Burned By His Lies
BLURB
Zara Winterborn believed that marrying Adrian Leighhton was a dream come true and the best thing that had ever happened to her broken childhood. Instead, it tied her to a man whose love hid a dark truth that burned her to ashes.
She overhears a phone call on their honeymoon that shatters her whole world. The love of her life is already married.
Feeling betrayed and desperate after learning she's pregnant, she makes some unthinkable decisions. She fakes an abortion, fakes a miscarriage, and disappears from her old life. Five years later, she returns as a renowned architect. Not as Zara but Aria Sterling with a secret daughter.
Adrian sees her at a gala and his regret transforms into obsession as he hires investigators to dig deeper. He will tear everything down, even his empire and his blood just to win her forgiveness again.
But Adrian isn't the only one who becomes obsessed with her. Even Damien, the stranger who helped her disappear to punish her, has his own plans and wants to use Zara as a weapon for revenge.
As secrets of stolen embryos, hidden mothers, children, unknown siblings, and bloodlines twisted by lies, come to light, Zara must choose. Does she stick with Damien and destroy Adrian forever or does she forgive Adrian and let him into their lives?
She vanished before. Can she disappear again when things get tough?
읽기
Chapter: Chapter 74: Her TearsZara’s PovEverything is a blur as we speed down the road, away from the cafe.I can still feel the burn from the flashes of the camera behind my eyelids.Every accusation and question, each one more humiliating than the last, rings in my ears.My hands are shaking so badly as I sit in the temporary silence of the car. Then my phone starts vibrating all over again, reminding me that my story is currently being read by the world.I pick it up and swipe past the headlines to see hundreds of messages, calls, and emails staring back at me.My stomach twists in worry and I make a split-second decision to turn off my phone and just stare out of the window. The drive back is quiet. The guard doesn't speak to me at first and I don't bother either.I continue thinking.Five years gone.Five years of building and becoming Aria Sterling, washed away in one morning.Five years of working hard and proving that I'm not the same broken girl who left just disappeared before my very own eyes.The gua
최신 업데이트: 2026-06-11
Chapter: Chapter 73: Camera Attack.Adrian’s PovI've never seen a woman so stubborn that she doesn't listen when someone warns her about potential danger. Even kids know the stranger danger rule but Zara with her kind and innocent heart, refuses to see that.Not like I'm trying to lock her up like a prisoner and control her life but she's so blinded in some situations that unless she experiences the danger, she won't believe it.I'm not about to sit back and let her get burnt. Well, more than she's already with the bomb that was just dropped about her identity.Steadying my breath, I pull my thoughts out of blaming to tackle the situation at hand. Blaming her won't help at the moment.“I need you to listen to me and listen carefully,” the words rush out of my mouth so fast I wonder if he made sense of it. “Get her out of there right now.”“Sir?” He questions like he didn't hear what I said.“I said go in there and get her out of that cafe and away from that snake right now,” I spit out, already getting into my car. “Y
최신 업데이트: 2026-06-07
Chapter: Chapter 72: CamerasZara’s PovEvery blog. Every headline. Every social media platform is talking about me and the past I tried so hard to bury.Now it's creeping up on me. Not even creeping up on me because I would have seen it coming if it did. But this, this exploded on me before I could brace myself for the impact. My face is plastered all over the internet for the world to see. I enter the comment section and people are busy dissecting my life and a story I decided to bury with my past self. Now everybody knows my darkest secret. The one I've tried so hard to cover all these years. It has been brought to light.By who? I think but I don’t know.Is it Claudia or Mr Leighton? It could be. But how is this possible?Yes, they know it’s me but who gave them the evidence of me getting out of the car that crashed that night and into another car?Only someone who was there could have that info. Only someone who helped me could do all this. I don’t even know who he was. But why would he want to ruin me af
최신 업데이트: 2026-05-24
Chapter: Chapter 71: The whispersZara’s PovI stand there, watching his car speed down the highway, his screeching tires probably leaving marks on the tar.Just to get away from me.I know my words hurt him because of the way his face fell when I said I wish I hadn't come back.To him, that meant I wish I hadn't given him the opportunity to know his daughter and to become a father.My words were selfish, I know. But with everything happening and above everything else, I don't only fear for my safety but the thought of someone taking Lila or hurting her keeps me up at night.I know Adrian is trying everything he can. But how long can he protect us from his family?They're his family and I'm just a hurt wife who ran away with his child.What if one day they finally get through to him and make him see that he doesn't have to cajole me to get close to her and he can have her all for himself?I don't know if Adrian can do that but I hid something precious to him for five years. At this point, sometimes I'm just waiting f
최신 업데이트: 2026-05-23
Chapter: Chapter 70: Her SecretsAdrian’s POVShe lets out a frustrated sigh and rolls her eyes. She picks up her teacup and continues drinking, as if the topic isn't worth her time.My dad can't equally hide his hatred for the topic. Or the person. I don't understand them. This can't just be baseless hatred. There's something they're not telling me. Something I must find out because I need to make sense of the strong dislike both families have for each other.I can't exactly ask Mr Winterborn since my presence irritates him as well.This is more than Zara and more than me. It's deeper and the only people who can give me an explanation are currently looking bored. Like they would rather talk about better things than their open loathing for a girl who hasn't done anything to them. “I really need you guys to make me understand. Why do you guys hate her so much?” I ask but nobody answers.They act like I'm not talking to them. Like we're in a staring contest but I'm the only one looking at them.But I don't give up.“
최신 업데이트: 2026-05-20
Chapter: Chapter 69: Bar After FightAdrian’s PovI head out for a drink later that evening with Mark and some other guys but my mood doesn’t change. Mark notices and tries to ask me severally if everything is okay but I simply tell him everything is fine.He doesn’t buy it but he doesn’t ask further so the night continues with the guys drinking and chatting and just being guys. Everyone but me though because I'm caught up in my head.I don't mean to come off like a hypocrite but what she said hit me hard. It hurt. I felt the effects of her words straight in my heart. I hurt her more before and I'm trying to understand where she's coming from and why she still has some hesitations when it comes to me.That's why I don't want to share what happened with anybody because it will look like I'm overreacting.I imagine Mark saying ‘Bro you did worse and she still let you into her life. Those were just words. Yours were actions and your actions will forever hurt her more than her words will.”“Adrian?” I come back to the focus
최신 업데이트: 2026-05-20
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