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.

Dans un mariage arrangé dicté par les affaires familiales, Célestine découvre peu à peu des sentiments sincères pour Heath, son mari distant et mystérieux. Malgré son indifférence, elle s’accroche à leurs instants d’intimité et choisit de croire en lui, même quand les rumeurs de tromperies se multiplient. Mais le vernis se fissure brutalement lorsque sa meilleure amie lui apporte des preuves irréfutables : Heath mène une double vie. Entre amour aveugle et doute déchirant, Célestine voit son univers commencer à vaciller. La vérité éclate d’une manière brutale : surprise en plein flagrant délit, Heath avoue qu’il ne l’a jamais aimée et réclame le divorce. Brisée, Célestine retourne chez son père et tente de recoller les morceaux de sa vie, portée par l’amitié indéfectible de Kate. Un voyage à Hawaï devient alors le point de départ d’une nouvelle page : elle y rencontre Paul, un homme attentionné qui lui redonne confiance et espoir. Lentement, elle se reconstruit, jusqu’à envisager un avenir radieux auprès de lui, loin des fantômes de son passé. Mais le destin n’en a pas fini avec elle. Au moment où son bonheur semble enfin assuré, Heath réapparaît de façon spectaculaire, prêt à tout pour la reconquérir. Son retour inattendu plonge Célestine dans un tourbillon de confusion : entre un amour brisé, des blessures encore vives et un fiancé qui l’aime sincèrement, elle se retrouve prisonnière d’un triangle dangereux. Le passé va-t-il reprendre ses droits, ou choisira-t-elle de se tourner définitivement vers l’avenir ?

Les parents de mon mari ont été piqués par un frelon inconnu et ont été envoyés d'urgence à l'hôpital. Je suis allée à l'institut d'entomologie pour demander à mon mari, le directeur, d'aider les médecins à établir un diagnostic. Mais il a appelé les agents de sécurité pour me bloquer à l'entrée. « Je ne traite pas les affaires après le travail. La mère d'Isabelle est malade, je dois aller m'occuper d'elle. » Je voulais lui montrer l'avis de danger critique, mais il me l'a arraché et déchiré. « Beaucoup de gens meurent tous les jours. Tes parents sont morts, et alors ? » Après la mort de mes beaux-parents, j'ai porté plainte contre Isabelle qui avait volontairement fait tomber le nid de frelons. Mon mari, disparu depuis quelques jours, est soudainement apparu au banc des experts et a falsifié un avis professionnel pour innocenter Isabelle. Quand j'ai décidé de partir à l'étranger, mon mari s'est mis en colère : « Tes parents sont morts parce qu'ils étaient faibles, en quoi cela me concerne ? J'ai travaillé toute la journée, j'ai pas le droit de me reposer ? » « Tu veux même entraîner Isabelle avec toi ? Ta famille est brisée et tu veux détruire celle des autres ? Quelle cruauté ! » « Des gens comme toi méritent de perdre leurs parents ! » En regardant son visage plein d'hypocrisie et d'accusations inversées, j'ai soudainement compris. En fait, il ne savait pas encore qu'il était devenu orphelin.

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.

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?

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.

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.

Christiana Haven attends the Moon Calling of her pack’s future Alpha with curiosity and a gossipy hope of witnessing destiny unfold—for someone else. She expects to leave knowing the name of the next Luna. Instead, fate names her. Before the Moon Goddess, the shaman, and the entire Celestial Moon pack, Christy’s wolf hears the Moon's call and claims Alpha Alec as her mate. Tradition demands he answer in return. He doesn’t. Alec’s public rejection brands Christy as delusional, turning her life in the pack into a quiet ritual of humiliation. Choosing survival over shame, she leaves and finds peace in the human town of Oslow, where love comes not from fate, but from choice, in the form of Rowan Hale. But mate bonds do not forgive defiance. When Alec’s bond awakens at last, fierce and incomplete, it drags him back into Christy’s life, demanding resolution. Only this time, the choice is hers.