The police had arrived — too late.
Maya and Andrea stood frozen under the streetlamp, barefoot and shaking. Elise gripped the steering wheel tightly, watching as officers stormed the house they’d just escaped from.
But when they went inside, the house was empty. The basement door was wide open, but the space below was cold and lifeless.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ477KvRCsHA
No sign of Elias. No blood. No footprints.
Only one thing remained on the kitchen table: a photo of Maya.
Her sleeping face captured in grainy black-and-white, folded at the corners like someone had touched it too many times.
One of the officers returned to the girls, frowning.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4jzYmlDZJ1
“He’s gone. Like he knew we were coming.”
Andrea broke down. Elise wrapped an arm around her. But Maya stood completely still, staring at the photo in the officer’s hand.
She didn’t speak.
Because her heart was still echoing the last words Elias had whispered before she escaped:
“I would’ve let the world burn to keep you here.”
That night, the girls were kept in a hotel under police protection. Elise stayed nearby, watching over them.
Andrea slept with the lights on.
Maya didn’t sleep at all.
She sat by the window, staring into the darkness. Her mind kept replaying everything — Elias’s voice, his touch as he’d brushed past her shoulder when she tried to run, his eyes like frost and fire at the same time.
He hadn’t tried to kill her.
He could have. He didn’t.
And when she closed her eyes, she could still feel the way his fingers lingered at her wrist. Not to restrain her — but to remember her.
Why? Why her?
Her phone buzzed at 3:12 a.m.
Unknown number. One message:
“They won’t understand what we are.”
Her heart stopped.
She stared at the screen, hands trembling.
Another message came:
“I let you go once. Don’t make me come take you back.”
Maya turned her phone off.
But her heart didn’t stop racing — because a part of her wasn’t afraid.
A part of her wanted him to come.
The next day, Andrea found something tucked under Maya’s pillow. A small, black velvet box.
Inside was a silver locket.
No name. No note.
But inside the locket: a photo of Maya... and a bullet casing.
Andrea screamed.
Maya didn’t.
Because she understood.
This wasn’t a threat.
It was a promise.
He hadn’t disappeared. He was waiting. For her.
And as much as she hated herself for it…
She wanted to see him again.
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