Painted Secrets

Painted Secrets

Andrea Kugy · Ongoing · 36.4k Words

348
Hot
348
Views
0
Added
Add to Shelf
Start Reading
Share:facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

Introduction

When a picture-perfect marriage shatters after the death of their son, Aveline’s life turns into muted colors and empty canvases. Her husband, Adrian, once her muse and anchor, becomes a stranger. Distant, cold, and drowning in secrets she can’t name.
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

You Might Like 😍

Omega Bound

Omega Bound

2.1m Views · Completed · Veronica White
Ayla Frost is a beautiful, rare omega. Kidnapped, tortured, and trafficked to rogue clans and corrupt alphas to do with as they pleased.  Kept alive in her cage, broken and abandoned by her wolf, she becomes mute and has given up on hope for a better life until one explosion changes everything. 

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

Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother

2.6m Views · Ongoing · Harper Rivers
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.
How Not To Fall For A Dragon

How Not To Fall For A Dragon

270.8k Views · Completed · Kit Bryan
I never applied to the Academy for Magical Beings and Creatures.

Which is why it was more than a little confusing when a letter arrived with my name already printed on a schedule, a dorm waiting, and classes picked out as if someone knew me better than I knew myself. Everyone knows the Academy, it’s where witches sharpen their spells, shifters master their forms, and every kind of magical creature learns to control their gifts.

Everyone except me.

I don’t even know what I am. No shifting, no magic tricks, nothing. Just a girl surrounded by people who can fly, conjure fire, or heal with a touch. So I sit through classes pretending I belong, and I listen hard for any clue that might tell me what’s hidden in my blood.

The only person more curious than me is Blake Nyvas, tall, golden-eyed, and very much a Dragon. People whisper that he’s dangerous, warn me to keep my distance. But Blake seems determined to solve the mystery of me, and somehow I trust him more than anyone else.

Maybe it’s reckless. Maybe it’s dangerous.

But when everyone else looks at me like I don’t belong, Blake looks at me like I’m a riddle worth solving.
Alpha Nicholas's Little Mate

Alpha Nicholas's Little Mate

1.2m Views · Ongoing · Becky j
"Mate is here!"
What? No—wait… oh Moon Goddess, no.
Please tell me you're joking, Lex.
But she's not. I can feel her excitement bubbling under my skin, while all I feel is dread.
We turn the corner, and the scent hits me like a punch to the chest—cinnamon and something impossibly warm. My eyes scan the room until they land on him. Tall. Commanding. Beautiful.
And then, just as quickly… he sees me.
His expression twists.
"Fuck no."
He turns—and runs.
My mate sees me and runs.
Bonnie has spent her entire life being broken down and abused by the people closest to her including her very own twin sister. Alongside her best friend Lilly who also lives a life of hell, they plan to run away while attending the biggest ball of the year while it's being hosted by another pack, only things don't quite go to plan leaving both girls feeling lost and unsure about their futures.
Alpha Nicholas is 28, mateless, and has no plans to change that. It's his turn to host the annual Blue Moon Ball this year and the last thing he expects is to find his mate. What he expects even less is for his mate to be 10 years younger than him and how his body reacts to her. While he tries to refuse to acknowledge that he has met his mate his world is turned upside down after guards catch two she-wolves running through his lands.
Once they are brought to him he finds himself once again facing his mate and discovers that she's hiding secrets that will make him want to kill more than one person.
Can he overcome his feelings towards having a mate and one that is so much younger than him? Will his mate want him after already feeling the sting of his unofficial rejection? Can they both work on letting go of the past and moving forward together or will fate have different plans and keep them apart?
Goddess Of The Underworld

Goddess Of The Underworld

765.6k Views · Completed · Sheridan Hartin
Left at a pack border with a name and a stubborn heartbeat, Envy grows into the sharpest kind of survivor, an orphaned warrior who knows how to hold a line and keep moving. Love isn’t in the plan…until four alpha wolves with playboy reputations and inconveniently soft hands decide the girl who won’t bow is the only queen they’ll ever take. Their mate. The one they have waited for. Xavier, Haiden, Levi, and Noah are gorgeous, lethal, and anything but perfect and Envy isn’t either. She’s changing. First into hell hound, Layah at her heels and fire in her veins. Then into what the realm has been waiting for, a Goddess of the Underworld, dragging her mates down to hell with her.

When the veil between the Divine, the Living, and the Dead begins to crack, Envy is thrust beneath with a job she can’t drop: keep the worlds from bleeding together, shepherd the lost, and make ordinary into armour, breakfasts, bedtime, battle plans. Peace lasts exactly one lullaby. This is the story of an orphan pup who became a goddess by choosing her family; of four imperfect alphas learning how to be better. Steamy, fierce, and full of heart, Goddess of the Underworld is a reverse harem, found-family paranormal romance where love writes the rules and keeps three realms from falling apart.
Falling For The Biker: The Vice President's Girl

Falling For The Biker: The Vice President's Girl

300k Views · Completed · Lily S.W
"Do you feel that, Wren? That pull between us?"
His eyes darken, flicking to my mouth.
"It's wrong. Your brother would slit my throat for just standing this close. But tell me, little bird" his breath ghosts my skin, "are you trembling because you hate me… or because you've wanted this just as much as I have?"
Wren thought she'd buried the chaos of New Orleans for good—the clubs, the blood-soaked loyalties, the men who lived and died by their kuttes. Seattle gave her everything she ever wanted: freedom, love, a future.
But one betrayal shatters it all.
Dragged home by tragedy, Wren finds herself under the watchful eye of Ezra Jax—the Raven Reapers MC's vice president and her brother's best friend. He's infuriating, dangerous, and far too tempting for a man she should never touch.
And the deeper Wren is pulled back into his world, the more she realizes nothing about her past—or about Ezra—is what she believed.
In the chaos of gang wars, mounting debts, and old betrayals, he becomes the one constant. The more she fights him, the harder she falls. And the more he pushes her away, the more lethal his pull becomes.
Because in this world, love isn't sweet.
It's brutal. Bloody.
And it's bound to break them both.
When loyalty is everything and love can cost your life, will Wren risk her heart on the one man she was never meant to love?
A pack of their own

A pack of their own

1.9m Views · Completed · dragonsbain22
Being the middle Child ignored and neglected, rejected by family and injured, She receives her wolf early and realizes she is a new type of hybrid but doesn't know how to control her power, she leaves her pack with her best friend and grandmother to go to her grandfather's clan to learn what she is and how to handle her power and then with her fated mate, her best friend and her fated mate little brother and grandmother start their own pack.
The mafia princess return

The mafia princess return

835.9k Views · Completed · Tonje Unosen
Talia have been living with her mother, stepsister and Stepfather for years. One day she finally get away from them. Suddenly she learn she have more family out there and she have many people that actually love her, something she have never felt before! At least not as she can remember. She have to learn to trust others, get her new brothers to accept her for who she is!
The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates

The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates

2m Views · Ongoing · Jaylee
Soft hot lips find the shell of my ear and he whispers, "You think I don't want you?" He pushes his hips forward, grinding into the back of my ass and I groan. "Really?" He chuckles.

"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?
Let Them Kneel

Let Them Kneel

225.4k Views · Ongoing · My Fantasy Stories
Kaelani spent her life believing she was wolfless.
Cast out by her pack. Forgotten by the Lycans.
She lived among humans—quiet, invisible, tucked away in a town no one looked at twice.

But when her first heat comes without warning, everything changes.

Her body ignites. Her instincts scream. And something primal stirs beneath her skin—
summoning a big, bad Alpha who knows exactly how to quench her fire.

When he claims her, it’s ecstasy and ruin.

For the first time, she believes she’s been accepted.
Seen.
Chosen.

Until he leaves her the next morning—
like a secret never to be spoken.

But Kaelani is not what they thought.
Not wolfless. Not weak.
There is something ancient inside her. Something powerful. And it’s waking.

And when it does—
they’ll all remember the girl they tried to erase.

Especially him.

She’ll be the dream he keeps chasing… the one thing that ever made him feel alive.

Because secrets never stay buried.
And neither do dreams.
The Human Among  Wolves

The Human Among Wolves

709.9k Views · Ongoing · ZWrites
"You actually thought I cared about you?" His smirk was sharp, almost cruel.
My stomach twisted, but he wasn’t finished.
"You're just a pathetic little human," Zayn said, his words deliberate, each one hitting like a slap. "Spreading your legs for the first guy who bothers to notice you."
Heat rushed to my face, burning with humiliation. My chest ached — not from his words alone, but from the sick realization that I had trusted him. That I had let myself believe he was different.
I was so, so stupid.
——————————————————
When eigteen-year-old Aurora Wells moves to a sleepy town with her parents, the last thing she expects is to be enrolled in a secret academy for werewolves.
Moonbound Academy is no ordinary school. It's here young Lycans, Betas and Alphas train in shifting, elemental magic, and ancient pack laws. But Aurora? She's just...human. a mistake. The new receptionist forgot to check her species - and now she's surrounded by predators who sense she doesn't belong.
Determined to stay under the radar, Aurora plans to survive the year unnoticed. But when she catches the attention of Zayn, a brooding and infuriatingly powerful Lycan prince, her life gets a lot more complicated. Zayn already has a mate. He already has enemies. And he definitely doesn't want anything to do with a clueless human.
But secrets run deeper than bloodlines at Moonbound. as Aurora unravels the truth about the academy - and herself - she begins to question everything she thought she knew.
Including the reason she was brought here at all.
Enemies will rise. Loyalties will shift. And the girl with no place in their world...might be the key to saving it.
Invisible To Her Bully

Invisible To Her Bully

539.6k Views · Ongoing · sunsationaldee
Unlike her twin brother, Jackson, Jessa struggled with her weight and very few friends. Jackson was an athlete and the epitome of popularity, while Jessa felt invisible. Noah was the quintessential “It” guy at school—charismatic, well-liked, and undeniably handsome. To make matters worse, he was Jackson’s best friend and Jessa’s biggest bully. During their senior year, Jessa decides it was time for her to gain some self-confidence, find her true beauty and not be the invisible twin. As Jessa transformed, she begins to catch the eye of everyone around her, especially Noah. Noah, initially blinded by his perception of Jessa as merely Jackson’s sister, started to see her in a new light. How did she become the captivating woman invading his thoughts? When did she become the object of his fantasies? Join Jessa on her journey from being the class joke to a confident, desirable young woman, surprising even Noah as she reveals the incredible person she has always been inside.