Bleeding Through the Veil of Scars

Prologue

There's always a moment before blood spills-a brief silence, thick and pregnant with dread, where time stretches and the world holds its breath.

I've lived through enough of these moments to know when they're coming.

You can feel it in your bones. In the way the air seems to cling to your skin, heavy with the scent of iron.

That was my world-moments of silence, followed by chaos.

I'd always thought I could survive it all.

I was Serafina, daughter of the Tommaso Moretti.

Ruthless.

Unbreakable.

Born with a knife in one hand and a vendetta in the other.

I'd been taught to carve out loyalty with violence and earn respect through blood.

Weakness wasn't an option. Not when you're expected to stand beside men who have built empires on the bodies of those who crossed them.

But weakness has a funny way of creeping in when you least expect it.

It hides in the shadows of your heart, whispering things you swore you'd never feel.

Regret. Love. Fear.

For me, it came in the form of him-Lucien.

He was everything I wasn't supposed to want. Older, calculating, French-born, and as sharp as the blade I kept strapped to my thigh.

The world no longer felt like endless battles of survival. With him, I wanted more. I wanted to conquer not just for my family, but for us. For a future I dared to believe in.

But the thing about love? It makes you reckless. It blinds you. And in the end, it was my greatest mistake.

I trusted him, and it nearly destroyed me.

Now, as I stand on the edge of everything I've ever known, my world burning around me, I wonder if the scars I've carried all my life were leading me to this point.

To bleed for a man who could never truly be mine.

Because in the world we live in, love is a weakness. It is a weapon used against you when you least expect it.

And the more you bleed for it, the more you realize-it was never meant to heal you.

This is my story. A story of war, of loss, and of the kind of love that leaves you scarred.

And in the end, I've learned one undeniable truth:

Some scars never fade. But they teach you exactly who you are.