CHAPTER 7 REVENGE

CHAPTER 7

REVENGE

Fire never chooses to become fire.

But once it is ignited, it burns everything in its path without mercy.

That was Aron Loghan.

He was not born with hatred.

But once a wound had torn through his soul, there was no space left for forgiveness.

Inside his bedroom on the second floor, Aron stood motionless before the glass window, staring into the darkness that slowly consumed the Yorkshire hills.

The wind tapped softly against the window, carrying the scent of wet earth and the distant cry of an owl.

But inside Aron’s chest, there was nothing except silence.

A silence filled with burning embers.

His right hand held an old photograph.

A photograph he had kept for twenty-three years.

Dark hair.

Gray eyes.

A sweet smile that once led him straight into hell.

Eva.

She was still alive.

Still capable of smiling.

Still unaware of how deeply she had destroyed a fifteen-year-old boy who had only just learned how to trust someone.

The smile she once gave him had been poison.

Her eyes had become a blade.

And the sound of her betrayal had become a memory he could never erase.

Aron closed his eyes.

"Dammit."

The word escaped his lips quietly, but it carried years of bitterness.

"You will pay."

The world saw Aron Loghan as a man who was cold, successful, and impossible to break.

But hidden beneath that perfect image lived an old wound that had never truly healed.

And today, that wound was no longer bleeding.

It had hardened into something far more dangerous.

Determination.

Aron believed he was beyond repair.

If he had been destroyed, then Eva would suffer the same fate.

She did not deserve happiness.

She did not deserve to laugh freely with another man.

If Eva ever tried to love someone else, Aron would take that happiness away.

The marriage would become her prison.

He would make her experience the pain he had carried all these years.

Eva would never escape.

Eva would never find peace.

Eva would never be happy.

Aron threw the photograph into the fireplace.

He watched as the flames consumed the face that had haunted him for more than two decades.

"You will never run away from me."

His voice was low.

Cold.

"I will not let you go until we both fall into the same hell."

A dangerous revenge.

Placed in the hands of a man with power.

The spring rain returned, scattering soft drops across the roof of Eva's old car as it moved slowly along the gravel roads of the countryside.

The sound of water dripping from the trees mixed with the tired rhythm of the windshield wipers struggling against the rain.

A thin layer of fog covered the endless fields on both sides of the road, turning the distant landscape into a world of quiet gray.

Eva gripped the steering wheel tightly.

Her damp hair stuck against her forehead.

Her breathing was slow and exhausted.

Her eyes stared blankly at the slippery road ahead.

She was too tired to think.

Too distracted to realize that something was about to change her life forever.

Suddenly...

CRASH!

The old car stopped violently.

Eva's body was thrown forward against the seatbelt.

Her heart raced.

For a brief second, she saw the shadow of a man crossing the road before everything came to a sudden stop.

Without thinking, Eva opened the door and rushed outside.

"Oh my God!"

Her voice trembled with panic.

"Are you alright?"

The man was sitting on the wet road.

His face was pale.

His shirt was soaked through.

A small wound marked his knee.

He looked disoriented, but conscious.

The injuries appeared minor.

But for Eva, guilt immediately took over.

She had hit him.

And that alone was enough to make her panic.

"Come on. Let me help you."

She carefully supported him as he stood.

Her own hands were shaking.

She helped him into the passenger seat and quickly started the engine.

Through the rain and thickening fog, Eva drove toward the nearest hospital.

Inside the hospital waiting room, Eva paced back and forth.

Her wet jacket was still wrapped around her body as she nervously bit her lip.

After several minutes, a young doctor approached her.

"His injuries appear minor, but we will still perform an X-ray to make sure there are no hidden problems."

Eva nodded quickly.

Her heart finally slowed a little.

Relief washed over her.

But time continued moving.

And then she remembered.

She had work.

As Eva turned toward the hospital entrance, an administrative officer stopped her.

"Are you the person who brought the patient here?"

Eva nodded.

"As the first person responsible for bringing him in, you need to sign the consent forms and confirm responsibility for the treatment process."

Without reading the documents, Eva grabbed the pen.

Her mind was too overwhelmed to think clearly.

She signed.

A simple movement.

A careless moment.

A decision she would regret.

Eva had no idea that a disaster was already beginning from the ink she had just placed on that paper.