Silent Battles

Sa taong 2030, sa lungsod ng Maynila, magtatagpo ang dalawang taong galing sa magkaibang mundo. Elaine Santos—isang simpleng babae mula sa isang maralitang pamilya, determinadong gawin ang lahat para mailigtas ang kanyang kapatid na may malubhang karamdaman. Nang mawalan ng pag-asa at pagkakakitaan, mapipilitan siyang tanggapin ang isang alok na magbabago sa kanyang kapalaran. Aidan Velasquez—isang batang negosyante at bilyonaryong kilala sa kanyang lamig, determinasyon, at pusong sarado sa pagmamahal. Sa mata ng publiko, siya ay perpekto. Ngunit sa loob, siya'y wasak—binuo ng pagkabigo, at nilason ng isang nakaraang hindi niya matahimik. Ang kanilang landas ay magtatagpo sa pamamagitan ng isang kasunduan—isang isang-taong kasal kapalit ng tulong pinansyal para sa kapatid ni Elaine. Sa simula, malinaw ang mga hangganan: walang damdamin, walang komplikasyon, isang kontrata lang. Pero sa bawat araw ng pagiging "asawa" ni Aidan, mararamdaman ni Elaine ang paglamlam ng kanyang mga pader. Unti-unti, binubuksan niya ang pintuan ng kanyang puso—hindi lang kay Aidan kundi sa lahat ng taong nakapaligid dito. At si Aidan, sa kabila ng kanyang malamig na maskara, ay masusubok harapin ang katotohanan ng kanyang nakaraan—lalung-lalo na ang sakit na iniwan ni Selene Navarro, ang babaeng minsan niyang minahal. Habang tumatagal, mas lumalalim ang komplikasyon. Lilitaw ang mga lihim. Mabubunyag ang mga sugat. At masusubok ang tibay ng damdamin sa gitna ng mga kasinungalingan, takot, at responsibilidad. Sa huli, ang tanong: Ang pag-ibig ba ay kailangang ikontrata—o ito'y malayang nararamdaman sa tamang panahon?

On the day of my coming-of-age ceremony, all three of my fiancés showed up with the worst reports from their family-run businesses. My father had declared that I would marry the one who could bring the greatest benefit to our family. However, all three of them had already fallen for a penniless scholarship girl named Amelia Jones, and none of them wanted me. In my previous life, I kept them close, mentored them, and poured my resources into helping them rise. By the time they had each become powerful men in my family, they repaid me by framing my father, getting him arrested, and making him age more than 10 years overnight. He was dragged to prison. Me? They hired a crew of street thugs to brutalize me, leaving me to die while my private photos spread across the internet. As life slipped away, I heard their sneering voices: "Did you really think we ever liked you? Everything we did was for Amelia." "If you hadn't chained us to your side, we'd have married her long ago, we'd have a house full of kids by now!" "You and your father ruined her future. She couldn't afford college because of you. She had no choice but to jump!" Then I opened my eyes: reborn on the very day of my coming-of-age ceremony. I pulled my father aside, looked him in the eye, and said, "I'm an adult now. Throw them out. Strip them of every business and every asset we gave them." "I'm not choosing any of them. I chose Bruce Sullivan, the Don of the Sullivan family."

Bianca Calysta, seorang desainer grafis muda, harus menghadapi kenyataan pahit setelah sebuah kecelakaan tragis merenggut segalanya dari hidupnya, termasuk kemampuannya untuk berjalan. Di tengah keterpurukannya, ia bertemu Keiran Araska, seorang pria misterius dengan masa lalu kelam dan sifat posesif yang tak terkendali. Keiran, yang semula dikenal sebagai Keiran Vale, hidup dalam bayang-bayang dunia gelap, namun pertemuannya dengan Bianca secara perlahan mengubah dirinya, mendorongnya untuk meninggalkan identitas lamanya demi masa depan yang lebih baik bersama Bianca. Perjalanan mereka penuh liku. Dari perjuangan Bianca untuk bisa berjalan kembali, hingga adaptasi Keiran dengan kehidupan baru yang "normal" sebagai pebisnis. Sifat protektif Keiran sering kali berbenturan dengan keinginan Bianca untuk mandiri. Namun, setiap konflik justru semakin memperkuat ikatan mereka, membuktikan bahwa cinta bisa tumbuh dari trauma.

Karina Harper gadis kesepian yang enggan memiliki hubungan romantis dengan orang lain. Dia harus mendatangi acara keluarga, yang tidak mungkin di datangi sendiri. Bertemu dengan Evan Reed secara tidak sengaja membuat Karina merasa penuh. Namun, apakah Evan yang akan menjadi belahan hati Karina? Siapa yang tau.

Elijah Morris has been fooling around for four out of the five years we've been married. And from the very first month, he openly betrays me. Meanwhile, I spend my time warding people off with expensive contracts, one after another. Eventually, all that's left between us is constant fighting. One day, his younger stepsister, Abigail Wright, returns. And just like that, he finally settles down. That's when the system tells me that I can finally go home. For the next five days, I no longer ask about his schedule. I don't care if he is with Abigail, nor do I care if she is pregnant with his child. I even move out of the master bedroom myself, listening to them going at it all night. The fifth day after Abigail's return is our wedding anniversary. Elijah bursts into the room, tears up our marriage certificate in front of me, and smashes my most treasured vase into pieces. He grips my throat tightly and growls, "Why did you put mango in Abby's cake? She's allergic, and she almost died! How could you be so cruel?" For the first time, I don't argue with him. Instead, I go along with his accusations. "So what?" I then pick up a shard from the broken vase on the floor under his disbelieving gaze. Then, I draw it across my artery. Just like that, I end my life in this world.

She was born into wealth, envied by many, and betrayed by the one she trusted most. Given a second chance, she returns to the past with one goal: rewrite everything. But amidst the secrets, shifting alliances, and silent battles, she never expected the cold, unreadable boy—the one who always stayed in the background—to be the person who would quietly, steadily turn her world upside down. Not with grand gestures, but with glances, silence, and the kind of love that waits… until she finally sees it.

Isang dalagang ina si Loisa Sanchez kahit mahirap ay kinakaya niya ang lahat para maalagaan ng mabuti ang kanyang nag-iisang masakiting anak na si Loyd at maibigay din dito ang kung anumang makakapagpasaya sa bata. Mabuti na lang at nariyan ang kanyang matalik na kaibigan na laging nakasuporta sa kanya. She chose to be independent until she met Steve Monteclaro, the arrogant CEO na naging boss niya, paano kaya sila magkakasundo kung parati siya nitong sinasabunan at pinagbubuntunan ng galit?

Everyone in the Titanus region would have heard the older generation tell them this—during sky burials, the vultures wouldn't eat the corpses of people who'd committed heinous crimes. My husband is the sky burial practitioner who buries me. The vultures circle my corpse in the air above the burial site, but they don't prey on me. My husband frowns at the sight. "It looks like this person must have committed crimes when alive. They deserve this." Suddenly, I remembered him pointing at me, his eyes ablaze with flames of rage as he shouted, "Nancy wouldn't have lost her baby if not for you! Someone like you doesn't even deserve to get a sky burial!" It looks like his words are coming true. But later, he falls to his knees before my grave and weeps. He begs me to forgive him.

Eidolon Avenue: Where the secretly guilty go to die. One building. Five floors. Five doors per floor. Twenty-five nightmares feeding the hunger lurking between the bricks and waiting beneath the boards. The sequel to Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast (“a great read...powerful and jarring” - Cemetery Dance) returns to the voracious Eidolon as it savors The Second Feast. A narcoleptic man in apartment 2A battles a vengeful past determined to rob him of everything as he runs from the barbaric disaster of a delusional love. A woman in 2B, reinventing herself to please a callous boyfriend, discovers the horrors that wait in the shadows of her self-renovation. The man in 2C, a teacher at the nearby Catholic girl’s school, collapses beneath the brutal consequences of his lecherous desires. An older woman in 2D, after decades dedicated to the church, is cornered at last by the grisly carnage beating at the hollow center of her faith. And a college student in 2E, hungry to escape an ignored life of invisible anonymity, finds herself captured between the pages of a ravenous book. All thrown into their own private hell as every cruel choice, every drop of spilled blood, every silent, complicit moment of cowardice is remembered, resurrected and relived to feed the ancient evil that lives on Eidolon Avenue. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

Eidolon Avenue: Where the secretly guilty go to die. One building. Five floors. Five doors per floor. Twenty-five nightmares feeding the hunger lurking between the bricks and waiting beneath the boards. The sequel to Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast (“a great read...powerful and jarring” - Cemetery Dance) returns to the voracious Eidolon as it savors The Second Feast. A narcoleptic man in apartment 2A battles a vengeful past determined to rob him of everything as he runs from the barbaric disaster of a delusional love. A woman in 2B, reinventing herself to please a callous boyfriend, discovers the horrors that wait in the shadows of her self-renovation. The man in 2C, a teacher at the nearby Catholic girl’s school, collapses beneath the brutal consequences of his lecherous desires. An older woman in 2D, after decades dedicated to the church, is cornered at last by the grisly carnage beating at the hollow center of her faith. And a college student in 2E, hungry to escape an ignored life of invisible anonymity, finds herself captured between the pages of a ravenous book. All thrown into their own private hell as every cruel choice, every drop of spilled blood, every silent, complicit moment of cowardice is remembered, resurrected and relived to feed the ancient evil that lives on Eidolon Avenue. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing