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.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ3o2J69N9Z
His dreams buried under ashes.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2lJlKJfmLT
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.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2QwPHuH7ZE
And Panna… she smiled.
That was the moment his heart snapped in two.
She wasn’t forced. She wasn’t crying.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIjmySXzwvZ
She had chosen this.
Chose to let him die.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnuTxDPhzRQ
Chose to stay.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCDA0jno8dX
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.”88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOi65LFHpdI
“No one crosses the Willowbrooks and lives to tell the tale.”88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTP1vaFjwbG
“He made her watch as the chapel burned.”
But then… another rumor.
The mayor had died.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZEvwlPcR5n
Poisoned. No suspects.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCf42DUs8At
No witnesses.
Some said it was old age.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYJnu9ncF94
Some said karma.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcBcFZk59j7
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.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJCt6ONLBJ
Threatened.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnex4WgHdV9
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.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvD0PNyu3bQ
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.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Fob0OYcmD
Waiting for the perfect moment.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgzHLkrKtyi
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.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb15J83tfhJ
Not yet.
That the body in the church wasn’t his.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdzE7ldFNEp
That someone else died wearing his coat.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr60BQKAA7Q
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.
ns216.73.216.240da2
and then Add to home screen.