The Bride they burned

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"Some monsters grow teeth. Others wear guilt like a second skin."

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AARAV – UNKNOWN LOCATION

The first thing I noticed was the smell—citrus and clean linen.

The second thing?

I wasn't dead.

I blinked into a dimly lit room with high walls, a single bulb, a blanket, and my sketchbook sitting at the edge of the bed. The same page still open.

Her face. My mother.

A note lay next to it.

> "You're safe. Don't open the door. I'll be back by nightfall. – K"

K?

I remembered the man in the rain. The one who handed me chips and said she was someone worth burning a city for.

He'd smiled at me like he already knew me.

And now I was in his house?

The door was locked, but not bolted. A tablet sat on a stool beside the bed. It blinked once, and then lit up.

> [VIDEO FILE: "Meher Vora – Hospital Room 3C"]

I clicked it.

It played without sound. Just footage. My mother. She looked thinner. Her arms were bruised. A nurse touched her shoulder and she flinched violently.

She was… scared.

My throat clenched.

> "Mom… what did they do to you?"

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KRAY – SAME TIME

He watched from the security feed, arms crossed, eyes unblinking.

He shouldn't have shown the boy the footage. Not yet.

But something inside him cracked watching the kid draw her face over and over again.

> "He dreams of her," Kray muttered. "He doesn't even know why."

He turned as the phone buzzed once.

Caller ID: UNKNOWN. ENCRYPTED.

> "I told you never to call this line," Kray growled.

> "The girl is alive," a voice said. "You didn't finish your job, Alvaro."

> "You think I ever wanted to?"

> "Ravian thinks you did."

Kray's face darkened.

> "If Ravian touches her again, I'll finish what I should've started the night she burned."

He hung up and crushed the phone under his boot.

The boy in the next room?

He'd protect him with his life.

Not because of Ravian.

But because of her.

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CELESTE – NIGHTFALL, KAI'S SECURITY ROOM

The encrypted signal pinged again.

Celeste narrowed her eyes. She had her legs kicked up on Kai's desk, drinking something red from a wine glass she definitely stole from the cabinet.

Kai was trying to trace it. Again.

> "Encrypted. Dead ping. Whoever this is, they know Ravian's old network," he muttered.

> "It's not Ravian," Celeste said.

> "How do you know?"

> "Because this one didn't erase their fingerprint. They wanted us to find them."

> "Who?"

She smirked.

> "Someone with a death wish. Or a message."

Her phone vibrated. One new image. No sender.

She clicked it.

A photo of Nyra, standing beside Leo Varma's car.

But zoomed in.

From a distance.

From above.

> "Shit," she muttered. "She's being watched."

Kai turned.

> "We move her. Now."

Celeste nodded, her smirk gone.

But in her chest, something darker curled.

> "If they touch her… they die."

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NYRA – HER APARTMENT BALCONY, LATE NIGHT

I couldn't sleep.

Leo had left hours ago. No kiss. No promises. Just tension and truth—served neat.

> "I missed you in a way that shouldn't be legal," he'd whispered before leaving.

But I couldn't feel anything. Not yet. My body was stuck in memories. In bruises. In whispers of glass, walk faster if you want your son to breathe.

The city buzzed below.

My phone buzzed too.

Blocked number.

I hesitated… and answered.

> "I found your son."

My body went ice cold.

> "Who is this?"

> "I can't give you his location. Not yet. But he's safe. He's dreaming of you."

> "Who the hell—?"

> "Tell Leo to stop tracing phones. And tell Celeste… she needs to clean her wine glasses better."

Click.

Silence.

And then a message:

"You trusted me once. Even when you were bleeding. Try again." – K

I stared at the message, hands trembling.

Only one person had ever spoken those words to me. That night… when I'd been left to die.

> "Kray…" I whispered.

He was back.

And so was my past.

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TO BE CONTINUED...