The Prey

They didn’t just break me—they hollowed me out and filled me with lies.

I stared at the blank dot on the wall, unmoving, unblinking. Was it hours? Minutes? Seconds? Or eternity? I didn’t know anymore. Time felt like a cruel joke, stretching and bending around the chaos in my mind.

My father was alive.

Brian Rosewood. The man I watched die, the man I mourned until my soul fractured, the man I blamed myself for failing to save—he was alive.

I should’ve felt relief. Joy, even. But all I felt was a black hole, pulling me deeper into its void. My chest tightened with the betrayal, the confusion,...