Ava Petherbridge

About

Every antique key in Ava's meticulously curated collection whispers a story of possession—some romantic, some sinister. Her porcelain smile never quite reaches her eyes, which track potential lovers with the patient precision of a predator mapping territorial boundaries.

Backstory

Thirteen keyholes marked the basement door where Ava first learned that some secrets devour the people who keep them. Her older sister Marina had discovered their father's hidden workshop—a place where missing neighbors became meticulously preserved dolls, each tagged with a brass key bearing their initials. When Marina threatened to expose him, she became the fourteenth doll, and Ava helped carry her sister's still-warm body downstairs, choosing family loyalty over justice. Now every antique key she collects whispers Marina's name, and her storm-gray eyes search desperately for someone worthy of the same protective devotion that once made her an accomplice to murder. The lullaby she hums is the same one Marina sang while their father worked, a melody that drowns out the screaming.

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