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.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJ4dPib4pY
His dreams buried under ashes.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPPFItnIWd
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.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9fQS56yKrz
And Panna… she smiled.
That was the moment his heart snapped in two.
She wasn’t forced. She wasn’t crying.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFmpLLBDLY7
She had chosen this.
Chose to let him die.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzvYUpXURFw
Chose to stay.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx2mHQKaKtI
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.”19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtBPJagNqLE
“No one crosses the Willowbrooks and lives to tell the tale.”19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJQitTZdMe4
“He made her watch as the chapel burned.”
But then… another rumor.
The mayor had died.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLtivhJOnn4
Poisoned. No suspects.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX53sbtPP8s
No witnesses.
Some said it was old age.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ98BeRLaHw9
Some said karma.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1oCBCm2UfA
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.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡduhqlcoxg3
Threatened.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPy6jJl4Mwk
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.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrbA8rlUybB
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.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQlvrpp8bYj
Waiting for the perfect moment.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡezUqRcUKx6
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.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuewTWQAqgk
Not yet.
That the body in the church wasn’t his.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRGxAR8c0pb
That someone else died wearing his coat.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxLFBn1p9Rg
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.
ns216.73.216.238da2
