Valerie's greatest regret was taking up a job to work as Edwin's personal secretary. It turned out that loyalty didn't mean a thing to him. When he got tired of her after everything she had done for him in the past five years, he transferred her to the branch office without batting an eye. It was said that working at the branch office was harder. However, Valerie found herself enjoying every bit of it. She was happy because she was finally away from that jinx of a boss. A handsome hunk took interest in her. At the same time, she discovered that her father was a dying billionaire. All she had to do was nod and she would inherit his wealth. Life was full of ups and downs. As it turned out, working for Edwin was her down. Their paths didn't cross until some days later at a cocktail party. Edwin-who was so full of himself-sneered, "I see that you still haven't gotten over me. You even followed me to this party. How desperate can you be?" Valerie scoffed and clicked her tongue. "Hey, Edwin. I don't recall inviting you here." "Say what now? Oh, I see that the heartbreak affected your brain. You should seek help," Edwin retorted with a smirk.
Valerie Reese awoke with a frown. Groaning in discomfort, she rolled over, and her hand landed on something warm. Only then did she realize that a man was sleeping next to her.
With clenched teeth, she sat up and flipped on the nightstand light. Beside her, the man sighed deeply out of frustration.
The dim light from the lamp illuminated his bare back as well as the side of his face.
Valerie crept to the closet, changed, and returned to the bed's edge, where she reached out to gently touch the man's back.
"Mr. Layfield, it's already six in the morning. You have a meeting at seven-thirty."
The man swatted her hand away and growled hoarsely, "Go away!"
Valerie, who had long since gotten used to his temper, got to her feet with an air of nonchalance.
Quietly, she made her way downstairs to the kitchen to prepare some breakfast. Without waking the man, she finished her food and left the house. She then took a cab to the company.
During the day, she worked as the chief secretary of Edwin Layfield, the CEO of the Layfield Group. At night, she was his bed partner.
Valerie arrived at the company and soon got everything ready. Her gaze remained icy as she waited for Edwin outside the conference room. Everyone who walked by her spoke to her in a respectful and fawning tone.
Two minutes before the start of the meeting, the CEO's exclusive elevator chimed.
Valerie breathed a sigh of relief but remained rooted in her spot.
Edwin's towering stature of about 6.5 feet contributed to his authoritative demeanor and he always had a stone-cold facade that made him appear untouchable.
When compared to him, Valerie's height of 5.5 feet suddenly seemed somewhat diminutive.
Edwin ignored her completely, as though the man who had sex with her the night before was someone else entirely.
The meeting lasted for quite some time. Valerie had to leave in the middle of it to go to the secretary's office and order breakfast for Edwin.
She was scanning the menu when her fellow secretary, Marisa Kendall, walked up to her and asked, "Valerie, have you checked Mr. Layfield's afternoon schedule?"
Valerie looked at her with furrowed brows. "Is there something wrong?"
Marisa made a clicking noise with her tongue and murmured softly, "Later, Mr. Layfield is scheduled to have dinner with Brent, the president of SHINE Corporation."
It took a while for Valerie to remember who Brent was.
Brent Clark was well known for his tendency to sexually harass female employees. There was even one time when he drugged another company's secretary and forced her to sleep with him. Rumor had it that he also tried to harass Edwin's aunt, Ivanna Layfield, before.
Edwin always took one of his secretaries with him to business dinners. Because the others were reluctant to go with him, Marisa approached Valerie to ask her about it.
"Don't worry. I don't think Mr. Layfield will take any of us with him," Valerie said nonchalantly.
As soon as she was done speaking, someone opened the door to the secretary's office. A colleague stuck her head in and looked around until her eyes landed on Valerie.
"Valerie, Mr. Layfield wants to see you."
Valerie promptly completed her order and left the secretary's office without changing her countenance.
She had been Edwin's secretary for five years. Not long after she joined the company, they had sex in the lounge, marking the beginning of their odd arrangement. She had dealt with several difficult clients over the past few years, but he had never asked her to engage in shady activity.
When Valerie entered his office, Edwin did not even look at her. He continued signing documents as he instructed, "Get ready. You're joining me for dinner tonight."
Valerie froze.
When she still did not respond, Edwin finally raised his head and looked at her with a frown. "Valerie?"
Valerie snapped out of her reverie and finally replied, "Yes, sir."
The man threw a folder at her and demanded, "How long have you been working for me?"
She did not know why he was asking that, but she nonetheless answered, "Five years."
"You've been working for me for a long time, so you should know your place by now. Do your job properly, will you?"
"Of course, sir."
Valerie left the office with a straight face. Her hands were cold and trembling.
It seemed that Edwin had gotten tired of her and was looking for an excuse to give her to another man.
She went back to the secretary's office, where she snacked on grapes all afternoon. Before the office hours ended, she stuffed a dagger in her bag.
If Brent drugged her, she would stab herself to wake up.
When Zora was sick during the early days of her pregnancy, Ezrah was with his first love, Piper. When Zora got into an accident and called Ezrah, he said he was busy, when in actual fact, he was buying shoes for Piper. Zora lost her baby because of the accident, and throughout her stay at the hospital, Ezrah never showed up. She already knew that he didn't love her, but that was the last straw for the camel's back, and her fragile heart could not take it anymore. When Ezrah arrived home a few days after Zora was discharged from the hospital, he no longer met the woman who always greeted him with a smile and cared for him. Zora stood at the top of the stairs and yelled with a cold expression, "Good news, Ezrah! Our baby died in a car accident. There is nothing between us anymore, so let's get a divorce." The man who claimed not to have any feelings for Zora, being cold and distant towards her, and having asked her for a divorce twice, instantly panicked.
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!
Everyone was shocked to the bones when the news of Rupert Benton's engagement broke out. It was surprising because the lucky girl was said to be a plain Jane, who grew up in the countryside and had nothing to her name. One evening, she showed up at a banquet, stunning everyone present. "Wow, she's so beautiful!" All the men drooled, and the women got so jealous. What they didn't know was that this so-called country girl was actually an heiress to a billion-dollar empire. It wasn't long before her secrets came to light one after the other. The elites couldn't stop talking about her. "Holy smokes! So, her father is the richest man in the world?" "She's also that excellent, but mysterious designer who many people adore! Who would have guessed?" Nonetheless, people thought that Rupert didn't love her. But they were in for another surprise. Rupert released a statement, silencing all the naysayers. "I'm very much in love with my beautiful fiancee. We will be getting married soon." Two questions were on everyone's minds: "Why did she hide her identity? And why was Rupert in love with her all of a sudden?"
"I heard you're going to marry Marcelo. Is this perhaps your revenge against me? It's very laughable, Renee. That man can barely function." Her foster family, her cheating ex, everyone thought Renee was going to live in pure hell after getting married to a disabled and cruel man. She didn't know if anything good would ever come out of it after all, she had always thought it would be hard for anyone to love her but this cruel man with dark secrets is never going to grant her a divorce because she makes him forget how to breathe.
6 years ago, Lydia suffered a brutal betrayal orchestrated by her own husband and step-sister, who drugged her and framed her. In a twist of fate, she ended up having a one-night stand with a stranger. Don't even remember what he looked like. Later, in the throes of death, she discovered the truth about her mother's death all those years ago. In the blink of an eye, she lost everything. 6 years later, Lydia returned with her genius son, vowing to exact revenge on all her enemies! Little did she know, she encountered an incredibly familiar man at the airport! *** The man was briskly pushing open the door to the restroom, heading to the urinal. Even with such a mundane action, he did it with unparalleled elegance and grace. Lydia, following him in a daze, saw his fierce lower body and suddenly snapped back to reality. She let out a high-pitched scream, instinctively covering her eyes with her hands, her cheeks flushed, and stood there stiffly, unsure of what to do. Lambert furrowed his brows slightly but remained calm as he continued to relieve himself. The sound of water hitting the urinal made Lydia's face even redder. She angrily shouted, "You pervert!" Little did Lydia know that Lambert, seeing her in this state, had a flicker of recognition in his eyes. Memories from many years ago flashed through his mind, and his heart couldn't help but stir. It was her!
"I've warned you from the beginning. Don't marry him, but you won't listen." Darcy stood close to me and smiled with concern. "You're not a woman worthy of a man as handsome, rich, smart, and virile as Blaze." My whole body trembled at her words. "Have you no shame?" I asked. "Take a good look at yourself, Heather." She stared at me in the mirror. "You can't even glance at your ugly face. Do you think Blaze can endure a lifetime of gazing at that scar?" Heather Bailey got a surprise from her husband: a divorce agreement. After a year of marriage and facing ups and downs, she couldn't believe Blaze intended to divorce her. She was devastated when she saw him gazing lovingly at another woman. After signing the divorce papers, shockwaves caught her up. Her flower shop was burned to the ground. Her father's company collapsed, and her parents blamed her. She struggled to rebuild her life from the ground up and became more successful than ever. Having many customers from influential families, she started her revenge on Blaze. She won the very thing he wanted, but that was just the beginning.