The Final Play

Quando eu estava sendo despedaçada viva, usei minhas últimas forças para ligar para o meu irmão. No instante em que minha consciência quase se apagava, ele atendeu o telefone, mas sua voz estava cheia de impaciência: — De novo? O que foi agora? — Mano… me salva… Antes que eu terminasse a frase, ele me interrompeu friamente: — Você arranja problema todo dia? No fim do mês é a festa de formatura da Marina. Se você não aparecer, eu mesmo te mato! E desligou sem hesitar. A dor me consumiu até eu fechar os olhos para sempre. As lágrimas ainda escorriam pelo canto do meu rosto. Mano, você não precisa me matar. Eu já estou morta.

Pitong taon na silang kasal, ngunit laging malamig ang pakikitungo ni Eduardo, Monteverde kay Luna Santos. Ngunit si Luna ay palagi paring nakangiti, dahil sa mahal na mahal niya ito. Naniniwala rin siya na darating ang araw, mapapainit niya ang puso nito. Ngunit ang kanyang inaantay na pag-ibig ng lalaki ay napunta sa ibang babae, at ang kanyang pakikitungo sa babaeng ito ay mabuti. Nanatili pa rin siyang determinado sa kanilang kasal. Hanggang sa kaarawan niya, lumipad siya ng libo-libong milya patungo sa ibang bansa para makasama ang lalaki at ang kanyang anak na babae, ngunit dinala nito ang kanilang anak, para samahan ang babaeng iyon, iniwan siyang mag-isa sa walang laman na silid. Tuluyan ng sumuko si Luna matapos niyang makita na ang kanyang anak na babae ay gustong palitan siya ng ibang babae bilang ina. Hindi na siya nag dam-dam pa, nag-iwan siya ng sulat sa sobre para sa kasunduan ng diborsyo, isinuko niya ang kustodiya, at umalis ng may estilo. Mula noon, hindi na niya muli itong pinansin at hinihintay na mailabas ang sertipiko ng diborsyo. Itinuring niya ang kanyang pag-alis sa kanyang pamilya bilang isang pagkakataon para bumalik sa kanyang karera. Siya, na dating hinahamak ng lahat, ay madaling makakuha ng kayamanan na umaabot sa daan-daang bilyon. Ngunit sa kanyang mahabang paghihintay, ay ang hindi lamang pagdating ng sertipiko ng diborsyo, kundi ang lalaking ayaw mang-uwi noon ay mas madalas ng umuwi ngayon, at mas lalong nagiging malapit ito sa kanya. Nang malaman niyang gusto na niyang makipaghiwalay, ang karaniwang tahimik at malamig na lalaki ay sinunggaban siya at sinabi, “Diborsyo? Imposible.”

“Who the hell changed the screw tolerance by 0.007 mm?” “I did. Is there a problem?” Kimmy Zabel, our department’s “good-luck charm” and full-time slacktivist, did not even look up from her compact mirror, where she was carefully applying lip gloss. “It just didn’t look right, so I tweaked it. Do you really have to yell at me?” The production line had been running on the wrong spec for twenty-four hours. I hit the emergency stop. Keeping my voice steady took some effort. “These parts no longer meet export standards. If we miss tomorrow’s shipment, even a month of overtime wouldn’t cover the penalties.” “It’s one tiny number. You’re being so dramatic!” Kimmy snapped her makeup case shut. “Anyway, it’s New Year’s Eve. I’ve got a date. I’m not staying here to suffer with you people.” Before she even reached the door, I gestured to the staff to pull the shutters down. “For precision components like these, one number translates into a million-dollar loss. You can take these defective units and explain them to the regulators.”

She is his most faithful secretary. He is her billionaire playboy boss. Just a night mutual mix-up and later, everything begins to go wrong with their mutual co-existence they have maintained thus far. She has been insisting on marriage since he took away her virginity but can one night of intimacy and the sense of familiarity and comfortability that comes with years of working together be enough to build a good marriage? And how long can such a marriage last when one party is willing to make the best of the situation but the other is indifferent?

Without Kaelen's knowledge, I had his little plaything sent out of North America. That same night, he cast a blood-vine curse on my parents, banishing them to the wilds—a wasteland prowled by rogues. He was going to trade my parents' lives for the whereabouts of his plaything. Kaelen pushed a communication crystal in front of me. Inside it, my parents were ensnared by blood-red vines, the thorns digging deep into their flesh. Drops of dark crimson blood fell, one by one, onto the barren earth. A countdown timer pulsed in stark red digits on their chests. 23:59:59 23:59:58 He sat across from me, a black suit tailored to perfection molded to his lean, powerful frame. His long fingers tapped a light, steady rhythm on the solid wood table, as if he were waiting for a trivial business deal to close. "Estelle, you have twenty-four hours." His voice was low and calm, laced with a venomous tenderness. "Tell me, where did you send Cassandra?"

Maya life is turned upside down when she suddenly has to leave her pack and move in with her mother and her new husband. Life is hell, but it' worst because of her new stepbrother that is everything she thinks is wrong with a hot boy that drives all the girls crazy. As her sixteenth birthday reaches, she starts to have strange feelings for her hot stepbrother, and he also start becoming very protective of her. They want to deny it, but they have become attracted to each other, even though their relationship will get them in trouble in the pack. How long will they be able to keep their attraction a secret? what happens when her father comes back to cause trouble for her mother and the new pack?

In year 1988, karma comes for the young haciendero billionaire Vinz Nicolo Alcantara when he meets the probinsyana girl Samantha Batchar in Hacienda Valencia de Alcantara, Umingan, Pangasinan. Nicolo became a young father at the age of twenty-two. Not just one. Not just two—but five. Five eldest children from five women he spent the night with. He thought he was happy with that life, but everything changed when the women he had one-night stands with ran away from him, leaving the children with him. A few months passed when he met Margarita—the woman who would change his perspective on life and change his personality. The woman who would give him bad karma.

Vincenzo Costa and I have been in love with each other for eight years. Everyone knows that the heir of the Costa family loves me more than life itself. In order to marry me—an orphan—Vincenzo has knelt outside Costa Estate for three days and three nights. At the same time, he has received 99 whips from his father, the Don of the Costa family, which almost kills him. In the end, Don Edmondo Costa finally agrees to let Vincenzo marry me. But the catch is, Vincenzo must date Sofia Camorra, the Principessa of the Camorra family, and have an heir with her. So, Vincenzo tells me to wait for him for a little longer. I end up waiting for a very long time while watching him traveling to Sofia's villa time and again. At first, Vincenzo still takes three showers and scrubs his skin so much that it turns red. He tells me that once Sofia has given birth to the child, which allows him to fulfill the promise he has made to the Costa family, he'll whisk me far away from the violence and spend the rest of his life with me. Alas, everything has changed. Vincenzo no longer showers frequently. He constantly smells like Sofia's perfume now. He doesn't inform in advance whenever he goes on dates with Sofia. To make things worse, there's nothing but affection in his eyes whenever he looks at her. When Sofia burns up from a fever during her pregnancy, Vincenzo doesn't leave her side at all. She pretends to be gracious by telling him about how understanding she is about his situation. Because of that, Vincenzo wastes no time in admonishing me for being spoiled and pampered. Through the gap in the ward door, I can hear how close and intimate Vincenzo and Sofia are. At the same time, I notice the flash of provocation in Sofia's eyes. Vincenzo has made me wait year after year, not knowing that my biological parents have already found me. They want me to go home with them so that they can give me a real home. That's why this time, I won't be waiting for Vincenzo anymore.

Monique** I was raised to hate everything Radek stands for. He's the Moonvale Alpha's son, our sworn enemy. Arrogant, smug, always too calm. But somehow, he's always there around me. I was forced to believe it was just fate playing a trick on me, except there was one thing I didn't see coming. Radek** Winning Monique over was never supposed to be easy. Her fire, her hatred, the walls we were forced to build against each other. Everyone knew the daughter of the Ravenmont alpha was a no go area but I couldn't afford to stay away from the one my wolf calls. I knew what I was up against and I had a plan. I just wasn't sure what would come next. **** Two different lives made to live against each other, until the tides change. Less games and more plans, one show to turn it all around.

A marriage of half a decade that Emily Winchester had poured her heart and soul into crumbled in a night after catching her sister and husband lustfully entangled. Her soon-to-be ex releases her nudes to the world, framing her with infidelity. She leaves the marriage with a little more than the clothes on her back, and desperately trying to pay for her grandmother's hospital bills, is aligned with New York's notorious playboy billionaire, Sean Woods, as he's looking for a contract wife. What happens when a single night encounter is all that is needed for the most eligible bachelor in the country to have his sights set on her? Will she just turn into one of his many conquests or be the one woman who claims his heart alone?