Fading facades: love beyond the deal

“Next question.” His eyes locked on her. He was close. Too close. Emily raised the tablet between them. “If your brand—” Scott pressed down on the tablet. Emily backed into the desk. Nowhere left to go. Scott placed his hands on either side of her, caging her in. His face inches from hers. “Scott—” “Next question.” His voice was rough. Emily’s breath caught. Heat flooded her body. “If your brand was a person,” she whispered, “how would you describe her—them?” His eyes dropped to her lips. “Resilient.” His thumb traced her jawline. “Beautiful.” His breath warmed her skin. “Irresistible.” The word hung between them. Emily’s heart pounded. One movement—one inch—and his lips would touch hers. She wanted it. God, she wanted it. “I should go.” Her voice shook. Scott’s jaw clenched. But he didn’t move. “The contract says no physical contact.” His blue eyes burned into hers. “It doesn’t say anything about wanting to.” Emily’s arranged marriage to Ian Hunter was a transaction—his family’s money for her father’s freedom. For three years, she endured his coldness, his cruelty, his mistress. The day his grandmother died, Ian filed for divorce and walked away with everything. Emily’s business collapsed. Ian’s empire grew. Now, she’s desperate enough to make a deal with the devil’s half-brother. Scott Hunter is pitched against his half-brother to claim his billion-dollar inheritance. One of the three requirements is a wife. Emily needs capital to rebuild—and revenge on the man who destroyed her. It shouldn't be. It's unheard of. It's supposed to be a simple contract: one year of marriage, no feelings, no complications. Except Scott can’t stop touching her. And Emily realizes she’s stopped pretending.

Forestia Renae Frost is a twenty-two years old model who has always hated Adamson Rockwell, her enemy since high school and now the CEO of the Rockwell Group of Companies. In their class batch reunion held in a high-class resort, the two met again after years of not seeing each other and fell into a heated confrontation after getting drunk that ended up burning with long kept desire and passion. Forestia thought it was just a one night stand, but what if she suddenly received a call from Adam after a week of their first night and offered her an engagement contract? Will she accept the role of being her enemy's fiancé?

The new teacher gave the wrong medicine, causing a child to suffer sudden cardiac arrest and die after failing to receive timely help. My fiance, who was also the vice principal, forged evidence on her behalf and pinned all the blame on me. I was fired and reported by the child's parents. Due to insufficient evidence, I was acquitted. But the child's devastated parents broke into my home with a kitchen knife and hacked me to death, severing me in multiple places. My fiance chose to cover it up for them. He disposed of my body and even comforted the parents. "A life for a life. Let this be my atonement." When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the very day the teacher gave the child the wrong medicine.

Polly is an Aspin who got separated from his mother and brothers when he was very young. He struggled to keep himself alive. He wanted to belong but what he got was rejection after rejection, heartache after heartache - yet he marched on with his leg that could not be bent. This is a story of survival - a story of hope - that even with his leg that could not be bent, love is possible.

Inosente. Birhen. Santo. Ilan lamang iyan sa mga katangiang mayroon si Coreen kaya naman madalas siyang pagkaisahan ng mga tao sa paligid niya. Nang pagbintangang kabit ng kaniyang amo ay walang-awang pinatalsik sa trabaho at laglag ang balikat at nakayukong lulugo-lugong naglakad sa kalsada. Dahil sa tadhana ay natanggap siya sa isang bagong trabahong hindi niya inakalang papasukan; ang maging maid ng isang arogante, barumbado, bastos at masungit na si Royce Sullivan dahil na rin sa pangakong malaking sahod. Isang misteryosong lalaki na ayaw ng human contact at literal na nagtayo ng isang malaking salamin sa pagitan nilang dalawa. Ngunit bakit nga naman hindi lalaki ang sahod kung sa unang araw pa lamang ay halos humiwalay na ang kaluluwa niya sa inis sa binata? Idagdag pa na sinamantala ni Royce ang kaniyang kahinaan at inalok siya ng isang deal para mabayaran ang operasyon ng kaniyang kapatid. Pero paano kung madarang siya? Paano kung magustuhan niya ang ginagawa? Paano kung... maging pangahas siyang hawakan ang binata at tawirin ang espasyo na naghihiwalay sa kanila? Ang kaniyang ka-inosentehan kapalit ng malaking halagang hindi niya matatanggihan. Puri, dangal at yamang itinataglay ay iaalay ba sa lalaking ni hindi siya man lamang magawang hawakan nang hindi nakasuot ng gwantes?

Rose Perez thought she'd found a way out of her troubles when she married billionaire CEO Derek Rivera. But their marriage was just the beginning. Secrets, lies, and forbidden love threaten to tear them apart. Can Rose and Derek overcome their differences and find true love?

After living a boring life and becoming a corporate slave for seven-years, Alice put up all the courage she has to summon a Demon in order to change her life in exchange for her soul. Knowledge, Famer, Power, Wealth, and Love was all the desire many people wants, but she decided not to choose leaving everything to her Demon Contractor - Paimon. Unbeknownst to her is that there are many Demon Contractor aside from herself. Because of her soul that was chained, she will be force to fight in a bloody game wherein death is only the beginning.

Serve. Protect. Love. Venera Rustik Yates spent her life walking the runway as a supermodel. Daughter to a billionaire and younger sister to a responsible brother, Vee is the envy of many and a favorite of the cameras. Jordan Jacobs Gallagher left the limelight a decade ago to serve in the military and leaves no trail wherever he goes as he does his secret service. When duties bring them together, will they continue living their own ways, or start blending as one?

"Oral? Rough nights? That's what I've become-the plaything of a man whose name echoes across Asia. We've done things in places where we could have been caught, places where his men could see us, and yet we didn't care. The only thing that mattered was quenching the fire raging inside our bodies. Free? No. Nothing is free anymore. Every desire, every twisted fantasy he wants to play out on me comes with a price-and he pays it without hesitation. Even when it's degrading, even when it crosses boundaries I once thought I had, I take it. No questions asked. But here's what keeps me awake at night: is this all I'll ever be? Are we bound to this cycle, trapped in this dangerous game forever?"

I never in my wildest imagination thought that my life would one day take such a huge turn: signing a marriage contract with Jonathan Wells, the coldest billionaire in Wells Enterprise, so my sister could stay alive. It was supposed to be cut and dry: I’d be his wife on paper, and in return, he would take care of my sister’s medical bill and promise our future. No attachments. No strings. Business only. But life rarely adheres to a simple script, does it? Pulled into his ruthless world, secrets of my past start to resurface, putting everything in jeopardy. I, Chloe Jackson, was the illegitimate daughter of his biggest competitor-a man I had been running from my whole life. Now my estranged father wants me back under his control, just when I’m starting to see that maybe Jonathan isn’t as heartless as he seems. Torn between the board’s merciless scrutiny, Jonathan’s mistrust, and a corporate war driven by my father, I’m adrift in a maelstrom of power, betrayal, and something even more dangerous—love. I wasn’t supposed to fall for him. I wasn’t supposed to care. But in the end, it might not be the contract that keeps our worlds apart-but rather the very thing that could mend my heart. Because Jonathan Wells isn’t just a billionaire. He’s the only man who can break me-or save me.