What Was Books

After spending six months overseas expanding business, I had just closed a deal worth ten billion. Casually scrolling through the news, a headline made me stop dead in my tracks. [Shocking! Illegitimate Daughter Provokes Meyer Family Heiress, Teacher and Classmates Punish Her!] In the video, my daughter Maeve stood in the freezing snow wearing nothing but a tattered dress, her body covered in bruises. She was being forced to endure the cold, her little frame shivering uncontrollably. A female teacher poked at Maeve's head, ordering the entire class to call her a shameless illegitimate child. Maeve sobbed, insisting she wasn't, but all she got in return was crueler, more mocking laughter from everyone around her. Then a chubby little boy ran up and slapped her across the face. "Your mom's a mistress, and you're a filthy illegitimate child! You're both just gutter rats!" The teacher didn't stop him—she clapped her hands in approval. "That's right! The Meyer family heir isn't something just any nobody gets to pretend to be." "Besides, Mrs. Meyer picks up Clarisse every single day. Look at her—so elegant, clearly classy. And your homewrecker of a mother? Pathetic. She's not even in the same league." When I heard that last line, I slammed my laptop shut, shaking with rage. I turned to my assistant. "Book me the fastest private jet home. I want to see for myself exactly when Aaron, that worthless husband of mine, managed to father an illegitimate child."

Lumaki si Sue na si Benedict ang laging nasa paligid ang kaibigan ng kanyang ama na marunong umayos ng sirang pinto, tahimik sa mga handaan, at palaging handang umalalay. Para sa kanya, si Benedict ay “Uncle Ben,” isang pamilyar na presensya sa bawat yugto ng kanyang pagkabata. Ngunit nagbago ang lahat nang bumalik si Sue mula sa kolehiyo. Hindi na siya ang batang naaalala ni Benedict. Isa na siyang babaeng may sariling paninindigan, may dalang sugat mula sa nakaraang pag-ibig, at may paghahanap sa isang koneksyong tunay. Samantala, si Benedict ay nabubuhay sa tahimik na mga araw—may mga panghihinayang, mga salitang hindi nasabi, at mga relasyong hindi nagtagal. Sa kanilang muling pagkakasalubong, unti-unting nabubuo ang mga sandaling hindi nila inaasahan mga late-night na usapan sa kusina, tahimik na kape, at mga katahimikang masyadong mabigat para balewalain. Dito nagsisimulang mabuo ang damdaming pareho nilang tinatakasan. Nakikita ni Benedict ang mga bagay na hindi niya dapat makita. Si Sue naman ay natutong tingnan si Benedict hindi na bilang “uncle,” kundi bilang isang lalaking maaasahan at kakaiba sa lahat ng kanyang nakilala. Ngunit ang pagitan nila ay hindi lamang edad kundi ang tiwala ng ama ni Sue, ang dangal ng pamilya, at ang bigat ng mata ng lipunan. Habang may nanliligaw kay Sue na aprubado ng lahat at hinihikayat si Benedict sa isang “tamang” relasyon, lalo silang naipit sa linya na ni isa ay hindi kayang tawirin. Hanggang isang gabi, sumabog ang lahat ng pinipigil. Ipaglalaban ba nila ang nararamdaman o susundin ang sinasabi ng lipunan bawal ang kanilang pagmamahalan.

Mia got involved with a married man and even had a child with him. When his wife found out the first time he asked them to take a break as he was busy sorting things out with his wife. It wasn't long before he went back to her. The second time she found out about her and the baby she fainted. The day she got out of the hospital she went looking for Mia and in their fight, she ended up killing her.

My family is on the brink of bankruptcy, and I beg my fiancé to help us with emergency funding. He turns me down cold, then gets engaged to Nellie White without hesitation. Just when I'm out of options, my childhood friend shows up with an investment contract and a marriage proposal. I say yes without thinking twice. But even with his help, our company can't escape ruin. My father, unable to bear the blow, suffers a heart attack and dies. At the funeral, overwhelmed by grief, I faint. In my haze, I overhear a conversation between my childhood friend and his friend. "You've already crushed Talitha’s family. When are you going to take her uterus for Nellie?" "On the wedding day," he replies casually. "I'll stage an accident, then operate on her myself. Her uterus will be Nell's. I can't give Nell happiness in this life, so I'll give her a wedding gift. I hope it makes her happy." Turns out his so-called devotion was just so he could take my womb. Even his proposal to me was just a way to remove all obstacles for the woman he loved.

Calliope All my life my parents have sheltered me and now I find out not only am I a damn fairy, I have been promised to some psycho Warlock who thinks he's a God among women. DId he really think I would just drop to my knees right then and there in the damn dining room? Why does he have to be so damn hot....maybe once couldn't hurt, I can always leave tomorrow. I will show him who the God is here, he will be begging for me. Alexander Who the hell does she think she is? She should be so lucky to be my wife, like she is some prize. This whole arrangement is ridiculous, i refuse to marry some pompous stuck up princess... but I have to admit I wouldn't have a bad time with just a 5 minutes alone with her, no strings attatched, the things we could get up to....I'll have her begging me to marry her then ill be the one to cast her aside.

The doors of elite research institutions aren't open to the unknown. But Rick Allen pulled Beth out of nowhere. He poured everything into nurturing her talent and promised her the world. The Allen family's compromise was simple: the Chief Young Scientist had to be Summer Belden—someone from their own social circle. From that day on, the words Rick said to Beth most often were, "Just wait a little longer." He told her to wait when her groundbreaking paper was published under Summer's name in exchange for research funding. He told her to wait again when the research she'd perfected over three years was packaged as Summer's signature work, paving the way to major awards. "The bigger picture comes first," he said. "The next Nobel Prize—I'll make sure it's yours." But when the paper credited to Summer—though written by Beth—was exposed for fabricated data, everyone reached the same conclusion: Beth, as a core member of the project, had tampered with the data to steal the credit. Locked in a glass-walled archive room, Beth looked at Rick standing outside the door. His gaze was ice-cold, full of disappointment. "Why did you touch the data?" he said. "You've ruined everything I've built." She remembered how he once told her, "In this world, yours is the only talent I truly recognize." He had promised, "I'll make sure achievements with your name hang among the stars." Now he stood with the others, judging her. He looked at her the way people look at a ruthless, ambitious fraud. When she was finally released, Beth dug her nails into her palm until blood ran down. This time, she wouldn't wait any longer.

For seven years, I thought Declan was just an ordinary Beta. That was until I secretly traveled a thousand miles to his pack, wanting to surprise him. Only to find other werewolves calling him Alpha. And more importantly, he already had a Luna. The wolves around me started whispering. “Is that the Alpha’s secret lover?” “The nerve of her, showing up here… so shameless.” I wanted to argue, to tell them they had it all wrong. I was his real girlfriend. His Fated Mate. But then, a woman in a gorgeous dress walked over. The wolves bowed their heads respectfully. “Luna.” She was on the phone, her voice a sweet, playful pout. “The blessing ceremony for the heir is about to start, and the Elders are getting antsy… I know you’re busy, but this is our child. You have to be with me.” The man’s voice on the other end was deep and gentle, a voice I knew better than my own. “I know, my Luna.” Just a few nights ago, he had whispered loving words into my ear with that same gentle voice, his body moving powerfully inside mine, holding me so tight. It was my lover, Declan.

My father called me to his study to deliver an order. I, Victoria Castellano, was to take my illegitimate half-sister Isabella’s place, to marry the comatose heir of the rival Moretti family and secure a truce. I didn’t cry. I laid my kid gloves on his polished desk and made my three demands. Sever all ties. My mother’s entire legacy. And give my bodyguard, Nicholas, to Isabella. Everyone knew my obsession with him. I loved him until I overheard the truth. He was the hidden Rossi heir, undercover only to protect his precious Isabella. Every time he’d saved my life, he was just guarding his link to her. So I let him go. I won’t tell him I’m marrying someone else. And I’ll never tell him that three years ago, in Lake Tahoe’s freezing depths, the lips that breathed life back into a drowning man—the memory that haunts him—weren’t Isabella’s. They were mine.

When Lily Rosenfelt is eight months pregnant, Zeke Connolly brings home the woman he truly loves—Sophie Cruz, who's also eight months along. To give Sophie and the baby the recognition they deserve, he goes public with a statement saying that he and Lily are already divorced and that he'll be marrying Sophie soon. Thinking Lily is still blind, Zeke tricks her into signing the divorce papers. He even sleeps with Sophie in his own villa. What he doesn't know is that Lily has long regained her sight. When she and Sophie fall down the stairs together and Zeke, without a moment's hesitation, chooses Sophie, something in Lily breaks. She buries her love for him along with their child. It's not until she's truly gone that Zeke starts to panic.

One month before my wedding to my boyfriend, he announced he wanted to have a child with his "first love." I refused, but he brought it up every single day. Two weeks before the ceremony, I received a prenatal checkup report. That’s when I discovered his so-called "first love" was already nearly a month pregnant. It turned out he’d never intended to seek my consent at all. In that moment, years of affection evaporated like smoke. So, I canceled the wedding, destroyed every trace of our memories, and on what should have been our wedding day, I walked into a closed-off research lab. From then on, he meant nothing to me.