Prologue
The rain had started pouring outside sometime during their conversation, the sound of thunder vibrating through the silent hallway. Brianna stood near the large glass windows, staring outside as if the storm beyond them mattered more than the one inside her chest. Her fingers tightened around the strap of her bag.
“We can never be together, Daniel. Our lives do not match”, her beautiful turquoise green eyes held no emotion, “you have everything that I don’t have and I don’t have any feelings for you”, her face was neutral.
How can someone hide their feelings so good?
“Why are you making this difficult?” Daniel whispered, his voice breaking despite his effort to stay calm. “Tell me what scares you so much.”
For a second, something flickered in her eyes. Not anger. Not hatred.
Pain.
Raw and haunting.
“You,” she answered quietly.
Daniel frowned. “Me?”
“Yes.” Her lips curled into a bitter smile that held no warmth. “The way you look at me… the way you care about me… it terrifies me.”
He didn’t understand how love could frighten someone. To him, love was comfort. Safety. Home.
But Brianna looked at it as if it were a burning building she had barely escaped from.
“You think you can save me,” she continued, finally looking directly into his eyes. “But people like me don’t get saved, Daniel. We survive. That’s all.”
The words hit him harder than any scream ever could.
She walked past him, but he gently caught her wrist before she could leave. Instantly, her body stiffened. Fear flashed across her face so suddenly that Daniel let go as though he had burned her.
The silence afterward was unbearable.
“I’m sorry,” he said immediately.
Brianna stepped back, breathing unevenly, one hand pressed against her chest as she tried to steady herself. Daniel hated himself in that moment. He wasn’t trying to hurt her, but somehow he still had.
That was the thing about Brianna.
Even the softest touch seemed to reopen wounds nobody could see.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said softly.
She looked away, blinking rapidly before rebuilding the cold mask on her face. “That’s exactly why you need to stay away from me.”
Then she left.
Daniel remained frozen in the empty hallway long after she disappeared. The scent of her perfume still lingered faintly in the air, torturing him with her absence.
For the first time since meeting Brianna, he realized something terrifying.
Whatever had happened to her was far worse than he had imagined.
And whoever broke her once…
had taught her that love was something to fear.
