The Gilded Years A Novel

After my eight-year-old twin sister was kidnapped, my dad became the person who wished for my death more than anyone else in the world. He would always say, "Zachary is an ungrateful brat! A good-for-nothing!" So, when the news of my disappearance reached the school, my dad leads everyone in cheers. He even spreads word of my misdeeds everywhere. "Zachary stole a poor student's tuition fees and even made a false police report accusing the teacher of hitting him!" "That's right! He even helped traffickers kidnap children—his own sister was almost sold by him! I hope he dies soon!" Five years later, my memories are extracted and projected onto a large display screen. And yet my dad, who hates me to the core and wishes for my death, falls to his knees and begs for my forgiveness the moment he learns of my death.

On the day we're supposed to register our marriage, my girlfriend Jenny Sutton has me removed from the city hall. She walks in with her childhood sweetheart, Ronald Walsh. She looks at me without a flicker of guilt and says, "Ronald's kid needs his legal status sorted out. Once we divorce, I'll marry you." Everyone assumes I'll wait. I'm the devoted fool who's already waited seven years, so one more month seems trivial. That night, I went along with my family's plan and left the country for a marriage of convenience. I cut myself cleanly out of Jenny's life. Three years later, I return to the country with my wife, Ellie Olsen, who's a CEO, to pay respects at her family's graves. A last-minute issue pulls her away, and she asks the local branch to send someone to pick me up. I didn't expect Jenny, not after three years. "You have dragged this out long enough. Come back. Ronald's kid will be starting kindergarten soon. You can handle the school runs."

Si Jacintha Quijano o mas kilala bilang Jaqui ay kagaya ng milyon milyong tao sa mundo na naghahanap ng oportunidad para makaangat sa buhay. Kasabay no’n, hinahanap din niya ang dahilan para patuloy na mabuhay. She was about to take her own life when she met a man who she didn’t realize would change her life forever. Isang eskandalo ang kinasangkutan ni Jaqui at ng binata na ang pangalan ay Amigo Imperial na isa palang pulitiko. Nang dahil sa eskandalo ay nagkita silang muli ng binata at naging magkaibigan. Nang dahil kay Amigo ay nagbago ang pananaw ni Jaqui sa buhay. Natutunan niya na bigyang halaga ang buhay niya. Jaqui started to see the bright side of life. Higit sa lahat, natutunan niyang magmahal ng walang kapalit kahit pa ang ibig sabihin niyon ay palayain ang lalaking minamahal niya at hayaan itong gawin ang magpapasaya dito.

Her life is a mess. Her father died from a car accident and her mother went away with another man. She was left in her exploitative and abusive relatives, her aunt and cousin. She is very poor and carries the world. They looked at her like a rag not until she was rescued by the forty-five years old Zillionaire. But little did she know, a rollercoaster twist of a life is waiting for her after she was rescued.

I was never a novel person. Honestly? I couldn’t care less about them. That is, until “Three Hearts, One Love”... the reverse harem novel that took over the world… shoved itself into my life. Everywhere I turned: malls, newsfeeds, radios, TVs… Even the old lady at the bus stop was raving about it. Out of pure annoyance… and a little curiosity… I bought a copy, planning to skim it just enough to say it was overrated. Big mistake. Huge. One minute I was rolling my eyes at the melodrama, the next I woke up inside the story — not as the beloved heroine, of course. No, fate made me Luna Graves: the pathetic and miserable, jealous best friend doomed to crash and burn spectacularly by the end of the novel. With no way out, I figured I'd play my part, die dramatically, and call it a day. But then something weird happened. Scenes shifted. Strangers walked onto the page. And the swoon-worthy male leads? They stopped chasing the heroine... and started chasing me. Me. The villain. This wasn’t in the script... and I was definitely not ready.

On the day the gynecologist confirmed that I was pregnant, my husband, Austin Jones, pushed me into the operating room to donate blood to save his first love. Feeling frail after the blood transfusion, I almost fainted in front of Austin. However, he pushed me away and went to take care of his first love. Furthermore, he hung up on all my phone calls and stayed with his first love all night on the day I miscarried. Time after time, I was met with disappointment. When I finally decided that I had enough of his mistreatment and no longer wanted to love him, he panicked and begged me to give him another chance.

“Jayden! For heaven’s sake, we can’t make love. I’m way above your age!!” “We both know we want this,” he whispered against my earlobes, his fingers crawling under my skin. He doesn't want to take no for an answer. “You’ve been my secret crush right from when I met you, up until now.” ——— I was supposed to marry the man I’d loved since I was a child. But one brutal truth destroyed everything and I walked away from the altar — humiliated, broken, and alone. That night, my world fell apart again. But when I opened my eyes in the hospital, the first thing I saw was Jayden Sterlings. A twenty-five-year-old. Intelligent. Insufferably arrogant and far too young for me. Yet— somehow, he’s dangerously charming for my mental health. He offered me protection when I needed it most. “A secret marriage with no emotions and no strings attached. Just my own safety.” But living under the same roof with Jayden is dangerous in a different way. The kind that tempts you to forget every rule you’d sworn you’d follow. His touch burns through every wall I’ve built around myself. His voice makes my heart race too fast. And the way he looks at me makes me completely forget my own name. But when a terrifying secret about Jayden comes to the surface, I'm left with a difficult choice. Walking away from everything again… Or falling for the man I was never supposed to want.

After being in love with Dylan for seven years, I planned to propose to him at his birthday party. But then I overheard him speaking to his friend in Italian: "You like Lydia? I'll give her to you. I'm tired of her anyway. Sarah is better—she's a dancer, young and sexy." He thought I couldn’t understand, but he didn’t know that I had learned Italian for him. I threw away the ring I had designed for him, tore apart the wedding suit I had sewn and left. Our friends were all speculating how long it would take before I came back. Dylan sneered with disdain, "She’s just an orphan with no family. Where could she go without me? Three days at most." But to his surprise, I never returned and found a new home.

Have you ever been inlove with your best friend and never found the courage to say the word and voice out what's stuffing you in your chest? this is a love story of a girl name Zoe Marcus a nineteen years of girl who found herself loving her childhood best friend Arabella Anderson but was unable to say the one word that will make her accept her love. She watch her date Rowan, a guy they grew up with. no matter how much she wanted to confess her feelings, she couldn't not after seeing how happy Arabella wad with him. But it so much happened that Rowan never loved Arabella, but Zoe. Will Arabella accept Zoe after finding out about her true feeling for her? What will happen when Rowan becomes so obsessed over Zoe and will be willing to do anything to get her? read to find out.

To the outside world, Xavier Sullivan and I are a loving couple. In truth, my father sold me to him to repay the debt he owes the Sullivan family. When the five-year contract expires, Xavier's parents want me to extend it. They threaten me and tell me I'm heading for certain death if I refuse. I have no choice but to fake my death and leave everything behind, taking only the child in my belly with me.