The rain was falling hard the night Ada learned what betrayal tasted like. She was seventeen, sitting by the window, waiting for her father to return. He had promised he would be back before dinner. The food went cold. The candles burned low. And the door never opened.By morning, whispers spread through the neighborhood like wildfire. He wasn’t coming back. He had found another woman. Another life. Another family.Ada never forgot that night. The sound of rain against glass still made her flinch. The echo of her mother’s voice still lived inside her: “Men cannot be trusted. Protect yourself, or you’ll be destroyed.”It wasn’t just a warning. It became Ada’s law, carved deep into her bones.So when David came along years later—gentle, patient, offering her a love she had never dared to believe in—Ada wanted to trust him. She wanted to believe in forever.But the past has sharp edges. And even the softest love can bleed under its weight.