Title:Silk and Gunpowder🖋 Author Name (Pen Name):Omah Mae's Ink

--- 📖 Episode One: The Matchstick Ivy The storm didn’t care that she was running for her life. Rain lashed Ivy’s face as her heels cracked against the cobbled streets of Florence, every heartbeat louder than the one before. Her dress—silk and stupidly white—was soaked and clinging to her skin like a warning label. She was cold. Terrified. Alone. But she didn’t stop running. She couldn’t. Julian had always promised he’d find her if she ever left. And when Julian made a promise, it wasn’t out of love. It was a threat. She ducked into an alleyway, shivering, heart pounding as headlights cut across the street behind her. Her legs gave out and she collapsed beside a trash bin, pressing her hand over her mouth to stop the sob building in her throat. That’s when she heard it. A car. Slowing down. Sleek. Black. Silent. The back door opened. She should have been afraid. But instead, something inside her stilled. It wasn’t safety. It was curiosity... and maybe the first feeling of being seen in years. The man inside didn’t say anything at first. He just looked at her. Tall. Impossibly composed. His suit looked expensive, his stare even more so—like shadows poured into silver. He didn’t look at her like a lost girl. He looked at her like a question he intended to answer. “Get in,” he said, voice like heat through smoke. Ivy hesitated. And then she obeyed. She climbed into the car with a stranger whose name she didn’t know, whose eyes burned through her defenses, and whose world would change hers forever. She didn’t look back. And the door closed behind her with a soft, final click—like a match being struck. ---