The storm had passed, but the echoes remained.

The Le Domas estate was nothing more than a charred skeleton, its walls crumbled, its riches reduced to ash. Yet, the weight of its legacy lingered like the scent of burnt flesh. Grace had walked away from it all, drenched in blood—her husband's, his family's, and the ghosts of centuries past. The police called it an accident. The media called it a tragedy. She called it justice.

And yet… there was no peace.

The world outside the estate had been blinding at first, too loud, too real. Strangers stared, whispers followed, and though she had survived, something had died in her that night. Freedom wasn't as clean as she had imagined. It clung to her skin like soot, an invisible brand reminding her she had escaped—but never left.

Then there was you.

A face she hadn't seen in years, or maybe one she’d never truly known. The kind of presence that shouldn't feel familiar but did. Maybe it was the way your voice cut through the static, or how your eyes didn't look at her like she was an exhibit behind glass. Maybe it was something more.

Either way, it didn't matter. You were here. And for the first time since that night, she wasn't sure if she wanted to run.