George Byrne: Post Truth

What happens when your life is just a lie? What happens when you finally find out that none of what you believe to be real is real? What if you met someone who made you question everything? And what happens when your life is nothing but a fiction carved by Mr. Fiction himself? "The truth is rarely pure and never simple." — Oscar Wilde. Disclaimer: this story touches on depression, losing someone, and facing reality instead of taking the easy way out. ( ( ( part of TBNB Series, this is the story of Clarabelle Summers's writers ))

𝐀 𝐅𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐆𝐄. 𝐀 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐁𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐌𝐀𝐍. 𝐀 𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐒 𝐋𝐈𝐄. John Flord Congreene has it all—wealth, power, and an empire at his feet. At 27, he reigns as the meticulous president of Congreene Allure Blue Company, a business built by his family. But beneath his carefully controlled world, a storm is brewing. His grandfather’s debts threaten to shatter the Congreene legacy, dragging everything he’s ever known into ruin. The only solution? A strategic marriage to the billionaire's daughter, a 24-year-old, dazzling, charming heiress named Garnet Marie Sytone,—the key to reclaiming their fortune. John thought he was the one hiding secrets. But he never expected that the woman he married was a masterpiece of deception. What happens when he uncovers the truth—that their marriage was never real? When every kiss, every touch, was based on a carefully crafted lie? Will he fight for a love he never believed in? Or will he walk away, letting betrayal consume them both? 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞. 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐭. 𝐀 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠. Can their love survive the ultimate betrayal? WARNING: This story contains mature content and language that are not suitable for young readers. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Jordan Elaine believed marriage was meant to feel safe. 💍 Married to Jay Johnson and a brilliant, high-profile corporate defense attorney ⚖️ whose reputation is built on control, precision, and protecting powerful secrets, and she thought stability was the reward for loving a man who never lost. But somewhere between Jay’s late nights 🌙, ironclad silences 🤐, and emotional distance, Jordan begins to vanish inside her own life. When Jay’s longtime best friend, Calloway Rhys, returns after years away, Jordan finds something she hasn’t felt in a long time: seen 👀. Heard 💬. Valued 💖. What begins as quiet conversations and shared loneliness slowly becomes an emotional lifeline, and then a single, devastating mistake 💔. The affair shatters a marriage, destroys a lifelong friendship, and leaves Jordan carrying the blame for a betrayal everyone is eager to simplify. Jay walks away untouched 🧊. Calloway disappears 🚪. Jordan is left to rebuild herself from shame 😞, grief 🩸, and the wreckage of loving the wrong men. Years later, the past resurfaces with a truth far darker than the affair itself 🕷️. Jordan uncovers a secret buried beneath Jay’s polished career, and one that reveals her heartbreak was never accidental ⚠️, and that manipulation, not love, shaped her marriage from the start. Forced to confront the men who broke her, Jordan must finally decide who she will be without. Forgiveness 🤍. Love 💞. Or freedom ✨. This time, the choice is hers. And sometimes, the greatest love story begins only after you walk away 🚶‍♀️🌅.

My son, Archie Burton, has a bad habit of being painfully honest. I ask him, "Am I handsome?" "To be honest, Dad," he says, "you're the ugliest dad in the whole kindergarten." My mother-in-law tears into me for being a spendthrift after I buy Archie an expensive backpack, and I ask him how he feels about it. "Honestly," he says, "it makes me happy to watch you get chewed out." My wife asks him jokingly if he'll take care of me when I get old. "No way am I looking after him," he says. "When he gets old, he should just die." My heart sinks. But Archie just smiles. "I'm only telling the truth!" Then the police come by to conduct a census check and ask him a few simple questions. He is brutally honest as usual. Only this time, he regrets it for the rest of his life.

My crippled sister, Monica Porter, jumped from the roof of the classroom building. The day before she died, she had just been fitted with the custom prosthetic legs I had paid for with ten years of savings. She was glowing, excited to finally stand up on her own. But my wife's best friend, a guy she said was just like a brother to her, locked Monica inside an empty art room. He smashed her new legs, forced her to crawl on the floor and lick paint clean to retrieve the broken parts, and recorded everything on video. And my wife, a judge, ultimately ruled that the case could not stand. "The video cannot confirm the time it was recorded and may represent consensual performance art between both parties," she said. Sandra Pauley's final judgment was simple. "The deceased had a history of depression. The school and the defendant bear no responsibility." I smiled and cooked her a full table of food. The next day, I hung the bully, Eric Hoyles, from the school's flagpole and livestreamed it to the entire internet. "Honey, remember how you said Monica had such pretty legs?" I raised a claw hammer and brought it down on his ankle. "If you don't hand over the video evidence right now, I'll hook out his Achilles tendon one strand at a time and let him learn what it feels like to crawl!" The wind passed through. His screaming broke apart in the air, mixing with the strained creaking of the flagpole until it sounded almost like music. The live chat went insane. Meanwhile, I laughed until my eyes filled with tears.

I was a painter, but a car accident took my eyesight. When I was at my lowest, it was my childhood friend, Connor Pitt, who stayed by my side the whole time. He became the only light left in my life. Later, we got married. However, two years into our marriage, I accidentally discovered a recording on the computer. “Connor, thank you for saving me. But you hid the truth from Faye and took her corneas for me. When she wakes up, how are you going to explain it to her? What if she calls the police?” “She won’t find out the truth. I won’t let her. She’s blind anyway. I’ll marry her and keep her under my control, right by my side. June, for you, I’d do anything.” I was stunned, and a shiver ran down my spine. The salvation I thought I had found had been a lie from the very beginning. After sending a copy of the recording to my phone, I scheduled an abortion at the hospital. If that was the case, then it was time for us to go our separate ways.