm just helping." Jack Krean Tomizara Miller is known as heartless and ruthless. He doesn't even care about people who beg him or asking him to forgive them for what they've done. He humiliated many employees.  So it isn't easy to get a new one on his property, even how significant the income is because they knew him as a demon. But a woman will give a try to apply as a new librarian. She's Linzi Mikaele Franzie.  What will be her fate after entering the famous library and meeting the Notorious Mafia King, Jack?

On the first day of every month, my mom will give me my allowance based on the number of times I had checked in with her last month. "You'll receive 20 dollars for greeting your parents once in the morning and once in the evening. But last month, you only hit ten days' worth of quota, so you can only receive 200 dollars. This also means your 300-dollar punctuality fee will be deducted as well. "After adding on 150 dollars for your basic necessities, you shall receive only 350 dollars for this month's allowance. Remember to write a reflection report on your lack of punctuality later. I'll only transfer you the money if your report is acceptable." I become so overwhelmed by anxiety that my voice starts trembling. "I was busy with my finals last month, Mom! I had to line up outside the library at 5:00 am every day just so I could secure myself a seat! That's why I couldn't call you in time!" In a choked-up tone, I plead to my mom, "I need 600 dollars for the train ticket all the way home during the holidays! 350 dollars really isn't enough for me! Mom, can you please—" But my mom cuts me off firmly, "The allowance system is something that I've specifically designed for you so that I can help you get rid of the bad habit of wanting to receive everything without putting in hard work! Why can't you just understand that I'm doing this for your own good?" After that, she ends the call mercilessly. Just as I'm filled with despair and helplessness, a blond appears before my eyes. He's willing to buy my train ticket for me, but in return, I need to leave with him.

When 300-pound beauty, Yna Samaniego, was married off to the country's most sought after bachelor, Nicholas Dela Vega, she already doubted his intentions from the very beginning. Not that their marriage was made public though. It was a compromise that Yna agreed to for the sake of her grandfather's happiness. To be secretly married to Nicholas was a blow to her pride. Nicholas was a mystery to her. She always knew there's something about him that she needed to find out. But while Yna knew from the start that love was never the reason why Nicky married her, it still broke her when she found out the real reason why he agreed to tie the knot with someone like her. It cut her in the soul. Devastated, she disappeared from his life without a trace. After two years, she came back being a totally different person. With a modelesque figure and a heart full of hatred, she walked to the stunned Nicholas and asked for a divorce.