SHADOWS BENEATH THE FLAME (completed)

📖 Chapter 1: The Ashes We Walk Through Lena stood still, her boots sinking slightly into the damp earth, as the faint scent of burnt wood clung to the cold morning air. The remains of the fire crackled somewhere behind her, distant and dying. She didn’t turn to look. She had already seen enough. What once was her father’s cabin now lay in blackened ruins, reduced to smouldering timber and the weight of silence. The flames hadn’t just taken a building. They had taken whatever peace was left in her life. She knelt slowly, her fingers brushing over the scorched photograph that had somehow survived — half burnt, the edges curling inwards like a secret it didn’t want to share. Her face stared back at her from the photo, younger, with her father's arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders. Gone. She closed her eyes and let the wind sting her face. Her father’s last voicemail echoed in her memory: “Don’t trust anyone, Lena. Not even the ones who swear they love you.” His voice had been cracked, rushed, almost panicked. Now he was dead. A sharp c***k snapped her out of her daze. Someone was approaching. Lena rose quickly, her fingers slipping into her coat pocket, clutching the tiny folding knife she always carried. She didn’t know who would come back here — unless they had something to hide. Or something to make sure stayed buried. Footsteps crunched the leaves, slow and deliberate. Then he stepped out of the shadows. Jay. His dark coat fluttered slightly in the breeze, his face unreadable. His eyes met hers — calm, controlled, and far too knowing. “What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice rough. “I could ask you the same thing,” he replied, voice low, almost too casual. “But I think we both know the answer to that.” Lena didn’t move. Her pulse raced, not just from fear — but from something colder, deeper. Because the last time she saw Jay... He’d sworn he would protect her. And yet here he was, standing in the ashes of everything she’d just lost.