Elizabeth used to believe she was someone who pursued love above all else.
That's why she said yes to Bradley's proposal—she convinced herself it was a leap of faith for love.
She clung to that belief, steadfast and unshaken.
Until one night, exhausted from endless toil during the day, she lay in her run-down rental apartment, and a terrifying thought crept into her mind. 'Maybe I should go back to Bradley and just endure it.'
The moment the thought surfaced, cold sweat drenched her back.
It felt as though something cold and sinister loomed behind her, like the unblinking stare of the world's deadliest serpent.
Fear.
The fear stemmed from the darkest corners of human nature—a shadowy whisper that tried to coax her, tempting her to give in, to quietly accept the path of
