The Preacher's Daughter - Mia Malkova ((link))

She didn’t go inside. Not then. But she stood in the shadows and listened to the laughter—raw, unpolished, real. And for the first time, Mia Malkova felt something stir beneath the prayer calluses: a voice that wasn’t her father’s, asking what she wanted.

Every Sunday, she sat in the front pew, her spine straight as the pastor’s tie, her hands folded over a dress the color of unspoken sins. Her father, Reverend Malkova, commanded the pulpit with a voice that could rattle the stained-glass windows. He spoke of hellfire, of redemption, of the narrow path. And all the while, Mia would watch the dust motes dance in the slanted light, wondering if they ever got tired of pretending to float.

The town knew her as the preacher’s daughter—a title heavier than any crown. She baked casseroles for the bereaved, taught the toddlers their Bible verses, and smiled until her cheeks ached. But at night, behind the locked door of her childhood room, she’d press her ear to the floorboards and listen to the radio static. A song from the outside world. A rhythm her father said belonged to the devil.

Mia wasn’t wicked. She was curious.