Prologue

Some hearts are born from love. Others are forged in the fire of heartbreak, longing for something they’ve never known.

Iyan ang tumiim sa utak ko habang lumalaki. As I stood by the window of my penthouse office, looking at the city lights sprawling beneath me, everything looked perfect: the polished towers, the bustling streets, and the life moving forward without hesitation. But perfection was an illusion. I learned that the hard way.

Hanggang ngayon ay hindi pa rin ako makawala sa bangungot ng nakaraan ko. Hanggang ngayon ay sariwa pa rin sa isip ko ang nangyari nang gabing iyon . . .

Ang gabing nasaksihan ko ang brutal na pagpatay ng aking ama sa walang kalaban-labang aking ina. The screams. The sickening thud of fists meeting fragile bone. My mother’s hand trembled as it reached for me, her final whisper drowning beneath the sirens. Simula noon ay hindi na ako naniwala sa salitang pag-ibig. How can I not? The man meant to protect us became the monster who tore our family apart. If love existed, why did my father kill my mother? Why marry her if he only beat her to death?

But everything changes when my adopted parents took me in. Ipinakilala muli nila sa akin ang totong kahulugan ng pag-ibig, pagkalinga at importansya ng isang pamilya na ang buong akala ko’y kahit kailan ay imposibleng mangyari. They hadn’t just given me a home. They’d given me warmth, laughter, and the quiet kind of love that asked for nothing in return.

I guarded my heart not to fall for just anybody. I was traumatized and afraid that it might happen to me—not that I am a lunatic like my biological father, but what if, just like my real mother, I became blinded by love? So, in order to avoid that, I became ruthless, untouchable, and sealed my heart, and no one dared to make a move.

No one . . . until I met her. Until I met Belle Andrada, the only woman who could melt the thick ice and unsealed my heart.

***

Fairy tales are just for kids.

That was what I believed in. Wala akong panahon para sa mga bagay na ganyan. Kailangan kong pag-igihan ang pag-aaral ko at makatapos ng kolehiyo. Hindi ko puwedeng sayangin ang pagsasakripisyong ginawa ni Kuya para lang makamit ko ang pangarap ko. Kuya Brandon had given up his dream of becoming a pilot so I could chase mine. How could I think of romance when gratitude weighed heavier than desire?

The first time I stepped into Seyer Enterprises as an intern, I hadn’t expected much—a paycheck, experience, a line on my resume. It was a dream for me, at malaking tulong iyon para ako naman ang magpaaral sa kapatid ko.

That was my goal. Certainly not him. The cold, ruthless, and stoned-like CEO of Seyer Enterprises, Dylan Seyer.

The very moment our eyes met, biglang nagbago ang mundo ko. I started to fantasize about him, secretly admiring him. There’s one rule everyone knows if you work in the company: there is no office-romance policy. It was his idea, and everyone abides by it, including me, and yet I fall harder.

Despite of everything he has—powerful, distant, dangerous in the way heartbreakers often were. Hindi ko pa rin mapigilan ang puso kong mahalin siya. Alam kong walang pag-asang mangyari ang pagpapantasya ko at imposibleng magustuhan ako ng isang Dylan Seyer. There was something behind the sharp edges of his gaze, a flicker of loneliness that mirrored my own.

But fate doesn’t wait for perfect moments. It strikes when hearts are most vulnerable.

I should’ve looked away.

He should’ve walked past me.

We shouldn’t have crossed a boundary that might ruin both of us.

But some connections defy reason.

Dylan’s walls began to crack, and I found myself drowning in a love I’d never dared to imagine. It wasn’t gentle. It was consuming, the kind that burned away reason and left only raw, aching need.

We became addicted in every moment we’ve shared secretly. Walang nakakaalam na mismong ang Boss na mahigpit na nagpatupad ng no-office-romance policy ay siyang kauna-unahang bumali niyon. Natakot din akong ipaalam sa mga kaibigan ko o maging sa pamilya ko ang kahibangang ginagawa ko, ngunit ano’ng magagawa ko? I am in love. He loves me and I felt the same way.

He tried to convince me once to announce our relationship, pero tinutulan ko. Natakot ako, I’m not ready for that, kaya nakiusap ako na bigyan niya pa ako ng panahon para makapaghanda.

But love built on fragile ground is destined to tremble. And fate strikes us again.

Because secrets don’t stay buried. Not when Ivan Ramos—Dylan’s half-brother, stood in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He became my nightmare.

The moment he came in my life, nagulong muli ang mundo ko. He told me about my father, at sa unang pagkakataon sa buhay ko ay nalaman ko ang tunay kong katauhan. Bunga ako ng panggahasa ng sarili kong ama kay mama, matagal ng hiwalay ang mga magulang ko nang gahasain ng tatay ko ang mama ko at hindi inaasahan ni mama na magbubunga iyon, which is me. Masakit para sa akin ang katotohanang iyon, lalo pa at nalaman ko iyon sa ibang tao.

Iyon ang ginamit ni Ivan na pang-blackmail sa akin. He wanted me to marry him and leave Dylan ngunit paano ko iyon magagawa sa lalaking una kong minahal?

I declined his offer. And everything falls apart.

Neither of us knew how far betrayal could reach, how one truth could shatter everything we’d built.

Love was never meant to be simple for us. But sometimes, the most beautiful stories are written in the margins of heartbreak and hope.

Ang kailangan mo lang gawin ay magtiwala. Believed that everything happens for a reason. Love was always has it’s own magic, it moves in a mysterious ways. Kung para sa akin ang pag-ibig ng isang Dylan Seyer, kahit ano pa mang pagsubok ang dumaan, he’ll find his way to mine and I’ll find my way to his.