The wind howled through the ruins like a ghost crying out her name.
Emma stood where her life had once ended the charred remains of the Blackwood mansion stretching out before her, black against the moonlight. Every step she took crunched over ashes and broken glass. The air still carried the faint scent of smoke… and betrayal.
She wasn't alone.
From the shadows, Daniel emerged, his coat billowing in the cold wind. His face was half-lit, the other half swallowed by darkness just like the man he had always been.
"I knew you'd come," he said quietly. "You were never one to leave things buried."
Emma's heart pounded. "Buried? You mean like you buried the truth about that night?"
Daniel's jaw tightened, but his voice stayed calm too calm. "You think you know the truth, Emma. But you only remember what they wanted you to remember."
She took a sharp breath. "Don't twist it. I remember everything. The fire, Adrian walking away, your promise to protect me—" Her voice broke. "You let me die."
His eyes flickered. "No," he whispered. "I tried to save you."
"Then why did I burn?" she demanded, stepping closer. "Why did you stand there while everything I had turned to ash?"
The silence stretched, heavy and painful. Then Daniel's tone hardened. "Because you weren't supposed to die. You were supposed to disappear."
Emma froze. The words struck harder than the wind.
"What did you say?"
He looked at her really looked as if seeing the ghost of the woman he'd lost. "They planned to ruin you, Emma. Adrian… his family… the people behind the company. But when I tried to stop them, it was too late. The fire wasn't meant to kill you. It was meant to erase you so no one would ever know what they'd done."
Her breath caught. "Erase me?"
Daniel nodded slowly. "You weren't the target, Emma. You were the message."
Her knees weakened, but she stood tall. "You're lying. I saw Adrian that night. He—"
"Adrian doesn't know half of it," Daniel cut in sharply. "He was a pawn, same as you. Same as me."
The world tilted around her. The night felt colder, sharper.
Emma's voice dropped to a whisper. "Then why am I alive now, Daniel? Why was I brought back?"
Daniel looked away. For the first time, fear flashed in his eyes. "Because someone didn't want the story to end." His voice lowered. "Someone powerful older than all of us wanted you back."
Emma's heart raced. "Who?"
But Daniel only smiled sadly. "Ask yourself, Emma. Why you? Why were you given another chance when so many never are?"
She shook her head. "You're not making sense."
He stepped closer until she could see the pain etched in his face. "Maybe not now. But soon you'll understand. Everything that's happening Adrian's obsession, the company's secrets, even your rebirth it's all connected. You just don't see the full picture yet."
Her voice trembled with fury. "Then show me."
"I can't," he said quietly. "They're watching."
The air grew heavier, as if the mansion itself was listening.
"Who's watching?" she pressed.
Daniel's gaze shifted past her shoulder, and his face drained of color. "Run, Emma."
Before she could ask why, a bright light cut through the ruins headlights, moving fast. The ground trembled as a black car screeched to a stop a few feet away. The driver's door opened.
Adrian Knight stepped out.
His eyes met Emma's across the broken stone cold, sharp, and furious.
"So this is where you've been hiding," he said, his voice low and dangerous. "With him."
Daniel stiffened, his hand inching subtly toward his coat pocket. "Don't do this, Adrian."
But Adrian's gaze never left Emma. "You should've told me, sweetheart," he said softly. "Secrets have a way of burning everything down… again."
Emma's pulse thundered. Between them the man who destroyed her and the man who might have saved her she stood on the same ground where her old life had ended.
The wind carried the faint crackle of fire again, as if the past was waking up.
And for the first time since her rebirth, Emma felt it
the same heat, the same fear, the same fate trying to rise from the ashes.
She whispered, "Not again."
Daniel moved first. "Emma, go!"
But Adrian was faster. His hand shot out, catching her wrist, his grip firm and trembling. His eyes burned with something raw. "You're not leaving," he said. "Not until you tell me the truth."
Her voice was barely a whisper. "Which one?"
Silence.
The three of them stood in the ruins, the night heavy with secrets, the future trembling like a flame.
And somewhere deep in the shadows, unseen eyes were watching waiting.