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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYLZ9AJxvUg
His dreams buried under ashes.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnRlk7MfICc
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkA0oUkKSLV
And Panna… she smiled.
That was the moment his heart snapped in two.
She wasn’t forced. She wasn’t crying.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2DOYxNFNKz
She had chosen this.
Chose to let him die.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXve2V8Rlqw
Chose to stay.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI2dPW5zX89
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.”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlwaj9GdPGr
“No one crosses the Willowbrooks and lives to tell the tale.”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSfpLs3BvYd
“He made her watch as the chapel burned.”
But then… another rumor.
The mayor had died.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJmfmzQzqr2
Poisoned. No suspects.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbSOcrb2KRA
No witnesses.
Some said it was old age.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdlOWRYssK4
Some said karma.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ndprGSVce
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtLRyyiouVm
Threatened.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn6ywi3waRY
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfeEYRCLu4I
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlZvPdImlCT
Waiting for the perfect moment.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL1NaptHm2d
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3IGhCx90XB
Not yet.
That the body in the church wasn’t his.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ZJB0xXfrd
That someone else died wearing his coat.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSXmnjQErWa
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
