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Iremember my father once telling me that my mother was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen. She was beautiful. But as far as I was concerned, all women had something beautiful about them. How you could pick out one above all the others, I couldn’t understand.

Until now.

There was something about Julianna. She just seemed to glow, as if the light inside of her was so strong, so pure, it lit up her skin. I found myself mesmerized by her dainty fingers, the soft curve of her lower back, the hollow at her neck. If God was an artist then she was his masterpiece. The slightly crooked tooth, that tiny freckle on her chest, it was all perfection.

I loved the teasing, sweet scent of her freshly washed hair, the way her skin gave way under my fingers, the way she threw back her head when she laughed…they were layer upon layer of melodies, all singing to me. She was my siren. My lighthouse.

She cuddled into the crook of my arm as if she accepted my protection. As if she needed it.

Mine to protect.This whisper grew and grew inside me until it rang in my soul like a bell and my chest swelled with purpose.

And yet, a sour knot sat in my gut, a bitter seed taken root. Would she still want my protection if she knew what I’d done? Would she still look at me the same? Could she love a murderer?

I almost laughed at myself. Stupid boy. Of course she wouldn’t. I was a monster hiding under a fa?ade of a man misunderstood. She had fallen for it.

I didn’t deserve her. But I was a selfish, selfish man. I would keep her. Hold her tight. For as long as I could. Until the day she figured it out and she ended me.