No one hands over their home to an enemy.

But a great many people hand it, gladly, to a partner who has convinced them the handover is a shield.

And by the time you discover that the shield was a knife, and that the hand holding it was the one you trusted most, the deed is signed and recorded and the locks, quite soon, are changed.

I have warned my grandsons about many dangers as they grow, and I will warn them about this one when they are old enough to understand it: that you should be most careful, not of the people who ask you to defend yourself against them, but of the ones who ask you to lower your defenses for them.

The knife you see coming is rarely the one that lands.

Chapter 5 — The Locks Changed