LOVE PAINTED IN LIES
Prologue
Some stories begin with love.
Some begin with war.
But theirs began with a promise, one whispered under the fading glow of a streetlamp, sealed with youthful dreams and a future full of light. Neither of them knew how quickly love could twist into something darker... or how far a wounded heart could go just to feel whole again.
This is not a tale
Chapters
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Chapter 3
Eliana woke the next morning with a heaviness she couldn't name sleep had been a tangled mess of questions, half-formed thoughts, and blurry dreams of shadows whispering her name. She sat at the edge of her bed for a long moment, breathing slowly, reminding herself that strength sometimes begins with simply standing up. Today, she told herself, would not defeat her. She arrived at school earlier than usual, the corridors were still waking up lights flickering on, cleaners sweeping floors, a few students yawning as they dragged their bags behind them eliana clutched her sketchbook tightly, a shield for her shaking heart.
As she turned into the courtyard, she saw Adrian and Selena standing together near the fountain adrian's hands were shoved into his pockets tense, selena's expression was uneasy, eyes darting around as if afraid of being seen, eliana felt her stomach twist. They didn't notice her at first, she stood still, watching, studying their body language like a painting she wished she didn't understand adrian leaned closer to selena, saying something too soft for eliana to hear. Selena nodded, lowering her gaze. When she looked up again, her eyes widened she had spotted eliana.
"Eliana!" selena called, too brightly "hey!" adrian turned his smile looked forced, weak around the edges. "Morning" eliana managed a calm nod, "morning" her voice surprised even herself steady, clear, betraying no tremor she walked past them without slowing down.
Behind her, she heard selena whisper, "She's acting weird..." and adrian reply, "Just give me time, okay? I'll figure it out."
That sentence echoed in her chest long after she reached her classroom.
The first bell rang, students filled the room with noise, gossip, and energy, eliana sat at her desk, staring blankly at her notes, her best friend, mara, slid into the seat beside her, "you look like you didn't sleep," mara said gently.
"I didn't.", "Is it adrian?"
Eliana hesitated she hadn't told Mara about what she overheard in the music room saying it out loud might make it too real.
"Something's off," she admitted. "I just don't know what yet."
Mara squeezed her hand. "Then let the truth come. You don't have to chase it."
Eliana nodded, appreciating the comfort. But deep inside, she felt the truth wasn't coming fast enough and she refused to be the last to know.
During break, she made a decision if adrian had secrets, she would stop waiting for them to break her,she walked to the music room again, the corridors were noisy, but the room itself was quiet, sunlight glowing on the wooden floor, she entered slowly, half-expecting to find them together again. But the room was empty.
Her eyes drifted to the piano. On top of it sat a small notebook adrian's handwriting on the cover personal Journal her heart raced, she shouldn't open it she knew that but the pain, the uncertainty, the confusion, they all pushed her hand forward before she could overthink it, she flipped it open she didn't read everything, only a single page just enough to confirm what her heart already feared.
I don't know what to do selena says her feelings are real, eliana doesn't deserve this, I never meant to hurt anyone why did things have to get so complicated Eliana closed the notebook, fingers trembling she didn't cry the tears sat behind her eyes but refused to fall, stuck in that space between breaking and holding on, she backed away from the piano, turning quickly and bumped straight into someone.
"Looking for something?"
Adrian stood at the doorway, eyes sharp, voice low. Eliana froze. She didn't know if he saw her with the journal or if she looked guilty enough to suspect, he stepped forward, confusion and worry written across his face.
"Eliana... are you okay?"
She swallowed hard. "Are you?"
He blinked. "What do you mean?"
She exhaled, the words burning. "I heard your in here with Selena."
His face went pale. "Eliana"
"Don't lie," she whispered. "Please... not anymore."
He looked at her for a long moment, jaw tightening.
Then he said the one sentence that made the ground shift beneath her:
"It's not what you think but I can't explain. Not yet."
Her chest stung. "Why? Why can't you just tell me the truth?"
His silence was louder than shouting.
Then, quietly:
"I don't want you involved."
"Involved in what?" she breathed.
But he shook his head. "Please, Eliana. Trust me one last time."
Trust. A word that felt like a knife now.
She left the room before her heart shattered in front of him.
The day passed in a blur her teachers' voices sounded like distant waves, she drifted through hallways, hearing fragments of whispers that may or may not have been about her, by the time the final bell rang, she was exhausted emotionally more than anything, she stayed behind after school to work on her exhibition painting. The art room felt familiar, safe, brushes, paints, silence, things she could control, she began mixing colours, brushing strokes onto the canvas, letting her emotions pour into the artwork , she didn't hear footsteps behind her until someone cleared their throat.
Selena stood in the doorway.
"Eliana," she said softly. "We need to talk", eliana didn't answer she continued painting selena stepped forward, "Please... I'm not trying to take him from you."
Eliana paused, brush hanging in midair. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
Selena bit her lip,"what's happening isn't what you think, adrian didn't tell you because he's trying to protect you."
Eliana turned slowly "Protect me from what?" Selena hesitated too long.
"Selena," Eliana said, eyes narrowing, "what are you hiding?" selena looked away, voice cracking "I can't say I promised him", eliana dropped her brush, paint splattered like a burst of emotion across the floor.
"You're both lying to me," she said quietly "both of you." Selena stepped back, guilt flooding her face. "Eliana... just be careful, okay? Please things are going to get worse before they get better."
Before eliana could respond, a voice echoed from the hallway:
"Eliana! Are you still inside?"
Mara.
Selena panicked and slipped out the back door, disappearing like a guilty shadow.
That night, Eliana lay in bed staring at the ceiling her mind refused to rest.
Adrian's journal, selena's warning, their secret, their lies, their fear.
What could possibly be so serious that both of them were afraid to speak?
And worse...
Why did they both think she needed protection?
She grabbed her sketchbook, flipping to a blank page her pencil moved on its own, guided by instinct more than thought.
When she finished, she stared at the drawing three figures drowning in a swirl of shadows, a bright light behind them, and in the centre... one girl standing alone, watching the storm spread toward her.
A chill ran through her.
For the first time, she realised something:
This wasn't just about betrayal.
Something bigger was happening.
Something none of them were saying.
And somehow... she was in the middle of it.
Her phone buzzed suddenly a message from an unknown number:
"ELIANA, YOU DON'T KNOW THE FULL STORY MEET ME TOMORROW. ALONE."
Her breath caught.
The sender?
Selena.
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7.7
The Cameron family clinic smelled like lemon polish and impending death. For three years, I'd been a vessel in a cold, forced marriage to Underboss Kade Cameron. But today, the doctor's words would shatter everything.
"No heartbeat," Dr. Finch declared, then, "Stage IV gastric cancer. Terminal." A double death sentence. As the world tilted, a news alert flashed: Kade, my husband, parading his mistress, Carla Shaw, across Europe-"a love that defies family lines."
Dying and carrying his dead child, I overheard nurses gossip Kade wanted me gone for his "true love." I chose to feel the D&C agony, cleansing him from my soul. Stumbling out, Kade accused me of killing his child, then rushed Carla, feigning illness, to OB/GYN, ignoring my bleeding and dying state.
Back at the mansion, I vomited blood, my body failing. Kade watched with disgust, dismissing my terminal diagnosis as a "performance." He called me "collateral," a "debt payment," then left me for his mistress. The last shred of loyalty shattered, replaced by chilling clarity.
I signed the divorce papers he dismissed as a "tantrum," leaving his ring. No longer a Cameron, no longer his possession. With Fluffy, I made one call, choosing to die on my own terms, finally free.
8.4
"How can you smile like that when neither of your fathers are here at your own wedding reception?" Pond asked, eyeing Dunk, who stood in the gallery, smiling towards his newly-wedded husband.
Dunk's smile didn't waver, but his eyes darkened. He turned to Pond, voice sharp, "Do you think I don't care? That I'd go against them on purpose?"
Pond responded without hesitation, "Aren't you doing exactly that?"
"No, I'm not," Dunk snapped. His voice dropped lower, colder. "I'm standing here for my pride-the same pride he crushed. I'm not a child who goes crying to his parents. He destroyed me, P'Pond. Now it's my turn. I'm going to destroy his life-completely."
Pond looked shaken. "You can't marry someone for revenge, Dunk. I told you-I'm here for you. I'll never let anyone from the Guthithanan family hurt you again."
Dunk's voice cracked as he exploded, "But he crossed the line that night!" He scanned the room and quickly pulled Pond into a quieter corner.
His voice was low and furious. "He shattered everything I had. And now, with this marriage, I'm going to make him live with the consequences. He's trapped with me now-forever. I won't let him walk away so easily."
His gaze flicked across the room-directly to Joong, who stood beside Sarawat, calmly speaking to a business partner. Joong caught Dunk's stare and instinctively looked his way.
Dunk raised his champagne glass with a mocking smile. A toast to war.
Joong clenched his jaw, returning the gesture coolly-but his burning eyes slid to Pond, full of rage and warning.
7.1
"You broke the first rule, Princess. That means I get to take something from you. I'll start with this," he said, tugging at my panties and a needy throb ran straight through my core.
"Kyren, don't," I tried but it was to no avail.
He roughly pulled at the flimsy material, covering my most intimate part. The sound of lace ripping, filled the room. And the cool air from the AC bit into my exposed skin.
His hands slid up my back. He unclasped my bra with ease and it soundlessly dropped to the floor. His gaze raked over my trembling form with a satisfied hunger.
"You're not a cheerleader tonight. You're just mine. And I'm going to spend the next few hours showing you exactly what happens when you break my rules," he stated, before pushing my legs wide open with his knee.
××
Hailey thought she could handle the "Ice King." She thought she could seduce him, win the bet, and walk away with her heart intact. But Kyren sees right through her games. He doesn't want her seduction, he wants her submission.
As the lines between a dare and reality blur, Hailey finds herself trapped between her father's expectations and a man who wants to claim every inch of her. In a game where the rules keep changing, Hailey is about to learn that the Ice King doesn't just freeze people out... he burns them down.
9.3
They call Dante Moretti the ruthless and heartless mafia boss. Seven years ago, he made a
deal with Elara Vance. But he used her, broke her, and planned to send her to a medical facility
after she produces an heir.
Scared for her life, Elara ran away. Now, an entirely different person has returned to New York.
She doesn't want his money, and she certainly doesn't want his heart, unless it's on her
operating table.
The girl he destroyed is dead. The woman who replaced her is the only one who can keep him
alive. He's dying for a second chance, but he's just waiting for the first cut.
7.7
Five years of war, three peace summits. One rule that never changed. Ray Carter and Levi Morgan stay on opposite sides, until the night fate decides otherwise. Ray feels nothing, rules everything and answers to no one. He built his empire on control and his reputation on fear, and he has never once lost either.
Then Levi walks into the room. His enemy, his rival. The heir of the pack that took everything from him, his mate. One bond, two men on opposite sides of a war neither of them started. Laws older than their bloodlines demand they reject each other, walk away, and pretend it never happened. But the bond doesn't care about laws and neither, it turns out, does Ray. Someone already knows their secret and someone who has been waiting for exactly this moment.
The question isn't whether Ray and Levi can survive each other. It's whether either of them will survive what's coming and who exactly wants them to find out the hard way?
9.4
I was the daughter of a defeated Alpha, kneeling as a broken war spoil before the ruthless Lycan King, Kaelen Varg.
Through a twisted misunderstanding with a spiked drink, the tyrant lost control. But when he attacked me, an impossible spark ignited between us. His inner wolf roared in triumph, recognizing me as his fated Mate, and he claimed me in the heat of the night.
But the next morning, he woke up with another woman's name on his lips. Realizing he had surrendered to a lowly tribute, his eyes filled with absolute, violent loathing. To erase the humiliation of our bond, he shoved me to the floor like garbage.
"Take her to the Barrens. Leave her there. Make sure she never comes back."
His Beta dragged me to a sealed, sun-baked wasteland crawling with mutated beasts. They clamped silver cuffs onto my wrists, searing my flesh and suppressing my wolf, leaving me to die a slow, agonizing death.
I lay in the scorching dirt, the silver burning into my bones. I couldn't understand how a fated Mate could be so merciless. Why was my life worth less than his twisted pride? Why did I have to be fed to monsters just so he could keep his throne spotless?
The cold rage in my core solidified into a diamond-hard resolve. I forced my bleeding body to stand in the desolate wasteland. I will not die here. I will survive, and I will live to see his kingdom burn.