The Gilded Frame

The Gilded Frame

avastwrite5 · Ongoing · 60.2k Words

231
Hot
231
Views
0
Added
Add to Shelf
Start Reading
Share:facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

Introduction

When prestigious art dealer Elena Vasquez is connected to "The Canvas Killer" - a serial murderer who has terrorized the nation for fifteen years by leaving victims posed like classical paintings - she becomes the most hated woman in America overnight. Evidence emerges that several artworks in her gallery match the killer's gruesome crime scenes, and the FBI believes she's been helping him select victims and plan his elaborate murders. But as the net closes around her and a bloodthirsty public demands justice, Elena realizes she's been masterfully framed by someone who has been studying her for years. Racing against time before her trial destroys her life forever, she must uncover the truth about a killer who has made art his weapon and her reputation his final masterpiece.

Chapter 1

The morning light streaming through the tall windows of Meridian Gallery made everything look perfect. I stood in the center of my domain, coffee in hand, watching dust particles dance in the golden beams. After fifteen years in the art world, I still got that little thrill seeing my gallery like this—quiet, elegant, waiting for the day to begin.

"Elena, the Times critic is here early," Thomas called from the front desk. My assistant's voice carried that nervous edge it always got when important visitors arrived unannounced.

I smoothed my black blazer and walked toward the entrance. Margaret Chen from the New York Times stood studying our featured piece—a haunting oil painting of Ophelia drowning, her pale dress billowing in dark water. The artist had captured Shakespeare's doomed character with such raw emotion that viewers often stopped mid-sentence when they first saw it.

"Ms. Chen, what a pleasant surprise," I said, extending my hand. "I didn't expect you until this afternoon."

"I wanted to see the collection without the opening night crowd," she replied, her sharp eyes never leaving the painting. "This piece is quite... intense. Tell me about your curatorial choices for this exhibition."

I moved to stand beside her, seeing the painting through fresh eyes. "Classical themes of tragedy and beauty have always fascinated collectors. There's something about these timeless stories that speaks to our deepest emotions. This particular piece explores the thin line between despair and transcendence."

"And you're not concerned about the subject matter? Given recent events in the news?"

I frowned. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"The Canvas Killer case. Surely you've been following it? The FBI released new details yesterday about how the killer poses his victims to recreate famous paintings. Some people might find it unsettling to see tragic classical scenes right now."

My stomach tightened. I'd been so focused on preparing for the exhibition that I'd barely glanced at the news lately. "I don't see any connection between celebrating classical art and some madman's twisted crimes. Art shouldn't be censored because evil people exist."

Margaret nodded thoughtfully, making notes in her phone. "Of course. Can you tell me about this Rothschild piece in the corner? The documentation says it's on loan from a private collector."

I led her to the smaller canvas—a dark painting of Judith holding Holofernes' severed head, her expression both triumphant and haunted. "Dr. Julian Rothschild has been my mentor since graduate school. He has an extraordinary eye for finding these hidden masterpieces. This piece was recently authenticated as being from the workshop of Artemisia Gentileschi."

"Rothschild... the name sounds familiar."

"He's written several books on classical mythology in Renaissance art. Brilliant man. He's been like a father to me since I started in this business."

We spent another twenty minutes discussing the exhibition. Margaret asked thoughtful questions about each piece, and I found myself relaxing into the familiar rhythm of talking about what I loved most. When she left, promising a positive review, I felt that familiar surge of satisfaction. Another successful show, another step forward in building my reputation.

Thomas appeared at my elbow with a stack of messages. "Dr. Rothschild called twice this morning. He sounds excited about something. Also, that Russian collector, Natasha Volkov, wants to schedule another appointment. She's very interested in acquiring more pieces with mythological death scenes."

"Good. Schedule her for next week. And call Dr. Rothschild back—tell him I can meet him for lunch if he's free."

The rest of the morning flew by in a blur of client calls and paperwork. I was reviewing insurance documents when Thomas knocked on my office door, looking pale.

"Elena, you need to see the news."

He held out his tablet, and I found myself staring at a headline that made my blood run cold: "Canvas Killer Claims Fifth Victim—FBI Releases Crime Scene Details." Below the headline was a photograph that stopped my breath entirely.

The victim, a young woman with dark hair, had been posed exactly like the Ophelia painting hanging in my gallery. Every detail was perfect—the flowing dress, the flowers scattered in her hair, even her peaceful expression. It was as if someone had used our featured piece as a blueprint for murder.

"My God," I whispered, sinking into my chair.

"There's more," Thomas said quietly. He scrolled down to show additional photos. "The article mentions that investigators are looking into connections between the crime scenes and known artworks. They think the killer might be getting inspiration from gallery exhibitions."

My hands were shaking as I read the article. The FBI was asking the public to report any suspicious interest in classical paintings depicting death or tragedy. They wanted to hear from gallery owners, museum curators, anyone who dealt with this type of art.

"This is just a coincidence," I said, more to myself than to Thomas. "Millions of people know that painting. It's been reproduced in art books for centuries."

But even as I said the words, I felt a chill running down my spine. The resemblance was too perfect, too exact. Someone had studied our painting very carefully to recreate it so precisely.

My phone rang, startling me. Dr. Rothschild's name appeared on the screen.

"Elena, my dear, have you seen the news?" His familiar voice was filled with concern. "I'm worried about you. This terrible business with that madman copying classical paintings—people might get the wrong idea about your gallery."

"Julian, I just saw it. What should I do?"

"Stay calm. This has nothing to do with you or your work. Art has always been copied by disturbed individuals. Remember when that man in Europe was imitating Van Gogh? These things pass. Don't let fear destroy what you've built."

His steady voice helped calm my racing heart. Julian had guided me through every major decision in my career. If he wasn't worried, maybe I was overreacting.

"You're right. It's just shocking to see something so close to our exhibition."

"I'll come by this afternoon. We should discuss whether to make any changes to the show, just to be safe. In the meantime, don't talk to any reporters about this. Let me handle any inquiries."

After hanging up, I sat staring out the window at the busy Manhattan street. People walked by, going about their normal lives, unaware that somewhere in this city, a killer was using classical art as inspiration for murder.

I had no idea that my name was already on an FBI list.

Last Chapters

You Might Like 😍

Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother

Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother

418.2k Views · Ongoing · Harper Rivers
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother.

"What is wrong with me?

Why does being near him make my skin feel too tight, like I’m wearing a sweater two sizes too small?

It’s just newness, I tell myself firmly.

He’s my boyfirend’s brother.

This is Tyler’s family.

I’m not going to let one cold stare undo that.

**

As a ballet dancer, My life looks perfect—scholarship, starring role, sweet boyfriend Tyler. Until Tyler shows his true colors and his older brother, Asher, comes home.

Asher is a Navy veteran with battle scars and zero patience. He calls me "princess" like it's an insult. I can't stand him.

When My ankle injury forces her to recover at the family lake house, I‘m stuck with both brothers. What starts as mutual hatred slowly turns into something forbidden.

I'm falling for my boyfriend's brother.

**

I hate girls like her.

Entitled.

Delicate.

And still—

Still.

The image of her standing in the doorway, clutching her cardigan tighter around her narrow shoulders, trying to smile through the awkwardness, won’t leave me.

Neither does the memory of Tyler. Leaving her here without a second thought.

I shouldn’t care.

I don’t care.

It’s not my problem if Tyler’s an idiot.

It’s not my business if some spoiled little princess has to walk home in the dark.

I’m not here to rescue anyone.

Especially not her.

Especially not someone like her.

She’s not my problem.

And I’ll make damn sure she never becomes one.

But when my eyes fell on her lips, I wanted her to be mine.
To protect what’s mine

To protect what’s mine

264k Views · Ongoing · Winter Rowe
Amalie is more special than she ever thought possible. Why would the twenty-two-year-old think any different after she has been told she’s nothing for her whole life by her family? Adoptive mother of a three-year-old, Ama has been locked up by her family for the past seven years. But everything changes when her old friends, the Alpha twins, Markus and Calyx, take over the Moonstone pack. Finding out that the twins are her mates, she is a white wolf, and has a connection to the Moon Goddess, is just icing on the cake of her life is a huge mess. Ama just wants a normal life with her mates and protecting her pup, but life rarely gives us what we want. She is thrust into world that she no longer remembers and has forgotten her. Amalie is charged with protecting those closest to her. But she has her own past to overcome as she heals and attempts to move forward. Will she come out alive or lose herself along the way? After all, someone has to be pulling the strings, why not pull her along for the ride?
The Badass Mafia Princess and Family

The Badass Mafia Princess and Family

195k Views · Ongoing · Tonje Unosen
Betty have been living a lie for as long as she can remember. She have been abused by her parents her whole life, even though she is a broken and abused girl in her own home. Outside of those four walls she is a force to be reckoned with! She is not afraid to do what she need to stay alive!
Fangs, Fate & Other Bad Decisions

Fangs, Fate & Other Bad Decisions

208.6k Views · Ongoing · Elizma Du Toit
Some bad decisions come back to bite you. Literally.

After finding out her boyfriend cheated, the last thing she expected was to stumble across a wounded man in an alley. And definitely not one with fangs. But thanks to a mix of cocktails, shame, and her questionable life choices, she takes him home. Turns out, he’s not just any vampire—he’s a king. And according to him, she’s his fated mate.

Now, she’s stuck with an overprotective, brooding bloodsucker who keeps rescuing her, a growing list of enemies who want her dead, and an undeniable attraction that’s making it very hard to remember why falling for a vampire is a terrible idea.

Because if she’s not careful, she won’t just lose her heart—she’ll lose her humanity.
The Prison Project

The Prison Project

192.7k Views · Ongoing · Bethany Donaghy
The government's newest experiment in criminal rehabilitation - sending thousands of young women to live alongside some of the most dangerous men held behind bars...

Can love tame the untouchable? Or will it only fuel the fire and cause chaos amongst the inmates?

Fresh out of high school and suffocating in her dead-end hometown, Margot longs for her escape. Her reckless best friend, Cara, thinks she's found the perfect way out for them both - The Prisoner Project - a controversial program offering a life-changing sum of money in exchange for time spent with maximum-security inmates.

Without hesitation, Cara rushes to sign them up.

Their reward? A one-way ticket into the depths of a prison ruled by gang leaders, mob bosses, and men the guards wouldn't even dare to cross...

At the centre of it all, meets Coban Santorelli - a man colder than ice, darker than midnight, and as deadly as the fire that fuels his inner rage. He knows that the project may very well be his only ticket to freedom - his only ticket to revenge on the one who managed to lock him up and so he must prove that he can learn to love…

Will Margot be the lucky one chosen to help reform him?

Will Coban be capable of bringing something to the table other than just sex?

What starts off as denial may very well grow in to obsession which could then fester in to becoming true love…

A temperamental romance novel.
Goddess Of The Underworld.

Goddess Of The Underworld.

210.5k Views · Ongoing · sheridan.hartin
Left at a pack border with a name and a stubborn heartbeat, Envy grows into the sharpest kind of survivor, an orphaned warrior who knows how to hold a line and keep moving. Love isn’t in the plan…until four alpha wolves with playboy reputations and inconveniently soft hands decide the girl who won’t bow is the only queen they’ll ever take. Their mate. The one they have waited for. Xavier, Haiden, Levi, and Noah are gorgeous, lethal, and anything but perfect and Envy isn’t either. She’s changing. First into hell hound, Layah at her heels and fire in her veins. Then into what the realm has been waiting for, a Goddess of the Underworld, dragging her mates down to hell with her. Then finally into lycan princess, stronger, faster, the moon finally answering back, giving her exactly what she needs to protect her family.

When the veil between the Divine, the Living, and the Dead begins to crack, Envy is thrust beneath with a job she can’t drop: keep the worlds from bleeding together, shepherd the lost, and make ordinary into armor, breakfasts, bedtime, battle plans. Peace lasts exactly one lullaby. This is the story of a border pup who became a goddess by choosing her family; of four imperfect alphas learning how to stay; of cake, iron, and daylight negotiations. Steamy, fierce, and full of heart, Goddess of the Underworld is a why-choose, found-family paranormal romance where love writes the rules and keeps three realms from falling apart.
The mafia princess return

The mafia princess return

192.7k Views · Ongoing · Tonje Unosen
Talia have been living with her mother, stepsister and Stepfather for years. One day she finally get away from them. Suddenly she learn she have more family out there and she have many people that actually love her, something she have never felt before! At least not as she can remember. She have to learn to trust others, get her new brothers to accept her for who she is!
Omega Bound

Omega Bound

306.4k Views · Ongoing · Veronica White
Ayla Frost is a beautiful, rare omega. Kidnapped, tortured, and trafficked to rogue clans and corrupt alphas to do with as they pleased.  Kept alive in her cage, broken and abandoned by her wolf, she becomes mute and has given up on hope for a better life until one explosion changes everything. 

Thane Knight is the alpha of the Midnight Pack of the La Plata Mountain Range, the largest wolf shifter pack in the world. He is an alpha by day and hunts the shifter trafficking ring with his group of mercenaries by night. His hunt for vengeance leads to one raid that changes his life. 

Tropes:
Touch her and die/Slow burn romance/Fated Mates/Found family twist/Close circle betrayal/Cinnamon roll for only her/Traumatized heroine/Rare wolf/Hidden powers/Knotting/Nesting/Heats/Luna/Attempted assassination
“Burn those who burned me!”

“Burn those who burned me!”

118.4k Views · Ongoing · Toddria Holiday
Follow several different stories of betrayal and revenge as the main characters finally seek justice and payback of those who betrayed them!

Burn those who burned me is an anthology book circulated on truth; justice; and REVENGE!

Story #1 The Ballad of Rabena Price.
Story #2 The rebirth of Clara Granger
Story #3 The violin of Graceland Teague
Story #4 The list for Josie Taylor

Story #5 COMING SOON!
Off Limits, Brother's Best Friend

Off Limits, Brother's Best Friend

228.3k Views · Ongoing · Oguike Queeneth
“You are so fucking wet.” He nipped my skin and pulled me up to sink me down his length.

“You are going to take every inch of me.” He whispered as he thrusted up.

“Fuck, you feel so fucking good. Is this what you wanted, my dick inside you?” He asked, knowing I have benticing him since the beginning.

“Y..yes,” I breathed.


Brianna Fletcher had been running from dangerous men all her life but when she got an opportunity to stay with his elder brother after graduation, there she met the most dangerous of them all. Her brother's best friend, a mafia Don. He radiated danger but she couldn't stay away.

He knows his best friend's little sister is off limits and yet, he couldn't stop thinking of her.

Will they be able to break all rules and find closure in each other's arms?
I Am His Wolfless Luna

I Am His Wolfless Luna

348.8k Views · Completed · Heidi Judith
Ethan's fingers kept rubbing back and forth on my clitoris, while his penis kept jumping inside my body. Every joint on my body is sore and screaming for the next orgasm. All too quickly, I feel that electric tension winding tighter, a mounting pressure that threatens to shatter me. My hips lift involuntarily, urging him to continue his exploration, silently pleading for the release I’m so close to tasting.

Ethan also kept emitting deep roars in my ear, 'Damn... I'm going to cum... !!!' His impact became more intense and our bodies kept making slapping sounds.

"Please!! Ethan!!"


As the strongest female warrior in my pack, I was betrayed by those I trusted most, my sister and my best friend. I was drugged, raped, and banished from my family and my pack. I lost my wolf, my honor, and became an outcast—carrying a child I never asked for.

Six years of hard-won survival turned me into a professional fighter, fueled by rage and grief. A summons arrives from the formidable Alpha heir, Ethan, asking me to return as a wolfless combat instructor for the very pack that once banished me.

I thought I could ignore their whispers and stares, but when I see Ethan's emerald-green eyes—the same as my son’s—my world tilts.
Balance of Light and Shadow

Balance of Light and Shadow

84.8k Views · Ongoing · Chandrea
After escaping the brutalities of her pack, the rogue she-wolf is only interested in protecting those she cares for. While protecting the innocents during a royal raid, she runs into a wolf claiming to be the Alpha King and worse yet, he claims she is his Mate. She barely escaped that life alive and has been living as a human since she was a teenager and no one was going to make her go back.

Little did she know how much both worlds need her to bring peace and true freedom.