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The Secret Woman

The Halloway Secret

When Violet Rowe accepts a tutoring position at the grand yet isolated Halloway estate, she expects a quiet job teaching the youngest siblings, Clara and Theodore. Instead, she steps into a house haunted by the shadows of its past—whispers of a family tragedy, cold gazes from the remaining heirs, and a lingering sense that something is terribly wrong. Two years ago, Lysandra Halloway was found dead in her bedroom—murdered, the family claims, by an intruding burglar. Shortly after, Eleanor Halloway, the children's mother, wasted away from grief. Yet as Violet settles into the mansion, she notices something unsettling: no one speaks of the deceased with love. There is no mourning, only an eerie absence of sorrow. Theodore, ever the devoted brother, is protective of Clara—too protective. Clara, fragile and anxious, seems burdened by a secret too heavy to bear. Felix and Everett, the older brothers, are aloof, always watching but never saying too much. Ophelia, sharp-tongued and temperamental, treats the past as a nuisance best forgotten. And Augustus Halloway, the formidable head of the family, warns Violet to keep her curiosities in check. But as Violet begins to notice strange behaviors, unspoken tensions, and gaps in the family's carefully told history, she realizes the Halloways are hiding something. The deeper she digs, the more dangerous the truth becomes. Because in this house, the past never stays buried. And someone is watching.
TheGreyyLadyy_ · 3K Views

A Woman Without a Mask

At 28, Clara Hayes has mastered the art of wearing masks. To her colleagues, she’s the perpetually cheerful graphic designer who never misses a deadline. To her overbearing mother, she’s the dutiful daughter hiding her anxiety behind polished smiles. To the world, she’s a woman who “has it all together”—except she’s crumbling inside. Clara’s life unravels during a corporate presentation where a panic attack strips her façade raw. Humiliated and exhausted, she flees to a quiet coastal town, renting a cottage owned by an eccentric, free-spirited potter named Marisol. There, Clara stumbles upon a dusty journal in the attic, its pages filled with haunting sketches and anonymous confessions from a woman who once lived there decades earlier. The entries mirror Clara’s own suffocating duality: “I paint myself in colors the world approves of, but my soul is a grayscale.” As Clara tentatively befriends Marisol and a reclusive widower, Eli, who runs the town’s crumbling bookstore, she begins confronting the lies she’s told herself for years. Through their unconventional guidance—and the journal’s cryptic wisdom—she starts shedding her masks one by one. But vulnerability comes at a cost: her corporate career teeters, her mother’s disapproval intensifies, and a buried trauma from her teenage years resurfaces, threatening to drown her newfound courage. When Clara’s raw, unfiltered artwork—created in secret—goes viral, she faces a choice: return to the safety of her old illusions or step into the terrifying freedom of living unapologetically. But the journal hides a final secret, linking Clara’s journey to the cottage’s mysterious past, forcing her to question whether true authenticity is a rebellion… or a homecoming.
Daoist5CDTxH · 1.7K Views
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