SOMETIMES, I forget that we are ruled by our emotions, fear, love, hate, hope. Some believe love encompasses all but for me, I believe its fear that drives us all. I might be wrong but fear is all I've known for most of my life but if you do insist, I ask this. Why did mother leave me I this dark, dreary and cursed place? The darkest of all the forest: The dark wood forest. Was it her so called love for me that pushed her to do so or was it just plain old fear doing the talking. Well, it's been 12 years since that day and I'm afraid all happy, loving memories have been tainted ever since.
We've become close, fear and I. i feed it, harness it and wield it against the dangers of my home and in return, it sustains me, gives me purpose, keeps from consuming me but in a sense, I have already been consumed because I am fear and I will always be fear.
Choosing her cost me everything I'd ever loved... including her.
It's why I left the small town where I grew up and vowed never to return.
I'm no longer the golden boy with a bright future they all remember. Instead, I carry the scars of a tortured past. A broken man deemed unfit, even by the Navy SEALs he'd dedicated the past decade to serve.
What was supposed to be a quick trip to sell my parent's property turned into this twisted journey that forced me to confront my demons.
And then there she was. My first love, and deepest regret. The woman who still owns every piece of my blackened heart. When she asked for my time, I couldn't refuse.
Now I can't walk away.
Not after hearing of the danger her husband, a missing FBI agent, has brought to her doorstep. After everything, I owe her my help. It's why I offer to protect her and her two little girls from the danger circling them.
It's a vow I never should have made, given the trail of bodies I've left in my wake.
Like the harbinger of death, I'm the last man either of us should trust.