I spent years cleaning up a man. We were in love, or should I better say, I was in love, because in the end, that is what that shit felt. After all that I did for him, he heartlessly broke my heart. Found him in bed with our wedding planner two weeks to our wedding. And he had the balls to take pleasure in my pains. I almost became a murderer that night. Almost killed a man. I put the very first stain on my family's spotless name. My father could not take it. He distanced himself from me and stood a safe distance to watch the whole world raise against me. But in all this difficult and trying moment, one thing remained my solace and my beacon of all the good vibes that I yearned for - Joe Fredrick Montana. My stepbrother. And before we knew it, the connection bloomed into something we both never anticipated. It is wrong, yet so strong! It is forbidden, yet irresistible. For a while, none of us seemed to care about the consequences of our steamy undercover affairs, until something that threatens to tear everything between us and beyond happens. This, is our story!
"Come on, Leon! This is the fourth time that we are postponing this, all because of your schedule again? Come on!" I fume at this ever-busy, soon-to-be husband of mine.
Well, that is, if this damn wedding will actually find favor in the eyes of the gods and push through. I actually wish it does because I have invested more than just love in it. I have done even the impossible to make this work. Things that my dad would kill me for if ever he learned about them.
They say that how much you sacrifice in love should not matter as long as the end results are as you anticipated. I wanted the best for this man, the best of the man that I would spend the rest of my life with. I wanted to scour off the inferiority complex from him so that he could match my class. And so I gave my all, ensuring that I shaped him into the best version a man can ever be. And I am glad of the results.
And all has been sunshine and roses until recently. We are in the middle of our big day preparations, and I don't like the direction that things are taking of late. I would like to understand why he seems to be drifting slowly away from this marriage thing. I mean, he should be as committed as I am, right? Why is it beginning to feel like I am the only one interested in this wedding? Why does it feel like I am the only one anticipating this day?
"You know how important my work is, don't you?" Leon's voice comes through the line.
The same old excuse that I have been hearing for weeks. And for God's sake, what is not important? Me? Our wedding? Is us tying the knots like we have been dreaming of and starting our family not important again?
"And I am not?" I squeal back through the line. "Our wedding is not important, Leon?" I quiz, and anger is getting the best of me, and this is warranted. What I am feeling right now would be felt by anybody in my shoes.
"I didn't say that, Bella," he roars back in forced calmness. "Look, my desk is so full. I don't need any more frustrations right now. I have a million things to take care of. See what you can do with the caterers if you must do this today."
Hold on!
I am frustrating him now? When will he have time for this because this is becoming too exhausting? I have better things to do as a Montana than frustrate people, you know?
"And ooh," his deep voice echoes through the line again, "the wedding planners called to say that they are coming over to the resort tomorrow to start the preparations. I gave them your number because I want you to deal with them from now on."
Shock slaps me! My anger rises threefold!
Even them? This was the only thing he had agreed to take care of because, apparently, the bitch leading the team is his best friend. But even this, he has let go? Just what the hell is wrong with this guy? How the hell does he expect me to manage the resort and handle this marriage pressure all by myself as if I am marrying myself?
Ooh, no! We can't continue this way! I also have an office to run. My table is also full in the office. It is either we are in this together or together. No more excuses!
"Hel... Hello? Leon! le...!"
Dead end! I only receive back the echoes of my own wrath. The jerk already hanged the fuck on me! That son of a nobody!
I slam the damn phone on the empty seat beside me, letting my frustrations out in a loud growl. Since when did he start disrespecting me this much?
"Son of..."
I feel like screaming through the deadline, but if only he could hear me. How dare he bundle all the responsibilities of this wedding to me? We still have a lot to do in the nothingness of the time that we have left, yet he is doing this? What sort of a motherfucker does this?
How dare he hang up on me just like that? My desk is also full, you know? I also have unattended files waiting for me back at the office. And for goodness sake, what is keeping him busy, huh? The company that I built for him? The company in which I am still the CEO? Ain't I his boss?
I won't refute that he has proven to be a witty ass, taking the company to commendable heights for the three years since it was born, but come on! That is not reason enough for him to do this to me! He should at least remember that he would still be a nobody, wandering in the stinking streets, eating garbage, or going on an empty stomach for days and sleeping on the cold streets if it weren't for me!
I, Bella Montana, picked him up from the streets, cleaned him up, clothed him, fed him, and gave him hope when life had mercilessly fucked him up. It was my money that started and funded the company he now works for. I was the one who put him in that seat that is burning his ass right now. I am the reason he can be counted as a man among men and even stand out among them right now. He is nothing without me, and he dares do this to me?
The balls he has grown, huh! I am beginning to hate him for freaking me out this way. For tossing all the burdens to me. What does he take me for?
The sound of my house buzzing again tosses that bittersweet tale aside. My dad's name on the screen doesn't do any good to my messed-up, riled self. It reminds me of the second reason why I had to abandon my office and drive all the way here to the airport.
Her grave sin was her spellbinding allure that blurred the blood-tie line for him, and his grave mistake was obsessing over a girl he was supposed to exterminate. The vicious King of Evil, the one who didn't have a heart, now finds himself trapped between vengeance, and the irresistible burning desires for the only remaining enemy he has left - and she, oblivious of the abysm of the evil he exudes, is determined to liberate herself from the cage of the monster at all costs. But her desires are inconceivable. Absurd! invalid dreams- or so did everyone thought, until things started taking a turn. What transpires when the vicious heartless monster finds himself at the feet of his culprit? What more miseries await Ella when the truth of her connection with the monster and the mystery besieging her get revealed?
Betrayed by her fiance and her family, Ellie thought, for a fleeting moment, that being tied down to a ghost she had never known was the only option. But that was until a wild thought banged her head. "Run, Ellie!" Her mind screamed. The heart is always right, they say, and at that point in her life, Ellie had no one to trust but her shattered heart. She ran into a new city, and as if fate had chosen to compensate her for all the sufferings she had gone through, she crashed with someone who swept her off her feet on their very first encounter. But months later, a call came through from home: "Ellie, my child. You need to come ASAP! Your father has been seriously ill. Your father needs you now more than ever." The voice of her nanny echoed through the line. The following morning, Ellie was once again packing her bags and saying goodbye to the love she had found. Finding her father on his sick bed and with a swam of doctors surrounding him broke Ellie's heart into a million pieces. And then came her father's plea in his sick bed. "My dear, I am giving you a choice out of this, but on one condition: that you have to meet your betrothed even just this once. Whatever you decide after that, I, your father, will respect your decision." This was what Ellie had always wished for, but given the situation, she knew she could not upset her father. She had to concede. But the moment her supposed ghost betrothed walked in, Ellie realized one thing: she had never known the face of betrayal until that particular moment!
“You are a cold-blooded psycho! Get your filthy-blood-stained hands off me!” Through clenched teeth, Irma shrieked as she battled to liberate herself from the man's barbarous hold. His eyes were a refulgent inferno. They held an insidious fire of lust as they thrived deeper into her debilitated ones. "How flattering!” The man sneered, and Irma froze. A ripple of both ice and fire skint in her nerves at the man’s vexatious riposte. Before she could amass any little bravery left in her, the man spoke again in a hoarse tremor, erupting a chill down her spinal tube. “But if you don't watch your sweet-dirty-mouth, you snoopy, pesky brat, my third leg will shut it for you! Or maybe," he wavered, and fixed his dangerous lascivious gazes on hers, gently stroking her hair as if petting his sweet wild pet, “Is that what you want, huh, little kitten?” A freelance journalist, flaming with ardent desires to unveil the secrets behind the series of mysterious disappearances happening in the city. Her hunch points her to the dark underworld of the mafia, and unfortunately, she crashes into LUCCA DE’MATTHEW - the other name for terror! Their encounter will evoke a catastrophe that only they can solve. But how, if their mere beingness is a menace to each other?
She got pregnant by the man she loved, but he left her. To protect the image of their family, Ayana Salma De’Mario was grounded and hidden like a bad omen, together with her child. Five years later, she knows only the walls of her room, her sweet five-year-old girl, her paintings, the young student she is teaching, and this mysterious ghost lover whom she has never met. But a tragedy strikes their family empire. In need of a savior, her family decided to trade the black sheep of the family to save their company. And in the picture enters the cold-hearted Adam Stone De'Leon, the most notorious heartbreaker the city has ever had. A proud womanizer who parades his sins as if they are crowns. But the moment he meets Ayana, something changes—something that leaves his walls in shambles. His heart starts beating for Ayana in ways he never imagined. He would go to any extreme to have her. Can she really resist him, or will she also make it to the list of uncountable women he has knacked and tossed aside like trash?
She was all alone, wallowing in divine grief and lamenting her losses. She had nothing to call her own, and all her wounds had refused to heal. She yearned for just one thing now—to disconnect from the cruel world. In the darkness, she closed her eyes, hoping to awaken in a place of tranquility—in heaven, surrounded by the beautiful souls she had lost. But to her bewilder, she found herself in bed the next morning with someone she would never have anticipated seeing again, especially in the darkest moment of her life—Liam Morgan Adams. Her ex. And he came with his own overflowing bucket of surprisal and sorrows that, for reasons best known to him, only Lynn could help him carry. "Bear me a child, Lynn. The price is yours to name.” He spoke, and everything in Lynn froze. A child! Her head spun some degrees, and when it settled, she squinted as the raw memories of her past pains surged in, fused with the memories of what they once had. And his constant, desperate plea left her between a rock and a hard place. Can she do this? Can this be her redemption? And Liam, why would a filthy, married billionaire ask for a child out of wedlock? And why Lynn, of all people?
"But all these scars, they will always remind you of the beast that I am." He said with a faint voice, caressing the scars on her face. "Not when they can be turned into beautiful scars." Her response echoed with confusion and incredulity to him. How could all the pain he had inflicted on her turn into something good? A broken and desperate depressed Billionaire, and the poorest of all naive girl who just lost everything in a blink of an eye, and her mother just traded her like a piece of trash. They are to be bound together by a contract as husband and wife for just five months. Everything seems to be under control, until one night of total madness that complicates everything. She had done and sacrificed so much for him, asking nothing in return or ever complaining. In return, he asked for one night to treat her like the loving wife she was supposed to be. One night they surrendered and lost their souls to each other, marking the beginning of their unquenchable thirsts for each other. In the short run, a bond is formed. What happens if the two of them break the major rule of the contract? Who will bear the blame? What's the punishment for such an offense? Nobody wants to let the other go. Can they forget about the contract and embrace what they feel for each other? But what happens when his real love returns? His crush. His first love. The one he once went insane for. She doesn't return empty-handed. She is seven months pregnant with the son he thought she lost. What will he do? Wait... His passionate nights with his contract wife bore fruits too. She is expecting his child. Will he marry both of them, or who will he choose?
Her fiance and her best friend worked together and set her up. She lost everything and died in the street. However, she was reborn. The moment she opened her eyes, her husband was trying to strangle her. Luckily, she survived that. She signed the divorce agreement without hesitation and was ready for her miserable life. To her surprise, her mother in this life left her a great deal of money. She turned the tables and avenged herself. Everything went well in her career and love when her ex-husband came to her.
There was only one man in Raegan's heart, and it was Mitchel. In the second year of her marriage to him, she got pregnant. Raegan's joy knew no bounds. But before she could break the news to her husband, he served her divorce papers because he wanted to marry his first love. After an accident, Raegan lay in the pool of her own blood and called out to Mitchel for help. Unfortunately, he left with his first love in his arms. Raegan escaped death by the whiskers. Afterward, she decided to get her life back on track. Her name was everywhere years later. Mitchel became very uncomfortable. For some reason, he began to miss her. His heart ached when he saw her all smiles with another man. He crashed her wedding and fell to his knees while she was at the altar. With bloodshot eyes, he queried, "I thought you said your love for me is unbreakable? How come you are getting married to someone else? Come back to me!"
For two years, Bryan only saw Eileen as an assistant. She needed money for her mother's treatment, and he thought she'd never leave because of it. To him, it seemed fair to offer her financial help in exchange for sex. However, Bryan didn't expect to fall for her. Eileen confronted him, "You love someone else, yet you always sleep with me? You're despicable!" The moment she slammed the divorce papers down, he realized she was the the mysterious wife he married six years ago. Determined to win her back, Bryan lavished her with affection. When others mocked her origins, he gave her all his wealth, happy to be the supportive husband. Now a celebrated CEO, Eileen had everything, but Bryan found himself lost in another whirlwind...
"Love is blind!" Lucinda abandoned her beautiful and comfortable life because of a man. She married him and slaved off for him for three long years. One day, the scales finally fell off her eyes. She realized that all her efforts were in vain. Her husband, Nathaniel still treated her like shit. All he cared about was his lover. "Enough is enough! I quit wasting my years with an ungrateful man!" Lucinda's heart was shattered into many pieces, but she summoned up the courage to ask for a divorce. The news caused a stir online! A filthy rich young woman recently got divorced? She was a good catch! Countless CEOs and handsome young men immediately swarmed to her like bees to honey! Nathaniel couldn't take it anymore. He held a press conference and begged with teary eyes, "I love you, Lucinda. I can't live without you. Please come back to me." Would Lucinda give him a second chance? Read to find out!
Two years ago, Ricky found himself coerced into marrying Emma to protect the woman he cherished. From Ricky's perspective, Emma was despicable, resorting to underhanded schemes to ensure their marriage. He maintained a distant and cold attitude toward her, reserving his warmth for another. Yet, Emma remained wholeheartedly dedicated to Ricky for more than ten years. As she grew weary and considered relinquishing her efforts, Ricky was seized by a sudden fear. Only when Emma's life teetered on the edge, pregnant with Ricky's child, did he recognize-the love of his life had always been Emma.
After three loveless years, Neil's betrayal deeply wounded Katelyn. She wasted no time in getting rid of that scoundrel! After the divorce, she devoted herself to career pursuits. Rising to prominence as a top designer, skilled doctor, and brilliant hacker, she became a revered icon. Neil, realizing his grave mistake, tried in vain to win her back, only to witness her magnificent wedding to another. As their vows were broadcast on the world's largest billboard, Vincent slid a ring onto Katelyn's finger and declared, "Katelyn is now my wife, a priceless treasure. Let all who covet her beware!"