When I'm Gone

In a sweeping tale of love lost and fate’s quiet redemption, When Love Lies follows the deeply moving, decades spanning journey of Josephine and Kenneth, two young lovers torn apart by betrayal, secrets, and the weight of family expectations.

On Christmas Eve, my father got the man I had secretly loved for ten years drunk and sent him to my bed. When I woke up the next morning, Roy pulled away from my attempt at a good-morning kiss. His voice was cold and distant as he agreed to marry me. After the wedding, Roy wasted no time submitting a transfer request. He took an overseas post and left. He did not return for five years. I gave birth to our daughter, Eve, alone and waited for him to come back home. When I heard that Roy had finally applied to return to a domestic position, I was overjoyed. I spent days preparing, imagining our first reunion as husband and wife. But even when the clock struck midnight, he still hadn't come home. Our daughter, ever so thoughtful, placed her most treasured possession—a photograph of Roy—into my hands. "Don't cry, Mommy," she said softly. "Look, Daddy's right here." I tried to convince myself that his absence was due to a delayed flight. But later that night, while watching the news, I saw him. He was on a crowded city street, holding a young girl in his arms. Beside him stood a woman, her smile soft and warm. Facing the camera, Roy said, "Being with them is my greatest wish." At that moment, something inside me broke. I wrote up the divorce papers, packed our things, and planned to take Eve to change her identity. I didn't want him anymore. The day before we left, a man I had never met came to see me. He was Roy's father. "You could call me Dad," he said, a faint smile playing on his lips. "But I'd rather you call me Ryan." I told him everything about the past five years—how I had waited, how I had hoped. When I finished, he laughed softly, an unusual warmth in his voice. "If it was just business," he said, "perhaps your father should have tied a bow around me and sent me to your bed instead. But I hold my liquor well—if I ever end up wrapped in a bow, you can be sure it's by choice."

Madeleine Júlia Cordeiro lives in a quiet, plant-filled apartment in the rougher part of Chicago. She’s twenty-one, broke, vegan, and studying animal science at the local community college. She cries over rescue dogs, talks to her plants like they’re her best friends, and thinks violence is something that only happens in action movies. Her life is calm, predictable, and painfully ordinary. Until he bleeds all over her floor. Adriano Capone is violence in human form—shot, hunted, and very much the kind of man her sweet little heart should run from. He’s everything she hates: violent, dangerous, cruel in the way only a mafia prince can be. He’s everything she’s sworn to avoid but he's hurt and Maddie has a soft spot for lost things. So, she stitches him up. And he stitches himself into her life. He's the devil incarnate. She's never even slapped someone. But fate doesn't care about perfect matches... It threw fire into the hands of a flower girl.

Bella, she is strong, beautiful a goddess in the flesh but she has a past that she cannot easily forget. Forcing herself into an alcove, she decides to move on to leave the past where it belongs. She tried moving on but trauma still haunts her, following her like a shadow something she cannot easily shake off and having him as a constant reminder does not make life easier. She strived to build her own fortress, a safe haven away from all of the chaos. Leonardo is a man of his time, mysterious, handsome and successful, being an heir to the vast Mendoza Empire, all eyes are on him. He too harbors a dark past of his own, one he wishes to run from. He tries to move on and he thinks he has realization dawns on him telling him he is back at the starting point. All she has ever wanted was true freedom but when she got it, it was painfully taken away. He had the freedom he wanted but it led him astray. After so many years they find each other. She is forced but he does it willingly, an alliance set for them to get married. Will they fall in love along with their walls or with their love get destroyed along with their fortresses?

Ariana Lubove and Spencer Ulrich have been married for three years. She doesn't hope to win his heart, but she thinks that she's at least special to him. To her devastation, he finds himself a mistress and treats her like she's his treasure. Ariana finally faces reality and gets a divorce. She turns to leave without another look back. Five years later, she shows up with a little boy by her side. Spencer looks at the boy and snorts. "You're a little bastard." The boy gives him an equally icy look. "And you're an old bastard." Five years is enough for Spencer to turn a new leaf and start with a clean slate. He's confident he can win Ariana's heart again. But why the hell does he have rivals in love all over the world?

Si Natasha Marie Garcia ay napasok sa isang sitwasyon na hindi niya akalain na mangyayari sa kanya. Inakala niyang pupunta siya sa Silvestre Mansion para maging isang kasambahay. Ngunit nagkaroon ng setup si Don Juanito. Gusto niyang mapalapit si Natasha sa kanyang apo, kaya gumawa siya ng paraan para magkalapit sila at magpakasal. Hindi sana papayag si Natasha, pero wala siyang nagawa kundi magpakasal. Inakala niyang ikakasal lang siya sa isang mayaman, arogante, at nakakainis na lalaki. But she didn't know she was getting married to the leader of the most powerful hidden mafia in the country. Mapaglaro ang tadhana; habang tumatagal ang araw na kasama niya ang kanyang asawa, lalong nahuhulog ang kanyang loob dito. Hanggang isang araw, natuklasan ni Natasha ang lihim ng kanyang asawa. Behind his sweet and loving smile was a dangerous and powerful mafia boss. Sa una, natakot siya, pero nangibabaw ang pagmamahal niya sa kanyang asawa, kaya tinanggap niya ito ng buong puso sa kabila ng madilim nitong buhay. Masaya sila, ngunit dumating ang isang trahedya na nagbago ng kanilang masayang pagsasama. Namatay ang ina ni Natasha sa isang ambush at sinisi niya si Giovanni. She left her husband without a word because of the anger she felt. Binalot ng galit si Natasha, at nagdesisyon siyang maghiganti. Paano mapapatawad ni Natasha ang kanyang asawa kung ang sugat ng nakaraan ay masyadong malalim? Mananaig ba ang kanyang pagmamahal sa lalaking una niyang minahal? Maibabalik pa kaya ang kanilang masayang relasyon? Ano ang gagawin ni Giovanni para mabawi ang babaeng mahal niya? Babalik ba si Natasha sa kanya? O ang kanyang minamahal na asawa ay magiging kanyang kaaway?

In this life, I told my father I didn't want to marry Leon Williams. I'd rather marry his half-brother instead. My father was shocked—after all, everyone in town knew I had been obsessed with Leon for ten whole years. But in my previous life, I only discovered the truth as I lay dying in childbirth: the baby I carried wasn't even mine. It belonged to Leon and the struggling medical student he'd been secretly funding. The cruelest part? They conceived it using the drug I had developed. After my death, the three of them lived happily ever after as one perfect little family. So in this life, I'm willingly stepping aside for them. I'm curious to see how their love affair works out without my drug. What I never expected was Leon's reaction when he saw his brother's ring on my finger—he completely lost it.

This is a story about a girl who wakes up being beaten by a person she didn't know. But then she realized something when there was a blurred memory popping in her head. She remembers her body was used to being beaten by the girl who is whipping her right now, and that girl is her sister. She used to call her a princess without power, and the whole town used to bully her. Until one day, everything changed when a guy suddenly showed up and helped her escape from those bastards who were trying to pick a fight with her. But the thing is, she didn't know she existed to be bound with that guy. A guy who's full of fury, violent in his passion, an arrogant guy that she dispised the most and, at the same time, a gentleman that she needed the most right now. What do you think will happen? Would she fall in love with the guy she despised? Well, the answer is "I won't fall for your stupid arrangement! I won"t come to you, i reject yo---- But again, it looks like fate has another plan...

"Holy crap, you are so boring!" He pushed her against the wall, placing his hands on either side of her and staring into her eyes in frustration. He is shirtless and has flat abs touching her body, which is giving her goosebumps. "I don't know how to kiss." She looked at the man, pouting her lips. He scoffed at her boring reply. "Teach me how to kiss." She mumbled, licking her lips, and grabbed his attention. He looked down at her and stroked his hair with his fingers, pulling her close by her waist. "Stand on my toes." He smirked, sending chills down her spine. She climbed over, placing both feet on his toes. "Look into my eyes." He grabbed her chin and make her look into his eyes. She looked into his green-pricing eyes, rolling her fingers on his trimmed beard. "Concentrate on my lips." He synced, licking his lips. Her heart skipped a beat as he pressed her thin lips between his thumbs. And she moaned in response, rolling her eyes at his lips. "Seal your lips on mine and chew it up like an ice cream." He explained the first step, bending his head to seal her lips. "Aaaachuuuuu!!" She sneezed loudly before he sealed her lips. "ANGELINA." He yelled at the top of his lungs. "I’m sorry, hubby." Angelina closed her eyes, covering them with both hands. Angelina is a twenty-year-old college student with lots of goals in life, but she doesn't have parents to give her pocket money and support her financially. But one day, she married a billionaire and then her tragic life turned into a romantic one. Now the question is - how will Angelina satisfy her husband and his desires when she has only experienced struggles in her past life?

Demi Lockheart doesn't believe in love. Her whole life the one man she ever had contact with was her father. A man that treated her as if she was only a hinderance. Abused and feeling useless she would rather never fall in love. Scorned by love she doesn't give her heart to just one person. or any person truthfully. Shaped by her youth she grows up to be a in the entertainment industry, where she meets Porter. A man that was just enough to hide her wild ways, possibly taming her to be a respectable woman. Zaine was the only one that loved and accepted Demi as herself. By her side through it all. It hurt him when she left. He made decisions that weren't for the best, hindering his talent. Fast forward to her birthday party, surrounded by industry friends and her best friend, a gift that brings her past back to her present. Will the past finally win her heart? Will she go back to her wild ways and want it all? Or will she stick with the safe and unhappy path? Only time will tell. "How did it come to this? She looked in the mirror, seeing the grimace on her reflection. Her heart torn in pieces because of what happened. Victoria, her long-time friend came to pat her on the shoulders. There were no words that needed to be exchanged. The two of them had been friends since their elementary school days. They knew what the other was thinking without having to say it. Demi leaned her head against her shoulder staring at their reflection. A decision needed to be made. It had to be made but why was it so hard when all she really wanted to do was love and be loved in return."