Because of a traumatic experience in Pablo's life eight years ago, he went into isolation and decided to cut all his connections from the people around him. But his call of duty betrayed him when he found an unconscious woman in the middle of the woods. Pablo took her and treated her wounds and later knew her name as Gwen. The woman's talkativeness brought a ray of sunshine in Pablo's gloomy life. Until he found himself falling for Gwen-in which he must not allow. Pablo is in hiding for reasons, but what if Gwen too?
"WE'RE here in front of St. Ignacio hospital where the former beauty queen turned actress Riza Andalio was brought after her housekeeper found her unconscious and almost lifeless inside her bathroom. According to some sources, this is the hospital where her rumored husband is currently working as a cardio-thoracic surgeon..."
"Doc, Dr. Zamora said that he'll perform the operation."
From the large TV screen hanging on his office's wall, Pablo turned to the resident anesthesiologist, who informed him about the sudden surgery assignment changes. "No," he refused in a stern voice. "I will perform the operation-"
"No, you will not do anything under my watch Pablo," a familiar voice told him in an authoritative tone. "Do you think the hospital will just allow you to do a major surgery in that condition?"
Pablo clenched his fist and looked at his colleague, "I should do it, right?" he asked in a surprisingly steady voice. "Of all the doctors here, I, as the cardio surgeon, should perform that operation!"
"No, Pablo. We've talked about this, and I will do the operation for Riza," Rico told him with finality in his voice. "And, please do not intervene in our operation-"
He grabbed Rico's collar and lifted him on his feet. "Riza is my wife, and I should save her! I will do the operation! I will do anything to save her life!"
Timmy, the anesthesiologist, pulled him away from Rico. "Dr. Alcaraz, calm down, please."
"How will I calm down if my wife is in the emergency room with an open chest cavity, but none of the doctors here could save her?!" Pablo pushed Rico away and swept everything inside his office. "Even I, a heart doctor, couldn't do anything for her because all of you are stopping me!"
"Pablo, you have to understand that it's in our protocol," Rico told him, but it didn't help him to calm down. "With your current state now, you can't handle an operation. Your emotion will just affect your performance. And, I know that you're aware of that, Pablo."
Pablo raked his fingers through his hair. Tears flowed from his eyes endlessly, and the pain inside his chest is almost unbearable. How could he be so useless? What's the use of his license if he couldn't even save the life of his wife?
"Tell me, Rico..." he said in a calmer tone. "What's the findings?" He went on his knees and lowered his head as if begging him to tell all the truth to him. "Tell me!"
"Your wife has..." Rico hesitated. When he looked up at him, the struggle that he saw in his face just added a burden to his chest. Still, he wanted to know everything. "Riza has a severe case of stable angina, Pablo."
Pablo felt as if he was hit in the chest with a large rock with what he heard. He can't breathe, and everything around him darkened. "S-stable angina...?"
Rico nodded. "It can be done through bypass surgery, but her coronary arteries have already developed atherosclerosis," he said and shook his head. "And, because plaques were all over the elastic linings of her heart's right and left ventricle, her case reached chronic total occlusion."
Pablo's brows furrowed. "H-how come that she developed such heart disease?" he asked him questioningly. "Riza doesn't smoke nor drink alcohol-"
"Maybe she's just hiding it from you, Pablo," Rico told him apologetically. "Dr. Zamora found out that her arteries have been completely obstructed for more than five months-"
"Five months?" he cut off in disbelief. "And, Riza is not telling me anything about it..." he plopped down on the carpeted floor of his clinic. "He hid her illness from me!"
"Pablo, let's hope for a miracle, Dr. Zamora, and I will do our best to save your wife," Rico assured him, but Pablo knew it better.
He knew that his wife's case is hopeless, and they will just watch her lose her heart rate. "Miracle?" he scoffed. "That's absurd!" He got up and went out of his clinic. Rico and Timmy tried to stop him, but he swept them away.
As soon as he went into the emergency room, thousands of reporters held their cameras at his face and asked him questions that even triggered the pain inside his chest.
"Dr. Alcaraz, is it true that you can't save your wife even if you're a prominent cardiothoracic doctor?" one reporter asked him shamelessly and insensitively. "Could you give us some updates on Riza Andalio's operation?"
Pablo doesn't know what to do or say. This is his wife's life: Always exposed in front of the cameras that did nothing but to humiliate them and worsen their already miserable lives.
"This is one of the reasons why we're not allowing you to come out of your office," Rico told him and helped him got out of the reporters' spotlight. "But what did you do? You just exposed yourself to them."
Pablo's knees weakened. He sat on the floor of the empty ward and broke down in tears. "I'm useless..."
"Don't say that to yourself, Pablo. You're a great doctor; you saved a hundred lives of patients with heart disease-"
"But I can't save my wife's life," he cut off and punched the tiled flooring. Blood from his knuckles stained the floor. The stinging pain that he felt on his hand is nothing compared to the pain that's slowly killing him inside his chest. "I'm useless!"
Rico stopped his hand before he could hit the floor again and broke his fingers. "Don't hurt your hand, Dr. Alcaraz. This is not the end of your life and journey as a doctor. Other lives need you."
"No..." he clenched his jaw. "If I couldn't save my wife, I shouldn't be a doctor."
BRANDY'S loud barks awakened Pablo from a nightmare. He sat up from his bed and wiped the trickle of sweats on his temple. He sighed. He dreamed about it again...
"What are you barking at, Brandy?" he asked his five-year-old Labrador guard dog. "Did you catch a chicken again?"
Brandy barked again and ran outside his room, telling him to follow. Pablo's brows furrowed, and he looked at the luminous digital clock in his living room: 11:00 PM.
He was about to go in the kitchen to drink when he heard a scream coming from a nearby woods, followed by his dog's continuous barking. "A woman?"
***
How far can you go to protect your daughter’s identity? Samantha Ivanov escaped the human trafficking syndicate after discovering that she was pregnant. Afraid that the boss would force her to abort her child, Samantha went into hiding and disguised. A couple of years after, Samantha thought that she and her daughter were finally free, but she was wrong. She was forced again to be under the spotlight of prostitution to save her daughter’s life. And, there she met Nikolai, the man she despised all her life for being the reason for her darkest pasts.
Casey never thought that in just a blink of an eye, everything around her would change. From being a nobody's girl, she's now the famous wife of the winery's CEO, Alexander Montefort. But the thing is, she doesn't know why, when, and how did it happen? She couldn't remember a single thing that she married him, and worse, they have a daughter?!
Laurie never thought she'd be a divorced woman at the age of twenty. She fell in love with Ken, a pastry chef in France, and married him in the same year. But, her life turned upside down when she caught him in bed with another woman. Laurie decided to go back to her hometown, fixed herself, and forgot about her ex-husband. She was at the peak of her career when Ken came again into her life, but not to win her back, but to make her regret leaving him five years ago.
In order to fulfill her grandfather's last wish, Stella entered into a hasty marriage with an ordinary man she had never met before. However, even after becoming husband and wife on paper, they each led separate lives, barely crossing paths. A year later, Stella returned to Seamarsh City, hoping to finally meet her mysterious husband. To her astonishment, he sent her a text message, unexpectedly pleading for a divorce without ever having met her in person. Gritting her teeth, Stella replied, "So be it. Let’s get a divorce!" Following that, Stella made a bold move and joined the Prosperity Group, where she became a public relations officer that worked directly for the company’s CEO, Matthew. The handsome and enigmatic CEO was already bound in matrimony, and was known to be unwaveringly devoted to his wife in private. Unbeknownst to Stella, her mysterious husband was actually her boss, in his alternate identity! Determined to focus on her career, Stella deliberately kept her distance from the CEO, although she couldn't help but notice his deliberate attempts to get close to her. As time went on, her elusive husband had a change of heart. He suddenly refused to proceed with the divorce. When would his alternate identity be uncovered? Amidst a tumultuous blend of deception and profound love, what destiny awaited them?
Bailey seems to be never destined to fit in, a little geeky, but under it all, a hidden beauty that so many seem to miss, but still not what her pack Alpha is looking for in a fated mate... so he is determined to reject her and make her life hell. Bailey, knowing her life will likely never be the same focuses on what she can control, her future, and heads off to study; becoming a teacher. Asher is the Beta of Autumn Valley Pack, a neighbouring pack. A broken man having suffered the loss of his mate after a rogue attack, Asher is slowly crumbling. Falling to pieces. A shadow of his former self, and not a man that anyone wants to be around anymore... Until, Autumn Valley Pack require a new teacher, and Bailey finds herself there and pushed together with the Beta. Is there a connection building or is that in their imaginations? And what will happen when Bailey's mate comes back to claim what is his?
Dear readers, this book has resumed daily updates. It took Sabrina three whole years to realize that her husband, Tyrone didn't have a heart. He was the coldest and most indifferent man she had ever met. He never smiled at her, let alone treated her like his wife. To make matters worse, the return of the woman he had eyes for brought Sabrina nothing but divorce papers. Sabrina's heart broke. Hoping that there was still a chance for them to work on their marriage, she asked, "Quick question,Tyrone. Would you still divorce me if I told you that I was pregnant?" "Absolutely!" he responded. Realizing that she didn't mean shit to him, Sabrina decided to let go. She signed the divorce agreement while lying on her sickbed with a broken heart. Surprisingly, that wasn't the end for the couple. It was as if scales fell off Tyrone's eyes after she signed the divorce agreement. The once so heartless man groveled at her bedside and pleaded, "Sabrina, I made a big mistake. Please don't divorce me. I promise to change." Sabrina smiled weakly, not knowing what to do...
Maria took her sister’s place and was engaged to Anthony, a disabled man who had lost his status as the family heir. At first, they were just a nominal couple. However, things changed when things about Maria were gradually exposed. It turned out she was a professional hacker, a mysterious composer, and the sole successor to an international jade sculpting master… The more that was revealed about her, the less Anthony could rest easy. A famous singer, an award-winning actor, an heir of a rich family—so many excellent men were chasing after his fiancee, Maria. What should Anthony do?
Iris grew from an orphaned child to the adopted daughter of the Stewart family at age ten, finding warmth in her nominal uncle Vincent's kindness. Seven years later, she became his secret lover. When Vincent's engagement was announced, gossip spread about the notorious playboy CEO finally settling down. But only Iris knew the extent of his cold, two-faced nature. Iris fell for Vincent and, through tears, begged, "Marry me," only to be met with his frosty refusal. Defeated, she accepted a lawyer's proposal, sparking public excitement. Then, on her wedding day, Vincent pleaded desperately, "Don't marry him…"
June Rivera was divorced by her husband after three years of marriage because he wanted to be with her sister who was pregnant for him. Kicked to the curb with a divorce and rejected by her parents,she struggles to make ends meet and get a job until she saves Luis Ambrose from an accident - the only child of Rafael Ambrose, a widowed man and the CEO of Ambrose Corporation. When little Luis asks to have her as a nanny, and Rafael's mother pressures him to get married, they draw a contract. To be Luis's nanny and his fake wife for one year in exchange for 50 million dollars!