LOVE WAS NEVER SAFE

PROLOGUE
Love Was Never Safe

People talk about love like it saves people.

Maybe it does.

Just not people like me.

Growing up, I watched my mother love a man who slowly turned her into a ghost. My father never needed knives or bullets. His words were enough. His anger was enough. Sometimes his silence hurt her more than his shouting ever did.

I used to think she stayed because she was weak.

Later I realised she stayed because she loved him.

And somehow that felt worse.

The night she died, I remember standing by the hallway while rain tapped against the windows. My father was yelling. My mother was crying. I don't remember every word anymore... just the feeling.

Fear.

And something else.

Something strange.

The lights flickered.

The air felt heavy.

Like the whole house was holding its breath.

After that night, I stopped believing in love.

Love wasn't soft.

Love wasn't beautiful.

Love was a wound people carried proudly until it killed them.

So I learned to stay away from it.

No attachments.

No promises.

No letting people close enough to break me.

It worked.

For years, it worked.

Then I met him.

Funny thing is... I didn't fall for him because he was kind.

He wasn't.

I didn't trust him because he was honest.

He lied for a living.

And maybe that's what scares me the most.

Out of all the people I should've run from...

I ran straight into Kai Mercer.

If I had known love would find me wrapped in lies, blood and secrets, maybe I would've left sooner.

Maybe I would've saved all of us.

But fate has a cruel sense of humour.

And by the time I understood what was happening...

it was already too late.