The next morning, the town mourned.
Candles flickered outside the chapel ruins. Townspeople stood in tight circles, whispering about the fire. About the traveler who died trying to escape. About how no one ever leaves Pacifica Shores without a price.
He watched them from the edge of the woods — soaked in rain, smoke-stung eyes wide open, heart ice-cold.
His name had already been spoken in past tense.66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbjmk8kRxmy
His dreams buried under ashes.66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVrr3dsaS19
His love... nowhere to be found.
And then he saw her.
Panna.
Standing next to her father, dry and clean and untouched by smoke. She wasn’t crying. She wasn’t broken. She was... radiant.
The mayor held her hand tightly as he gave his speech.
“My daughter was lucky to survive. Some are not so fortunate. But we will not tolerate lawlessness, nor betrayal. Pacifica Shores protects its own.”
The crowd nodded. Applauded.66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMvux0qpstt
And Panna… she smiled.
That was the moment his heart snapped in two.
She wasn’t forced. She wasn’t crying.66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWXHIJEK3a0
She had chosen this.
Chose to let him die.66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcFv4Xg6lZ8
Chose to stay.66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4VnXvY1BhN
Chose her father.
🩸 The Truth Cut Deeper Than Fire
Days passed.
He stayed in hiding — feeding off scraps, listening to whispers in taverns and alleyways.
Stories trickled in.
“They say the mayor found her trying to run and dragged her back himself.”66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx7xsFA135m
“No one crosses the Willowbrooks and lives to tell the tale.”66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvxlJgG01eT
“He made her watch as the chapel burned.”
But then… another rumor.
The mayor had died.66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa6fWy8KD6V
Poisoned. No suspects.66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOwsi7aOqrG
No witnesses.
Some said it was old age.66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwoCoRephmU
Some said karma.66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLz4uolgTiJ
But he knew better.
He returned that night to the graveyard on the hill. And that’s where he saw her again — dressed in black, standing alone at her father’s grave.
No tears. Just silence.
And a faint smirk.
🖤 The Split
He wanted to believe she was innocent.
That she was manipulated.66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBUiX2dVP4K
Threatened.66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZ2MNixkSC
Trapped.
But the look in her eyes said otherwise.
She had become something else — someone else. Cold. Ruthless. In control. No longer the girl who hummed lullabies in secret places. No longer the girl who once said “Let’s run away.”
She was Pacifica Shores now.
🗡️ His Last Goodbye
He left a note at her door that night.66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0bCzbkkpEU
No name. No threats.
Just four words.
“I saw the fire.”
Then he vanished.
Not because he was afraid.
But because revenge needed time.
He spent the next few years planning, gathering what he needed — names, weapons, truths buried beneath lies.66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ05mFcR1FU
Waiting for the perfect moment.66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9EaGVPjiSw
The perfect return.
✨ Present Day Tie-In
And now, here he stood — older, colder, still carrying the ghost of that rain-soaked night. Facing the girl who smiled while he burned.
She didn’t know the full truth.66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTDUuEbt1Un
Not yet.
That the body in the church wasn’t his.66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLH69bwO0b5
That someone else died wearing his coat.66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ShpSkkcEY
That he had watched her smile beside the man who killed his mother.
And she was about to learn the cost.
Because no one leaves Pacifica Shores.
But someone always pays.
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