The Debt Collector's Bride

E

dio. I had begged my father to rent it for me. The windows were filled with soft sunlight, and the air smelled

paint-stained floor, I wasn't the feared Sera Ha

rules. I dipped my brush into the color blue... the perfect color

lieve that monsters only lived inside old stories. Then

night men screamed my father's name from the street outside our home. All I remember is h

for the violence. But sometimes, when it was cold and la

t all? What if someone came specifically

se like another person... quiet during the day, but angry and mean after the sun went down. I always tried to pretend I didn't notice

r away from all of t

ng loved wasn't another word for being in danger. I didn't realize th

****

AMI

from your hands. It is impo

m me. He cried, he begged, and he swore he had a family

very strict rules. If

gun was still warm in my hand. My guards waited for my command. Their ey

o one ever fin

gone. Another p

ot wait for someone to give it to you. But even after all the

e... the only thing I never changed. I opened the only text message thread on

her

ou again one d

l glowed, like a g

am still fighting to control. Every city I captured, every man I destroyed.. deep down,

," Luca said fr

oment, the world

.. Alive.

er. I shut the phone and

er to me,"

id her from m

***

FA

ied to violence in

tely trying to r

ely hunting fo

urn into a terrible war. And how their two

painting

walking in

of a past that neither

an remember

bsession ne

omises canno

te always wi

d to

f monsters... is about to mee