Prologue- Three Cards (Part 3)

- I'm not afraid of anything. – Logan snarled, trying to contain his temper, at the same time that anger took him when he realized that now not only Megan knew what the real issue was about there, but also her entire family, judging by the way they suddenly became tense and silent. Damn that deck of Megan's and those random cards that for some incomprehensible reason had landed right on her weak spot...

No, he had no weakness. A long time ago, he had promised himself that he would never allow himself to have that kind of soft spot.

- So that's what you want to avoid so much... - Megan ignored him solemnly, still looking worried and extremely concentrated on the letter on the table - Oh, Logan, I'm sorry, but these efforts are in vain. The second card is about the present and Os Enamorados represents some kind of relationship that is to come, which can also mean a romantic love... - after a moment pondering, she looked at him with intensity again, with her face almost pitying - What you fear most will come... And it will be very soon. – she warned him in a low voice – Fortunately, this letter represents a good relationship. But not only that. It also represents free will and an important choice that only you can make. You must prepare yourself to make the right decisions regarding your heart... – she touched the Devil's card carefully – Or your excess of fear could lead to complications.

- No, nothing will come! – he growled slowly, feeling the fury take him by imagining himself in the scenario that Megan was describing – I won't allow it!

- Oh, Logan. – instead of getting scared or angry with his reaction, Megan's face just became even more sympathetic and pious. – It is something that is out of your control.

- Oh, Logan. – instead of getting scared or angry with his reaction, Megan's face just became even more sympathetic and pious. – It is something that is out of your control.

Yes, he'd always known it wasn't under her control. And that was the part that infuriated him the most and, as much as he hated to admit it, it also terrified him. Over the past few years, he had seen the curse take effect before his very eyes, surrounding him more and more, as if warning that he would be next.

The first was Diana. She had accompanied him six years ago when he visited the office of a security firm he planned to hire for his modeling agency. They were about to enter the meeting when one of the doors to the adjoining rooms burst open, nearly hitting her sister in the face in the process. And Diana, as temperamental as he was, was clearly ready to make the person responsible for that regret having been born... Until his eyes met Paul's, who quickly left his office apologizing, and Logan turned around. to happen, before him, the curse he had heard about all his life – even though he was the only Knight who actually called it a curse.

Of course, at the time he wasn't upset that his little sister had found love. After all, it was a troubled time in Diana's life when she was still hanging out with her old high school sweetheart, a complete idiot named Jeremy King, who wasn't even worth the dirt under her shoes. And, even if he didn't have hard evidence to that effect, he was pretty sure that King had been violent with Diana, even if she refused to admit it. So for years, every Knight had been trying everything they could to finally convince her to be done with that big piece of shit once and for all... Until she exchanged just one look with Paul Bryant and it was finally resolved - especially after Jeremy tried to get in their way and Paul, being a very well trained private detective, gave him the lesson, which, to Logan and Devon's enormous delight, involved several broken bones on King's part.

Obviously, he was more than happy that Diana had found the happiness she deserved with a madly in love husband and a beautiful, sweet little daughter that she conceived just a few months after meeting Paul. Yet, even so, the intensity of the sudden love he had seen rise in his sister on that fateful day would haunt him forever. In the space of a few seconds, Diana had fallen deeply in love. And he would never forget the despair he felt when he looked into her dreamy blue eyes and realized that the curse had completely enveloped her. They were very lucky that Paul was an honorable and kind man, who took a short time to return his sister's love in the same intensity. But what if he turned out not to be a good man? What if he was an asshole like Jeremy, or even worse? Her sister would be irreversibly in love and devoted to a man who would make her life hell and there would be no way to get her heart back. He knew what that was like kind of misery. He had seen it happen with his own eyes. And would never forget.

Then, just over a month ago, he'd seen the curse manifest again. This time with Devon. They were in his office, discussing the profiles of some digital influencers that they could manage, when his brother had opened the file of one of the options chosen by his marketing team... And Logan saw it happen again. The drastic change in the look, the delighted smile, and the feverish expression, as if his brother's life had only started to make sense from that moment on...

And it was just one goddamn photo: one shot of that woman's image and Devon was already completely lost.

Lost and insane, since he didn't even rest until Megan agreed to participate in an interview at her agency and he could finally meet her in person. He would never know what really happened between the two of them that first day, but judging by Megan's incredulous look as she almost ran out of her brother's office and the dark lipstick smeared all over Devon's mouth, Logan had a few guesses. Unlike Diana, Devon had had to fight a little harder to convince Megan that he wasn't a complete lunatic with the whole love-at-first-sight thing, but then again, like their sister, he'd been lucky. Megan was level-headed and realistic, but she hadn't been able to stop falling in love with Devon, and in just a few short weeks, she'd finally given up completely, even though she'd managed to convince him to take things a little slower than he had. would.

And there were her brothers, in love and happy. With luck, they would stay that way forever, like their parents. However, despite all the joy and love that exuded from them, watching them, Logan couldn't help a little annoyance overwhelm him. There was no justice in those situations. They were forced to fall in love in that crazy way. There had been no free will or even the opportunity to say no. Maybe his father, Diana, and Devon didn't feel like they were forced to fall in love, but that's exactly how Logan saw it. His mother, Paul and Megan were fantastic people and he loved them, but still, how could he passively accept all of that when it came to himself? How could he just sit quietly and do nothing, waiting for "fate" to choose who he would love so deeply that he would rather die than live without? For years, he had made his own destiny. For years, he had been the one to build a future for himself and his family. And he had done it all with effort, opportunities, planning and logic. Fate and "magic", which his family loved to talk about, never gave him anything but the prospect of being affected by that stupid curse.

After so long being the only one to chart his own path, was it fair that his ability to choose was ripped from him like this? That he was forced to love forever a person he didn't even know if he would be worthy of his devotion?

Of course it wasn't. And that was why he hated that damn legacy so deeply, no matter what his family said. He didn't want to love any woman, let alone forever. He didn't want to belong to anyone. He wanted to remain the only one who had control over himself and that curse could ruin everything he had built for himself after years of fighting.

All because he had no control over “true love” or whatever other ridiculous name his ancestors called that nonsense. Maybe Megan was wrong to call him a skeptic: he believed in the existence of things that couldn't be explained. Being a Knight, it would be impossible not to believe. The difference was that he despised them with all his might and would despise them forever, especially if the curse caught up with him and he was forced to love any woman against his will. Because, even if his family liked to try to make him believe that his “predestined soulmate” would certainly be someone worthy of being loved, the truth is that there was nothing that could give him absolute guarantees about that.

And, in the blink of an eye, he could be destroyed by love.

As his grandfather had been.

And frankly, even if the woman the curse decided to trap him with was the best person in the world, a part of him would still hate her. She would hate that she wasn't the one he would choose. She would hate that she'd messed up the whole life he'd worked so hard to rebuild since he was a teenager.

He would hate her simply for existing.

So even if everything that was coming out of Megan's letters was already complete irrelevant nonsense, she was wrong about that too: he had gone through the last 30 years unscathed by that curse. It was the furthest a Knight had ever gone, as far as he knew, without find a partner in that horrendous way. And even if everything turned against him and the woman destined to ruin him came along, he would fight it. Heavens, he'd beaten so many worse things. Maybe he didn't need to fear his own heart so much.

He would certainly be able to beat him too, if unfortunately the moment came.

After all, even if all the other Knights disagreed with him about it, it wouldn't be true love when it happened to him. It would be a spell warping reality. A curse affecting his senses. For centuries, Knights had suffered from it, falling irreversibly in love and simply accepting their fate without complaint. But not him. He would prove immune to the curse, one way or another. Because even if she tried to force him to love someone, he would prove stronger.

Long ago, he had promised himself that Logan Knight's heart and life belonged only to himself.

And to no one else.

- The whole world could get out of my control someday, Megan. But if there's one thing I can guarantee you... - His voice turned cold and rough, almost as if this was a threat, not to his sister-in-law, but to any otherworldly force he might think could make him act. against your will - Is that I control myself. And I will never allow anyone to change that. – Megan's eyes became even sadder when he snarled that last part – If you don't mind, could you show me which is the last card? I want to get this over with. With an irritated sigh, he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest to try to disguise the tension in his muscles.

Megan, however, remained a few more seconds just looking at him intensely, almost as if she was trying to read his soul. Fortunately for him, after several endless moments of pure silence, she turned her attention to the last card and turned it over, revealing an image of a huge moon with the profile of a woman's face emblazoned on it. Beneath the bright moon, there were what appeared to be two howling dogs, standing right next to a river where a species of crustacean, which looked to be something between a scorpion and a lobster, seemed about to attack them.