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.90Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNTMJYBvnWa
His dreams buried under ashes.90Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzE0dGhBKys
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.90Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnsyAZYEhm1
And Panna… she smiled.
That was the moment his heart snapped in two.
She wasn’t forced. She wasn’t crying.90Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuWPAHiwCHy
She had chosen this.
Chose to let him die.90Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7GNReMQEZ
Chose to stay.90Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuqgykvgHJ6
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.”90Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ5RZ5ZIVjD
“No one crosses the Willowbrooks and lives to tell the tale.”90Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡip2mRPihyi
“He made her watch as the chapel burned.”
But then… another rumor.
The mayor had died.90Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6fALyLJsH2
Poisoned. No suspects.90Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpsDDCRHPF
No witnesses.
Some said it was old age.90Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvrfK2bNRxc
Some said karma.90Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIzbsv8nA2o
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.90Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiKoslCrBkX
Threatened.90Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt7clPoDzgE
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.90Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡieLWlW4qjw
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.90Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyHpUGKmYqN
Waiting for the perfect moment.90Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ8KlhW1PLL
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.90Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8oYnxIQor
Not yet.
That the body in the church wasn’t his.90Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc82wkGxsEH
That someone else died wearing his coat.90Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Ti6fLxfcR
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.