The Devil Calls Me Angel

Maddy didn't choose to leave.

One day, her father decided.
No warning. No explanation. Just a new house, a new town, and a life that doesn't feel like hers.

Something here feels wrong.

People look at her like they already know her.
Like they're waiting.
Like they're watching.

And then there's him.

Malikai Sterling notices everything.
The way she flinches.
The way she goes quiet.
The way she hides behind neutral like it might protect her.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

He's the only one who does.

But the way he looks at her...
it doesn't feel like concern.
It feels like something else. Something deeper. Something that lingers too long.

He calls her angel.

And for a moment, she almost believes him.

Until everything starts to unravel.

Because the truth about her family was never gone-
just buried deep enough to survive.

Her father isn't who he says he is.
Her mother didn't just disappear.
And the one person who knows her best is getting too close to something she shouldn't.

Malikai isn't safe.
But neither is anything else.

And when he leaves-
he doesn't just take himself with him.

He takes something from her she won't get back.

Some girls run from the darkness.

Maddy doesn't.

She lets it in.