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.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJEpnZ9Qkxv
His dreams buried under ashes.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA8iLeiOG7I
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.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcFrswhTTDP
And Panna… she smiled.
That was the moment his heart snapped in two.
She wasn’t forced. She wasn’t crying.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡigLdDwlNOd
She had chosen this.
Chose to let him die.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Df2jHFOpU
Chose to stay.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ64o5sHkXtz
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.”12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlBS268QJZQ
“No one crosses the Willowbrooks and lives to tell the tale.”12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtHNnimEo49
“He made her watch as the chapel burned.”
But then… another rumor.
The mayor had died.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGkQVWS0Bzx
Poisoned. No suspects.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡakTfQ3PKRO
No witnesses.
Some said it was old age.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTY0BogpfgK
Some said karma.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBdJ1opN1nd
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.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ59x7I0Sozx
Threatened.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡshkUgBDF1A
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.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5YIUTprcpD
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.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnSH5CV53j2
Waiting for the perfect moment.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN7ywqE3O5O
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.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIkR2ltsKRr
Not yet.
That the body in the church wasn’t his.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKka37FUecU
That someone else died wearing his coat.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo4hS28Jfem
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.
ns216.73.216.95da2
and then Add to home screen.