Novel & Cerita The Pretty Lies The Ugly Truth

I watched as he went back up to the porch and opened the door. “I got arrested.” That still made no sense. There had to be more. “We’d been having issues and I fell back on some things I’d been doing before I met her. I lied about it and downplayed the whole situation. I didn’t realize the whole story would make the evening news. We’d just sat down to watch a movie when my face popped up on the screen along with—” He cut himself off and forced a smile. “She’d been struggling for a while with post-partum depression and things from your dad. I never thought it would escalate to what it did.”

The kind that warns you something terrible is coming. Albert reached for a folder lying on the table beside him. Slowly, carefully, almost reluctantly. Then he placed it in front of me. My gaze dropped to it. The folder was thick, packed with documents, evidence, secrets, and answers. Whatever was inside had the power to change everything. I looked back at Albert. My voice shook. "What's in there?" His expression hardened. And when he answered, his words sent terror racing through me. "The reason your family has been living a lie for seven years."

And above all… do your best to speak only truth, or the Game will know. Lies are the currency of the damned. ] Farrah took a deep breath as she carefully read the rules. This was her lifeline after all. She had basically just died from the car accident, and she didn’t want to die again. If there was a chance of survival, she might as well cling to it. Still, she couldn’t help but feel nervous. This simply felt too unreal. “This is insane…” she whispered. “It’s a nightmare. It has to be.”

“I’m just telling the truth.” I wanted to slap him. Or maybe I wanted to scream. I couldn’t decide which. “You don’t know anything about truth,” I hissed. “You live in Marco’s shadow, doing his dirty work, thinking that makes you better than everyone else. It doesn’t.” He tilted his head slightly, his tone still calm. “And yet, here you are — living under his roof.” “This is Cal’s roof technically, not Marco's.” “Hmmm, is it now?”

“What I can't offer is love. I don't know what that feels like yet. I might learn. I might not. I won't promise you a feeling I don't currently have access to just to make this easier to accept.” I'd been lied to my whole life by people who smiled while doing it. Thomas's warm certainty over dinner. Jaxon's practiced devotion before it curdled into something that killed me. Even Aurelia's soft, wounded voice, engineered down to the last syllable. Nobody had ever handed me an ugly truth instead of a pretty lie and let me decide what to do with it. “That's the most honest thing anyone in this world has ever said to me,” I told him, and meant it more than he probably understood.

My head was pounding. "How was your night?" he asked. "It was fine," I said. He was leaning on the counter. "Just fine?" "Yes." Lucas looked at me a couple of seconds. "You're lying." "I'm not." "You're terrible at lying." He snorted. "I'm not discussing it." He put up both hands in self-defence. "Okay. Fine. Keep your secrets." He hesitated and then he said, “You going to the hospital?” "Yes." He nodded. "Call me if you need anything."

The silence is relaxing and beautiful-- this is what I need and what I want, the responsibility, guilt, and regrets were eating me alive but realizing and taking my time changed everything especially when Leira came into my life, the first time I saw her smile at me, while her little hands held my finger-- that's when I knew that I found the thing I've been looking for and it took me months to realize that but it was all worth it. The lies-- were made for someone to believe what they're not supposed to know and it's something we can't even avoid, lying and keeping secrets. When we love someone we intend to lie to keep them safe-- some were to keep them, it's not something to be proud of but

The room was immaculate, down to the last tiny detail, with soft pastel colors, a delicate crib, and minuscule clothes folded neatly in the drawers. It all had been a lie. I was blinded by the tears, which welled up into my eyes. I allowed myself to cry for the first time in years as my body shook with sobs and clung to a minute knitted blanket. "I'm tired of this," I said into the quiet. "Tired of the pretend game. Tired of all these lies." But what's the alternative? If that truth comes out, then Dorian will cast me aside without a backward glance. And if Amelia should return.

Like smoke in your lungs—delicate, but suffocating. “He did live here once,” I said, gently prying Cole’s fingers from the glass. “This is still his home.” Cole growled under his breath, his frown deepening. Lloyd didn’t even glance our way. Not once. The longer I watched them, the more I saw the differences. Subtle, but there. Lloyd’s hair was neat, trimmed with intention—just like when we were young. Cole’s remained longer on top, carelessly styled, as if always halfway to a fight. They were both beautiful, but in different, jarring ways. Like mirrored blades—each dangerous, each distinct.

They sang in unison, except Seon of course. He looked like he wanted the world to end tonight. “Boaz!” Lev and Hiro says. They are playing this game, ‘two truths one lie’ where the participant would say three things about himself, and the rest guesses which is the lie. Anyone who guesses wrong will have to drink, but if everyone guesses right, then the participant will have to drink everyone’s worth of drinks. Both Seon and I never agreed to participate but we got dragged into joining. “One, I was a troublemaker in high school. Two,” he pauses, fidgeting with his glass. “I don’t have anyone I like right now. Three, I have already had sex before.”