
Introduction
Then comes Ezra. A quiet, charming art student with a haunting gaze and rumors clinging to his name. They say he was involved in the mysterious death of his teacher. But in his silence, Aveline finds something dangerously alive. The warmth, the attention, the raw emotion she thought she had lost forever.
As their connection deepens, so do the cracks in her perfect facade. Ezra’s eyes feel too familiar. Adrian’s sudden obsession with the boy feels too strange.
And when the brushstrokes of truth begin to emerge, Aveline realizes she’s trapped in a masterpiece of deceit. Painted by the man she married, and colored by the boy who might destroy them both.
Love. Guilt. Obsession.
Some secrets aren’t buried in words, they’re painted in the way someone looks at you.
Chapter 1
The sky faded to a dense, heavy grey, as if mourning Liam. Aveline stood by the small coffin, fingers gripping the edge of her damp black coat. The air was thick with earth and chrysanthemums. Everyone whispered, but to her, the world had lost its sound since the accident.
The coffin was lowered. The grating ropes made Aveline's chest tremble. She held her breath, trying not to cry, but the tears still fell.
Across the grave, Adrian, her husband, stood rigid in a neat black suit. His face was completely expressionless. He seemed calm, stiff, as if he were attending the funeral of a stranger. Not a single tear fell from his eyes, despite the fact that the person in the coffin was his own son.
Aveline looked at him, hoping to see a fraction of the same pain she felt. But there was nothing there, just a blank stare piercing the overcast sky.
She bit her lip. The wound on her leg, a remnant of the accident, still throbbed. Although she was still limping and had to walk with crutches, the physical pain was nothing compared to the huge hole in her chest.
After the priest finished praying, people began to place flowers on the coffin. One by one, their steps receded, leaving Aveline and Adrian still standing silently beside the damp earth.
"He... should still be alive," Aveline finally whispered, barely audible.
Adrian did not answer. Only his eyes were fixed straight on the wet ground.
"Why, Adrian?" Aveline's voice trembled. "Why him, and not me?"
A long silence. Then Adrian's voice, flat, almost breathless. "It was an accident, Aveline. There's nothing we can do."
Those words pierced her sharper than a knife. Accident. It was so easy for him to call it that.
Aveline stared at her husband's face. The face she used to love, the face that now felt distant. Since that night, since the ambulance sirens and the shattering glass, something in Adrian had changed. He stopped hugging, stopped talking, even stopped grieving.
When the ceremony ended, guests offered brief hugs and empty condolences. Adrian accepted everything with mechanical politeness, while Aveline just nodded without hearing.
But as she turned to leave, her gaze was caught. Amidst the crowd starting to descend the cemetery hill, someone stood alone beneath a pine tree. A young man she didn't recognize.
He might have been seventeen or eighteen. He was tall, with narrow shoulders, his black hair wet from the rain. He wore a black jacket that prevented Aveline from seeing where he went to school.
Their eyes met. That gaze froze Aveline. There was something strange there. Not just pity, but warm and penetrating, as if the young man knew her.
Aveline quickly looked away, trying to remember if she had ever seen that face before. No. A foreign face. But somehow it felt familiar.
When she looked back in that direction, the young man was gone.
Only a faint shadow walking away among the gravestones
Adrian's black car drove slowly away from the cemetery. The rain was still falling, leaving thin streaks on the window glass. Aveline stared out the window, seeing the reflection of her own pale face.
In the driver's seat, Adrian was silent. The sound of the engine was the only noise.
It had been like this for days since the accident. No conversation, no touch. Their house felt like a museum. There was only a cold, quiet atmosphere, full of untouchable memories.
"I saw a strange boy at the funeral," Aveline said suddenly, still looking out the window.
Adrian glanced briefly. "Who?"
"A boy. He was standing alone there. As if he knew us, but I'm sure I've never seen him before."
Adrian didn't answer.
Aveline turned to him. "Do you know him?"
"Of course not." His voice was flat. "Many people come to funerals. Maybe he's one of your students?"
"He didn't look like my student."
"Stop it, Aveline." Her husband's tone was rigid. "Don't look for reasons to keep thinking about things that aren't important."
Not important. Aveline stared at the wet road ahead of them. Not important, that was the same word she heard every time she tried to talk about that night. About the car lights going out for a split second, about the strange sound from the engine before they finally hit the tree.
Adrian always answered with the same line. We both survived. Just let it go, forget it.
But nothing was "over." Their son was dead, and in Adrian's eyes, there was nothing to regret.
Their house on the outskirts of the city looked the same as before the accident. The small garden was well-kept, the porch light glowed softly. But when Aveline stepped inside, the air felt empty.
Liam's photo frame still hung on the wall, the boy's bright smile felt like an open wound.
Aveline touched the frame's glass with a trembling finger. "I'm sorry, sweetie," she whispered.
Adrian passed behind her without a word, putting away his coat and heading straight for the study. The sound of the door closing was soft, but to Aveline, it sounded like a wall thickening between them.
She stood for a long time in the living room, staring at the softly glowing lamp.
Her leg still hurt. The small surgical scar on her ankle was still fresh. The doctor said she was lucky to be able to walk again, even if she had to use a walking aid for a while. But luck felt like a mockery.
The rain stopped toward evening. Aveline stood at the window, seeing her reflection in the glass. Her eyes were swollen, her face tired. In the distance, across the street, someone was standing beneath a flickering streetlight.
The young man.
His jacket was the same, his hair messy, and Aveline recognized the look in his eyes. He stood still, staring at the house. The next moment, the streetlight went out briefly, and when it came back on, the figure was gone.
Aveline took a step back, her breath caught. Was she hallucinating? Or was the boy really following her?
She looked toward Adrian's study. The light from behind the thin door showed her husband was still there, busy with his computer as usual. There was no sign that he had seen anything.
Aveline finally closed the curtains, trying to convince herself that it was all just the effect of fatigue and unhealed grief. But deep in her heart, something was beginning to grow. A faint, cold, and disturbing suspicion.
That Liam might not have truly "left because of fate." And that the young man staring at her from the darkness knew something she did not.
Last Chapters
#33 Chapter 33 The Veil of Silence Begins to Lift
Last Updated: 1/14/2026#32 Chapter 32 The Beginning of Aveline’s Story
Last Updated: 1/11/2026#31 Chapter 31 Two Names, One Shadow
Last Updated: 1/11/2026#30 Chapter 30 A Bitter Revelation and a Message from the Shadows
Last Updated: 2/3/2026#29 Chapter 29 Shadows of the Past
Last Updated: 2/3/2026#28 Chapter 28 Wound Sealed With Tears
Last Updated: 2/2/2026#27 Chapter 27 Buried Data
Last Updated: 2/2/2026#26 Chapter 26 The Trails Begin to Connect
Last Updated: 2/2/2026#25 Chapter 25 Aunt Martha's Ban
Last Updated: 2/2/2026#24 Chapter 24 The Embers That Almost Burned
Last Updated: 2/2/2026
You Might Like 😍
Omega Bound
Thane Knight is the alpha of the Midnight Pack of the La Plata Mountain Range, the largest wolf shifter pack in the world. He is an alpha by day and hunts the shifter trafficking ring with his group of mercenaries by night. His hunt for vengeance leads to one raid that changes his life.
Tropes:
Touch her and die/Slow burn romance/Fated Mates/Found family twist/Close circle betrayal/Cinnamon roll for only her/Traumatized heroine/Rare wolf/Hidden powers/Knotting/Nesting/Heats/Luna/Attempted assassination
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother
"What is wrong with me?
Why does being near him make my skin feel too tight, like I’m wearing a sweater two sizes too small?
It’s just newness, I tell myself firmly.
He’s my boyfirend’s brother.
This is Tyler’s family.
I’m not going to let one cold stare undo that.
**
As a ballet dancer, My life looks perfect—scholarship, starring role, sweet boyfriend Tyler. Until Tyler shows his true colors and his older brother, Asher, comes home.
Asher is a Navy veteran with battle scars and zero patience. He calls me "princess" like it's an insult. I can't stand him.
When My ankle injury forces her to recover at the family lake house, I‘m stuck with both brothers. What starts as mutual hatred slowly turns into something forbidden.
I'm falling for my boyfriend's brother.
**
I hate girls like her.
Entitled.
Delicate.
And still—
Still.
The image of her standing in the doorway, clutching her cardigan tighter around her narrow shoulders, trying to smile through the awkwardness, won’t leave me.
Neither does the memory of Tyler. Leaving her here without a second thought.
I shouldn’t care.
I don’t care.
It’s not my problem if Tyler’s an idiot.
It’s not my business if some spoiled little princess has to walk home in the dark.
I’m not here to rescue anyone.
Especially not her.
Especially not someone like her.
She’s not my problem.
And I’ll make damn sure she never becomes one.
But when my eyes fell on her lips, I wanted her to be mine.
The mafia princess return
Surrendering to Destiny
Graham MacTavish wasn't prepared to find his mate in the small town of Sterling that borders the Blackmoore Packlands. He certainly didn't expect her to be a rogue, half-breed who smelled of Alpha blood. With her multi-colored eyes, there was no stopping him from falling hard the moment their mate bond snapped into place. He would do anything to claim her, protect her and cherish her no matter the cost.
From vengeful ex-lovers, pack politics, species prejudice, hidden plots, magic, kidnapping, poisoning, rogue attacks, and a mountain of secrets including Catherine's true parentage there is no shortage of things trying to tear the two apart.
Despite the hardships, a burning desire and willingness to trust will help forge a strong bond between the two... but no bond is unbreakable. When the secrets kept close to heart are slowly revealed, will the two be able to weather the storm? Or will the gift bestowed upon Catherine by the moon goddess be too insurmountable to overcome?
The Biker's Fate
I squeezed my eyes shut.
"Dani," he pressed. "Do you get me?"
"No, Austin, I don't," I admitted as I pulled my robe closed again and sat up. "You confuse me."
He dragged his hands down his face. "Tell me what's on your mind."
I sighed. "You're everything my parents warned me against. You're secretive, but you're also honest. I feel wholly protected by you, but then you scare me more than anyone I've ever known. You're a bad boy, but when I dated a so-called good one, he turned out to be the devil, so, yeah, I don't get you because you're not what I expected. You drive me crazier than anyone I've ever met, but then you make me feel complete. I'm feeling things I don't quite know how to process and that makes me want to run. I don't want to give up something that might be really, really good, but I also don't want to be stupid and fall for a boy just because he's super pretty and makes me come."
Danielle Harris is the daughter of an overprotective police chief and has led a sheltered life. As a kindergarten teacher, she's as far removed from the world of Harleys and bikers as you could get, but when she's rescued by the sexy and dangerous Austin Carver, her life is changed forever.
Although Austin 'Booker' Carver is enamored by the innocent Dani, he tries to keep the police chief's daughter at arm's length. But when a threat is made from an unexpected source, he finds himself falling hard and fast for the only woman who can tame his wild heart.
Will Booker be able to find the source of the threat before it's too late?
Will Dani finally give her heart to a man who's everything she's been warned about?
Invisible To Her Bully
The War God Alpha's Arranged Bride
Yet Alexander made his decision clear to the world: “Evelyn is the only woman I will ever marry.”
The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates
"Let me go," I whimper, my body trembling with need. "I don't want you touching me."
I fall forward onto the bed then turn around to stare at him. The dark tattoos of Domonic's chiseled shoulders, quiver and and expand with the heave of his chest. His deep dimpled smile is full of arrogance as he reaches behind himself to lock the door.
Biting his lip, he stalks toward me, his hand going to the seam of his pants and the thickening bulge there.
"Are you sure you don't want me to touch you?" He whispers, untying the knot and slipping a hand inside. "Because I swear to God, that is all I have been wanting to do. Every single day from the moment you stepped in our bar and I smelled your perfect flavor from across the room."
New to the world of shifters, Draven is human on the run. A beautiful girl who no one could protect. Domonic is the cold Alpha of the Red Wolf Pack. A brotherhood of twelve wolves that live by twelve rules. Rules which they vowed could NEVER be broken.
Especially - Rule Number One - No Mates
When Draven meets Domonic, he knows that she is his mate, but Draven has no idea what a mate is, only that she has fallen in love with a shifter. An Alpha that will break her heart to make her leave. Promising herself, she will never forgive him, she disappears.
But she doesn’t know about the child she’s carrying or that the moment she left, Domonic decided rules were made to be broken - and now will he ever find her again? Will she forgive him?
The Biker Alpha Who Became My Second Chance Mate
"You're like a sister to me."
Those were the actual words that broke the camel's back.
Not after what just happened. Not after the hot, breathless, soul-shaking night we spent tangled in each other's arms.
I knew from the beginning that Tristan Hayes was a line I shouldn't cross.
He wasn't just anyone, he was my brother's best friend. The man I spent years secretly wanting.
But that night... we were broken. We had just buried our parents. And the grief was too heavy, too real...so I begged him to touch me.
To make me forget. To fill the silence that death left behind.
And he did. He held me like I was something fragile.
Kissed me like I was the only thing he needed to breathe.
Then left me bleeding with six words that burned deeper than rejection ever could.
So, I ran. Away from everything that cost me pain.
Now, five years later, I'm back.
Fresh from rejecting the mate who abused me. Still carrying the scars of a pup I never got to hold.
And the man waiting for me at the airport isn't my brother.
It's Tristan.
And he's not the guy I left behind.
He's a biker.
An Alpha.
And when he looked at me, I knew there was no where else to run to.
Rise of the Banished She-Wolf
That roar stole my eighteenth birthday and shattered my world. My first shift should have been glory—blood turned blessing into shame. By dawn they'd branded me "cursed": cast out by my pack, abandoned by family, stripped of my nature. My father didn't defend me—he sent me to a forsaken island where wolfless outcasts were forged into weapons, forced to kill each other until only one could leave.
On that island I learned the darkest edges of humanity and how to bury terror in bone. Countless times I wanted to surrender—dive into the waves and never surface—but the accusing faces that haunted my dreams pushed me back toward something colder than survival: revenge. I escaped, and for three years I hid among humans, collecting secrets, learning to move like a shadow, sharpening patience into precision—becoming a blade.
Then, under a full moon, I touched a bleeding stranger—and my wolf returned with a violence that made me whole. Who was he? Why could he wake what I'd thought dead?
One thing I know: now is the time.
I have waited three years for this. I will make everyone who destroyed me pay—and take back everything that was stolen from me.
Balance of Light and Shadow
Little did she know how much both worlds need her to bring peace and true freedom.
Thornhill Academy
Hunted, haunted, and newly awakened, Allison is dragged into a rebellion built on blood and belief, the same fight her parents died trying to protect. As enemies close in and desire sharpens into something dangerous, she must decide what kind of power she will become. The weapon the Council always wanted. Or the storm that tears their world apart. When Allison rises, kingdoms kneel and when she loves, she loves like war.
Dark Academia | Reverse Harem | Dark Romance | Dark Humour | Action-Packed | Steamy | Unputdownable












