Better Than Before Lynn Painter Novels & Stories

"Happiness is a four letter word.I’ve never been happy before, never experienced love, until I met Nathan. He’s my happy place, and my husband.Everything should be rainbows and unicorns, but it’s not.The problem is, the past doesn’t stay buried, and ours is popping up in spades.A trial. A warning.Reciprocity is at hand.The battle for survival has begun."

Camden Price's true love, Lynn Gardner, died on my surgery table. Unexpectedly, the malicious Camden chose to protect me from backlash and even proposed to me. He treated me extraordinarily well after we got married. Camden would take me to taste the hottest chili. We would sign up for the most death-defying activities like bungee jumping. When it was late at night, he would take me to the rowdiest and most dangerous bars to drink our hearts away. All this led to me contracting stomach cancer. During my late-stage cancer, I found the diary he left at home. Everything he did with me was what Lynn wanted to do with him. On the last page of his diary, he wrote hatefully, "She deserves to die." I did die. I died after Lynn was found alive. She had faked her death. I died on the day Lynn was marrying another man. You should be happy now, Camden.

I married my vampire husband ten years ago and gave him a half-blood heir, abandoning my career as a painter to become a full-time mother. Fortunately, my son inherited my talent. At just six years old, he held his first solo art exhibition, inspired by the theme "My Mother." But he never let me attend, and he never let me see his paintings. My husband said my presence would make Luke nervous---that I should stay home and do the housework as a good wife and mother, and wait for them to come back. I told myself he was just young and didn't know better, that he was only pushing back against my discipline, not truly rejecting me. Until the day I snuck into the gallery wearing a surgical mask pulled low. In the center of the crowd, my husband held our son's hand while tenderly pulling a woman in a red dress into his arms. He turned to the guests and announced: "This is Luke's mother---my wife." The three of them stood together, beaming with perfect happiness. And I---the one who'd stayed up all night setting up this exhibition---stood before the paintings while not a single person recognized me. That was when I finally understood. My seemingly gentle, caring vampire husband had long ago given our son a replacement mother. And I was nothing more than the human nanny who'd served her purpose by producing an heir.

My mom is terrified of being laughed at by others the most. Whenever the holidays are here, she will keep repeating one sentence to me—"Don't go around embarrassing me." When my relatives gather around and chat with each other, I accidentally knock a fruit platter over. Mom drags me over and slaps me on the spot. At the holiday feast, I grab extra pieces of steak for myself. Mom responds by kicking my chair over. When it's time for the holiday gifts to be distributed, my aunt, Gabriella Hall, has miscalculated the number of children present among the family. So, she has prepared one less gift for the occasion. Mom doesn't hesitate to kick me out of the apartment, leaving me shivering in the cold corridor in just my indoor clothes. The icy winds chill me to the bone. I keep slamming my palms on the front door while screaming and crying my apologies at Mom, and yet she remains unmoved and silent. Instead, she turns to face Aunt Gabriella with an apologetic smile on her face. "I'm really sorry. I didn't raise my daughter well. It's only fair that you ridicule me." What Mom doesn't know is that I get triggered whenever I hear the word "ridicule" thanks to her so-called parenting lessons. Whenever I hear that word, I want nothing more than to hurt myself uncontrollably. So when I hear the word "ridicule" coming out of Mom's mouth through the front door, I turn on my heel quietly and begin making my way toward the bridge next to the neighborhood that's plunged into darkness. The moment I jump from the bridge, the only thought I have is, "Mom, no one will ridicule you because of me this time."

After the hybrids were freed from Joshua, one hybrid finds her world will be forever changed when the man she thought was her father walks out on her and her mother, like she meant little or nothing to him. Willow finds herself broken to the point that she decides to leave the hybrid pack and joins the Red Moon pack, to escape the abuse that she has endured for the past year. But when Willow finds her mate, she finds it hard to trust him and allow herself to feel for him. She puts up walls to protect herself because she finds herself not believing in mate bond. Willow also finds herself having a mate-like connection to another wolf within the pack and she is drawn to him. She begins to put more trust in him than her own mate. Will Willow allow herself to feel and accept the mate bond between her and her mate? Or will the broken Willow run from another pack to escape more heartache and pain brought by a mate bond only to find another mate waiting for her? Will her mate's bonds be a blessing or a curse that she can't escape from?

"Previously published as Abducted by K.I. LynnThe mafia never lets you go.I thought I was safe, free, but I never expected to find myself locked in a cage.I’m in his territory. His prison.The beast.A fate worse than death awaits me if I can’t get away, so when the opportunity of salvation presents itself I grab it, even if I’m not sure I can trust the hand I’m holding.The only way out is through, exposing secrets and spilling blood.Things aren’t how they appear. Nobody is what they seem.Not even me.**Due to the dark and explicit nature of this book, it is recommended for mature audiences only as some scenes may be particularly disturbing. There are triggers.**"

At that exact moment, it hit me—I was never even a side character in this novel. I was just a pitiful nobody, not even worth a name in the story. In the original plot, I’d loved the wrong guy for six whole years, only to end up betrayed, locked away, and left to die a horrible death in the red-light district. But now, I’d woken up. I knew how the story was supposed to go, and I was never gonna follow that damned script to my inevitable end. To escape and get back at everyone who’d hurt me, who’d betrayed me, I set my sights on a man no one dared to mess with—my boyfriend’s adoptive father, Alexander Knight, the famous “Ice Tycoon” of the upper class. This alpha was cold, ruthless, and known for his unbreakable self-discipline. I’d planned to get close to him, seduce him—even sell my body if I had to—just to get his protection and run from the fate I’d suffered in my past life. But I never could’ve guessed that the second I stepped into his world, everything would start to spiral out of control. Caught between revenge, desire, and a destiny that was supposed to be set in stone, I had to make a choice: walk away before everything fell apart, or risk it all to take a role that was never meant for me. When fate stopped playing favorites, not everyone could handle losing their spot as the hero.

"His body was sin and I was a sinner.To keep myself safe I hide in the world and let life move around me.My new partner, Nathan, isn’t safe. Far from it.The darkness coils around him, hidden by a shield created by a blinding smile. But those who live in shadows see past the façade we create.Even in darkness, there is light. A spark that ignites, then explodes.Every filthy word from his mouth, every possessive touch—I crave them, need them. Violent and passionate and everything I need to fill the void inside me, but one thing is missing.He can never love me.More than my heart is on the line, and I don’t know if I’ll survive our breach."

To fulfill a promise to her late father, Aubrey Lynn posts an ad to hire a fake Boyfriend for Christmas

What do you do when you find out your fiancé is the biggest douche on Earth? A Liar, and a traitor? Your heart shatters into a thousand pieces. Madison finds out that her longtime boyfriend Gustaf has leaked videos of them together all over the internet for the whole world to see. Disappointed and heartbroken, she decides to leave her boyfriend without confrontation. With no money of her own and no , she calls Stanley, her big brother who raised her. Stanley agrees to let Madison move in with him. As two former orphans, her brother is overprotective of her, but so is her brother's best friend, Victor Giovanni, who she has been trying to avoid for the last few years. Why? Because crushing on your brother's best friend never ends well. Madison knew she had to bury her emotions for Victor years ago. Victor is infuriatingly handsome and wealthy. Madison doesn't know how he can afford to live a life in such luxury, but she knows it might be better to be kept in the dark because some secrets aren't meant to be revealed. But what do you do when you return home only to find out your childhood crush is now a beautiful man full of mysteries?