"The Enemy Became My Safe Place"

🔥 Chapter 3 — "THE DAY THE SKY FELL"

(Liana Ashwin’s POV — the night she lost everything)

I remember the smell first.

Orange blossoms from the garden.

My mother’s perfume.

Freshly ironed silk.

Everything warm and soft and safe.

The Ashwin villa glowed like a palace carved from sunlight. The entire yard—draped in white roses and soft lanterns—opened toward the sea, where gentle waves shimmered, blessing the day with their quiet applause.

Inside, I stood before a mirror while my friends circled me, laughing, fixing my veil, stealing kisses on my cheeks.

“Stop staring at yourself,” one of my friends teased. “You already know you’re the most beautiful bride in Ravenfall.”

I laughed—bright, breathless, unaware of the darkness already walking toward my destiny.

Suddenly the door burst open. Aiden tried to peek in.

“No! No! No seeing the bride!” the girls shrieked, shoving the door closed in his laughing face.

“It’s bad luck!” they shouted again. His laugh echoed through the hall, warm and impatient.

I heard him chuckle through the wood, “Fine! But hurry… I miss you already.”

My heart just melted..

My mother cried when she saw me in her old wedding dress.

“You look like a dream,” she whispered, hands trembling. She hid her tears behind her fingers, but I saw.

She never cried loudly.

Not even when she burned..

I remember my sister teasing me as she tightened my veil.

“Tonight you and Aiden will not sleep,” she whispered, giggling, palm curved protectively around her pregnant belly.

My little niece twirled in her pink dress, tugging at my skirt.

“Auntie, I’ll be a princess like you,” she said.

“I’ll marry a prince too.”

I kissed her forehead.

I didn’t know it would be the last time I saw her alive.

My father came in next, carrying the family jewelry box. The moment he saw me, he stopped breathing.

He placed the necklace around my throat with hands that never once trembled in his life.

“Wherever you go, whatever happens…" he said as he kissed the top of my head,

“I am always with you, my girl.”

My sister's husband teased Aiden outside of the room: “Remember to wash the dishes yourself, because she doesn't know how to cook..

Then my little brother came in. He hid his eyes from me. I reached his shirt and pull him closer to hug.

" When you leave, your room will be mine" he said smirking.

"You wish" I said teasingly.

I took one final breath as the doors opened.

Aiden stood waiting for me at the top of the stairs.

His eyes widened the moment he saw me. He reached out his hand—steady, warm, trembling just a little—and I placed mine into it.

“Ready?” he whispered.

My heart fluttered. “With you? Always.”

Together, we took the first step.

I felt my cheeks warm, my heart full, my future bright.

Hand in hand, step by step, we walked toward the blooming yard where our life was supposed to begin.

Tonight, I planned to tell him about our baby.

Our first child.

Our future.

His fingers tightened around mine as we stood beneath the arch of white roses, the sea wind brushing against my veil. My heart was trembling so hard I thought he could hear it.

“Do you, Liana Ashwin, take Aiden Hale—”

“I do,” I whispered, the words catching in my throat, spilling out with all the love and all the dreams I carried inside me.

Then his turn came.

“Do you take Liana—”

“I do,” he said, without hesitation, without blinking, with a certainty that made warmth bloom in my chest.

I remember joy.

So much joy till the...