Painted Scars Neva Altaj

Claire Smith has everything money can buy, except freedom. As the pampered daughter of one of Las Vegas’s wealthiest families, her life has always been dictated by her father’s ruthless expectations and his obsession with powerful alliances. But Claire has sworn she’ll never fall into his carefully arranged traps, never marry the men he chooses, never play the dutiful daughter he wants her to be. Then comes Carlos. The blind date that wasn’t supposed to matter… the man who made her feel seen, desired, alive. But before she could dream of a future with him, he shattered her world, ghosting her, breaking her heart, and leaving her with nothing but rage. Fate, however, is cruel. After a near-fatal accident, Claire wakes to find out the man who saved her life is the very one she swore to hate: Carlos. Now he’s everywhere, hovering, tempting, and invading her every breath. Is he her savior? Or her ultimate destruction? One thing is certain: Claire is about to discover that some scars don’t fade… and some obsessions refuse to die

"911 what's your emergency?" "... They killed my friends." It was one of her many dreams where she couldn't differentiate what was real from what was not. A one second thought grew into a thousand imagination and into a world of fantasy. It felt so real and she wanted it so. It was happening again those tough hands crawled its way up her thighs, pleasure like electricity flowed through her veins her body was succumbing to her desires and it finally surrendered to him. Summer camp was a time to create memories but no one knew the last was going to bring scars that would hunt them forever. Emily Baldwin had lived her years as an ordinary girl oblivious to her that she was deeply connected with some mysterious beings she never knew existed, one of which she encountered at summer camp, which was the end of her normal existence and the begining of her complicated one. She went to summer camp in pieces and left dangerously whole with the mark of the creature carved in her skin. Years after she still seeks the mysterious man in her dream and the beast that imprisoned her with his cursed mark.

Thorian Mercier built his empire on power, silence, and control. Sa edad na trenta y dos ay kilala ang pangalawan niya sa buong business world. He never believed in love, only in deals that never fail. Barbara Delos Santos only wanted one thing, to save the only family she has left. Gagawin niya ang lahat para sa kanyang ina, kahit pa ang kapalit nun ay ang sarili niya. Their worlds collide when a marriage of convenience becomes the only path forward. What begins as a cold arrangement turns into a dangerous entanglement of hidden scars, stolen truths, and forbidden longing. He is ruthless and unyielding, a man who has closed every door to his heart. She is brave but broken, a woman who refuses to surrender to despair. At nang magsimulang lumitaw ang mga lihim ng nakaraan, mga ninakaw na kabataan, mapait na pagtataksil, at isang kaaway na hindi titigil hanggang tuluyang masira sila, ang kanilang huwad na kasal ang naging tanging panangga laban sa kapahamakan.

He rejected her in front of the entire kingdom. He crowned her rival queen. Then, he offered her as a sacrifice… to his father. Esmeralda had it all—or so she thought. The future queen. The beloved mate. A father who raised her with honor. But in a single night, everything crumbled. Thorne, the man who once kissed her scars and promised her forever, humiliated her before the entire werewolf court and handed her over as a traitor. Betrayed. Rejected. And pregnant. Marked as a disgrace, Esmeralda escapes into the wild lands with nothing but a heartbeat growing inside her and the ghosts of a love that was never real. But the wilderness holds its own secrets, including a pack of dangerous rogues and a cold, powerful Alpha who wants nothing to do with her. He saved her once. He regrets it already. Now Esmeralda must fight to protect her unborn child, survive a pack that sees her as a threat—and face the one man whose hatred burns as deeply as his stare. But what if the real enemy is the king she once loved? And what if fate still has a crown for her… just not the one she expected?

Five years into marriage, Silvia Serra becomes both Dante Valenti's most lethal weapon and his most invisible presence. She shields him from bullets. She crosses a freezing river for him. Her scars accumulate, and his response is an assumption that it is how things are meant to be. In time, Dante grows repulsed by the violence clinging to her. He derides her lack of charm and gives his warmth to another woman instead. He allows others to grind down her dignity, and with a new lover in his arms, he openly stains her name. Silvia tolerates it so she can continue guarding him. Everyone mocks her as if she's numb to it all, driven away again and again, but never truly gone. Then comes the night of pounding rain. Cast aside without ceremony, Silvia erases every sign she was ever there and leaves with finality. Dante treats it as nothing more than sulking, convinced she will return within three days. Later, the once-untouchable Don was seen on his knees at Silvia's feet, stripped of all pride, begging her to turn back and look at him just once.

My disabled husband, Nico, had lost his will to live. I had to give him a reason to stay—a hope. I had to give him a child. But where was I to find this life for my empty womb? "Lena, how unexpected," my husband’s brother said to me, standing in his penthouse office in the heart of Manhattan. I found myself begging this cruel man—a man who had just left mottled scars on another woman’s skin. I needed him to claim me. I needed him to leave his seed inside me. I needed his child. "If you want to seduce someone," Salvatore said, "you should start by taking off your clothes." I stripped. I held my own breasts and pleasured myself before him, desperate to ignite his desire. But he only shoved his fingers into my mouth, drew his belt, and lashed it across my hips. "Slut," his voice was low and lethal. "You want a child? Then you’d better pray for the moment I finally sink myself into you."

“Tell me, Thalia, does it hurt to be cast aside, thrown to the wolves?” I laughed harshly, “Is this what it feels like? To be nothing? To be forgotten?” “Ronan… please…” Her voice was so soft, so broken that it almost made me feel sympathy for her, but in an instant, I crushed that emotion. I couldn’t allow her tears to sway me. “Don’t you dare cry,” I spat. “Save your pathetic, fake tears. They mean nothing to me now, just like you should have meant nothing to me then.” Thalia Sinclair was once a respected Luna, but her life fell apart when her mate rejected her and sold her to the cruel Rogue Sovereign. Forced to toughen up, she learned to survive alone, with no one to trust. Ronan Kane has waited for the moment to make Thalia pay for the hurt she caused him. But when their paths cross again, anger and pain mix with something neither of them can deny. Can they overcome their broken pasts, or will their scars keep them apart forever? Betrayal cuts deep. Vengeance burns hotter. Love is the deadliest weapon of all.

Ava Fairchild was sure that she’d never find love. Seemingly lost in a sea of self-pity, she was delighted when her appraisal company was given a job in the Caribbean. A once-in-a-lifetime trip to appraise Sebastian Belrose’s billion-dollar estate seemed to be exactly what she needed to relax and enjoy herself. A walk to the beach at dawn gave her a first impression of the billionaire himself, paddle boarding on the gentle waves. He was reserved and mysterious, and Ava wanted to know all of his secrets. His evasiveness and the fact that he forbade her from traveling to his Study just added to his allure, while simultaneously reminding her about the secrets that destroyed her last relationship. Still, every sunrise that they shared together made her fall more desperately in love with him. But Bastian had a reason for keeping to himself. And as Ava saw the scars that criss-crossed his body, she knew that what she had found was a soul not unlike herself. A man who had been damaged. A man who deserved to trust. A man that deserved to love, and to be loved. Would this beauty be able to tame the beast, or would they be left with just memories of sunrise kisses?