CHAPTER 18 RETURN TO THE BEGINNING
1165 Words
The road stretched out like a long, scarred memory. Dry earth rising in faint spirals. Evening sun bleeding orange across the horizon. Ethan drove in silence, the engine’s steady growl filling the space between him and Maya. Jade sat in the back, still shaken but alive, clutching the blanket Ethan had wrapped around her.
But Maya… Maya hadn’t spoken since Vitor’s final words.
“Where it all began.”
Her childhood home.
A place she vowed never to see again.
Ethan’s knuckles tightened on the steering wheel. He kept glancing at her profile the way her jaw was clenched, the way her fingers tapped restlessly on her thigh. A storm was brewing inside her, one she wasn’t ready to share yet.
“Maya,” he finally said, voice gentler than the road beneath them, “you don’t have to go through this alone.”
She didn’t look at him. Her eyes were fixed on the horizon, on the shadows of trees that passed by like ghosts.
“I never wanted to step foot there again,” she whispered. “But he’s forcing me to.”
“We’re forcing him,” Ethan corrected. “We’re coming for him. We’re coming for her.”
Maya swallowed. “You don’t know what that place is to me. I… I left too much behind.”
“You left because you survived,” Ethan said. “And that’s strength, Maya. Not a weakness.”
Her lips parted slightly. For a moment, she looked like she wanted to tell him something buried deep. But instead, she turned away, retreating back into the storm.
Jade cleared her throat softly from the back seat. “Do you think… he’s hurting her?”
Maya’s heart clenched.
Ethan answered before she shattered. “Rico wants leverage, not a corpse. He’ll keep her alive.”
Maya finally spoke again, her voice breaking at the edges. “He’s doing this to break me. Rico always said the best way to destroy someone is to take what they can’t live without.”
Ethan’s voice hardened, steel beneath velvet. “Then we won’t give him the chance.”
They reached the outskirts of the old neighborhood just as the sun slipped away. Tall trees cast long, twisted shadows. The houses were spaced far apart, each one wrapped in silence and age. The air felt heavy, too still, too familiar. Maya’s breath hitched.
There it was.
Her house.
The wooden fence, still broken in the corner. The old porch steps with the faded paint. The window she used to sneak out of when nightmares made it impossible to sleep. The scent of earth and memories hit her like a punch.
Her fingers curled around the car door handle, refusing to move.
Ethan stepped out first, rounding the front of the truck. He opened her door quietly, offering a hand without pressing, without demanding.
“Take your time,” he murmured.
She lifted her eyes to him. “I’m scared.”
“I know,” Ethan said. “But I’m here. Every step.”
Maya’s hand trembled as she placed it in his. Warm. Solid. Real.
She stepped out.
The porch creaked under their weight as memories rushed in, memories she’d caged away for years. Her father’s voice. Her mother’s laughter. The day everything changed. The night she ran.
Ethan watched her carefully. “You don’t have to go inside if you’re not ready.”
But she was done being hunted by ghosts.
“No,” she whispered. “I need to.”
Jade stayed by the truck, keeping watch.
Maya pushed the front door open. The hinges groaned like something waking from a long sleep.
Inside, the house looked smaller than she remembered. Dust coated the shelves. Furniture draped with old sheets. She could almost hear her sister’s giggles echoing in the hall. Her chest tightened.
Ethan stood close behind her, not touching, but in her orbit, steadying her without words.
“Maya,” he said quietly, “what happened here?”
She hesitated then exhaled the truth she’d held too long.
“My father was a good man… until Rico came into his life. They worked together. At first it was just trading… then smuggling. Then something else.” She touched the photo frame on the Walker family smiling in a world that no longer existed.
“When my father tried to leave, Rico decided he ‘knew too much.’ They argued. They fought. My father hid the evidence he’d gathered and tried to get us out.”
Her voice cracked.
“He didn’t make it.”
Ethan stepped closer. “Maya…”
“He killed my father, Ethan.” Her voice trembled. “Right in this house.”
Ethan’s jaw clenched, fury sharpening his features. “And you were here?”
“I saw everything. I grabbed my sister, and we ran through the back forest. Rico chased us. I got her out… but I got caught.” She touched her scar, the one she never spoke about.
“He let me live,” she whispered. “Said fear was worth more than death.”
Ethan’s breath shook with controlled rage. “Maya… I swear to you, I will end him.”
She closed her eyes, letting the promise settle in her bones.
But then
A sound echoed from the hallway.
A soft thud.
Ethan pulled her behind him instantly, gun raised. His training switched on like a second heartbeat.
Another thud.
Something or someone was in the house.
Ethan signaled Maya to stay still, but she shook her head.
“No,” she whispered. “We’re doing this together.”
He didn’t argue. Instead, he nodded. Slowly. Respectfully.
They moved down the hall.
Footsteps creaked above them in the old bedroom where everything ended.
Ethan mouthed one word:
“Rico.”
Maya’s blood turned to ice.
Then Ethan positioned himself at the stairs, ready to advance
When a voice drifted down from the darkness above.
Cold. Mocking. Familiar.
“Maya… you finally came home.”
Her breath left her body.
It was him.
Rico.
And he wasn’t alone.
Ethan tightened his grip on his gun. “Stay behind me.”
But Maya stepped forward, fire burning in her eyes.
“No,” she whispered. “This ends tonight.”
Rico’s laughter rolled down the stairs slowly, confident, taunting.
“Come upstairs, Maya,” he called. “Your sister’s waiting.”
Her heart stopped.
He had her.
Maya surged forward, but Ethan grabbed her handtight, grounding her in reality.
“Mayawait. It’s a trap.”
“I know,” she said fiercely. “And I’m walking into it.”
Ethan’s eyes locked on hersintense, conflicted, afraid to lose her.
“If you go up there,” he said, voice shaking, “I’m going with you.”
She squeezed his hand soft but steady.
“I know.”
Together, they took the first step up the stairs.
Toward Rico.
Toward Maya’s sister.
Toward the storm waiting in the dark.
- Writer
