The Gilded Years A Novel

Dalam kilasan sekejap, hubungan tujuh tahun Amel hancur. Di saat putus asa merajalela, Amel bertemu dengan Alex, seorang pria misterius yang mengubah segalanya dalam tujuh hari. Ketika Amel mulai yakin untuk memulai hubungan baru dengan Alex, Evan muncul dan memintanya kembali. Di antara memori lama yang hangat tentang tujuh tahun kisah cintanya dan janji baru yang menggoda, Amel harus memilih. Antara kenangan yang panjang dan momen yang baru, mana yang akan membawanya ke jalan kebahagiaan?

Nagsimula ang lahat nang mabankrupt ang kumpanya ng ama ni Hyacinth Liana Monteverde. Desperado siyang humingi ng tulong kay Damian Cruz, ang ruthless na bilyonaryo. Ang kondisyon ni Damian: Isang limang taong contract marriage, walang attachments, at kailangan niyang makipaghiwalay agad kay Jared, ang kaniyang kasintahan. Ginawa ni Liana ang mabigat na sakripisyo. Matapos ang masakit na breakup, pinirmahan niya ang kontrata, ipinagpalit ang pag-ibig para sa kapakanan ng kanilang kompanya. Sa laro ng kapangyarihan ni Damian, kailangan niyang magpanggap na Fiancée ni Mr. Damian Cruz, sa harap ng media at sa ina ni Damian. Para kay Liana, ito ay purong business; isang labanan para mag-survive. Ngunit habang tumatagal, ang kalkuladong lamig ni Damian at ang bigat ng kanilang kasunduan ay naglalagay sa kaniya sa alanganin. Maiiwasan ba nila ang emosyon sa loob ng limang taon, lalo na kung ang kanilang tadhana ay tila nagtutulak sa kanila na bumasag sa kanilang sariling deal?

I followed an account of a couple that was not very popular but was very sweet. The account recorded every detail of the account owner and her boyfriend. They would argue over a plate of pasta and then look at each other and smile, playfully calling the other person a child at heart. They would hug tightly under the starry sky on a mountain top and say that they wished time could stop at this moment. Although the account owner never showed her face, I was still touched by her captions. The account was updated again the day before I was getting married. [Ten years of love ends here. From now on, he's just her husband, and I'm just her best friend. This account will no longer be updated. I wish my best friend and her beloved man a happy ever after.] The photo showed my fiancé, Josh Clark, and me, taken from behind.

I manage to drag Jared Sheppard from death's door. Since then, I've accompanied him from his poorest times all the way to the current moment, when he's now worth tens of millions of dollars. On the day his company goes public, he gets engaged to another woman. "Gabrielle, she's different from you. She's an actual princess of the elite. I need to give her an official title, so I can't fool around with you anymore." I never bothered defending myself. It's time for this farce to end, anyway. After all, there's still a man waiting for me at home, who's been calling me his princess since I was a little girl.

Everyone in Ieplad knows Leopoldo Vece, the Don of the Vece family, loves guns but not women—until me. Ten years into our marriage, my adoptive father, Raffaello Conti, lies dying of kidney failure. Leopoldo launches a global hunt for a donor, sparing no expense to save him. He finds her—a young, fragile woman—and spends millions solving her every problem to ensure she is ready for the transplant. On the day of the surgery, she vanishes. I rush to her home in a panic, only to find my husband holding her gently in his arms, soothing her in a soft voice. "If you're afraid of the pain, don't donate then. I'll find another donor." "Is there time?" she asks quietly. "I heard Lucia's adoptive father is at death's door." Leopoldo brushes his hand over her hair, his voice indulgent. "I'll search the world again if I have to. You're still young; this burden isn't yours to carry." As my heart shatters, my phone rings. I answer numbly. The person on the other end of the line says, "Signora Conti, we regret to inform you that Raffaello Conti just passed away. We waited as long as we could for the donor, but his body gave out five minutes ago." I return to the hospital and handle the funeral arrangements alone. After that, I call Marianna D'Andrea, the Don's mother, and say, "I agree to divorce Leopoldo. Please help me disappear."

The day I found out I wasn't really an Adelson, Sharon—their real daughter—stormed in and stabbed me—over and over. Just like that, my shot at being a mom? Gone. Chuck Benetton, my fiancé, lost it. My parents swore they'd disown her. To "comfort" me, Chuck proposed on the spot. My parents handed me the severance letter—Sharon officially disowned—and told me to just focus on healing. Later, they said Sharon had run off and gotten trafficked in Nyamara, some hotspot for scams and lost souls. They said it served her right. And yeah... I believed them. Six years into the lie, I saw her—very much alive, baby bump and all, curled up against my husband like she owned him. "If I hadn't snapped back then, Yasmine never would've married you, " she said. "Thank God you and Mom and Dad backed me. Otherwise, that imposter would've landed me in jail. "She probably never guessed I've been right here, carrying your baby. Once I give birth, just fake an adoption. She can nanny our kid forever. "Thanks for everything, Chuck." She smiled like he was her hero. And he blushed. "Don't thank me. Marrying her was the only way to protect you. I'd do it all again." So yeah. The guy I thought loved me? He was always lying. My "parents"? They only cared about Sharon. If that's love, I want nothing to do with it.

In the seventh year of dating Lorenzo Townsend, he still didn't want to marry me. One day, I said to him, "Lorenzo, I'm getting married." He frowned slightly, not even sure if he heard me right. "The company is going public, and we're swamped. This is not the time to discuss such an insignificant topic," he said. I smiled calmly. Maybe to him, it seemed like I was pushing him to marry me. But the truth was, I was getting married, but not to him.

WARNING: THE STORY CONTAINS EXPLICIT SEXUAL SCENES. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. Senator Phoenix McIntyre is a respectable politician. Everyone thought that he's a perfect man with a crystal-clear reputation. But behind that perfection lies a dirty secret: he has his own personal whore who fulfills all his sexual fantasies. What can he do? Ever since he saw Brianna Wilson or Eve dancing seductively on stage, his whole body burned with intense desire, the kind of desire he never felt before. She haunted him in his dreams, and he would always wake up with a massive hard-on. That's when he decided to have her. Damn his reputation, he had to taste that sweet pussy. What will happen if his ultimate secret is exposed? What would happen to him if the whole world happened to take a glimpse of how nasty and dirty he is in bed?

"What the fuck—” I started. He looked up at me. His lips were wet, swollen. He licked them slowly, like he was savoring the taste. “Keep your hands where I left them,” he said. My jaw clenched. My knuckles went white against the bedsheets. I didn’t speak. I just watched him. He lowered his mouth again, slower this time. His tongue circled the tip, then slid down the side. I felt every second of it. Every inch. He paused halfway down and looked up at me again. “You like this too much.” My throat tightened. I didn’t answer. “Bet you’ve never let anyone make you beg.” *** Callum Kesington isn’t just a billionaire CEO. He doesn’t believe in love. He believes in control and power.But when his estranged brother resurfaces through a cryptic call, dragging him into a trail of files, threats, and old betrayals, everything he's built starts to crack. Remy Beckett, a rising star in the culinary world, is no strang to love but one man has him unraveled. A single dinner at Remy’s restaurant ignites an attraction that shakes Callum’s carefully guarded world. He’s never wanted a man before. Never craved the scrape of stubble against his skin or the heat of rough hands pinning him down. But Remy? He’s all Callum can think about. A shadowy attack leaves Remy bleeding in Callum’s arms, and suddenly, this isn’t about desire. It's about survival. Someone wants Remy dead, and Callum’s brother is at the center of it. Now, Callum must confront the ruthless empire he built, the family who betrayed him, and the truth he’s been denying.

For three years, we held a wedding in name only—my husband, Kit Rutgers, a pilot, canceled our marriage registration eighteen times. The first time, his female trainee, Katy Ferguson, had a test flight. I waited outside the county clerk’s office the whole day. The second time, he got a call from her mid-drive, made a sharp U-turn, and left me standing on the side of the road. After that, every time we planned to make it official, some crisis with Katy mysteriously arose. Eventually, I chose to walk away. But the moment I boarded a plane to Solara, he lost his mind—and chased me there.