Some chains aren't made of iron. They're made of promises, sealed in blood and they echo across lifetimes.
Ava sat in silence.
The fire cracked. Liam's hand was warm on hers. But she couldn't stop trembling.
"I drank the poison," she whispered. "To save you. But from what?"
Maya stepped into the candlelight, holding a leather-bound book.
"You were bound by a contract older than any empire," she said softly. "You made a deal. One that cursed not just you but Liam."
Ava looked up sharply. "I would never "
"You didn't know what you were giving up. You only knew what you wanted: power, protection, vengeance… maybe all three."
She set the book down and flipped it open.
A page crackled as she turned it yellowed, blood-stained parchment covered in curling black symbols.
Ava's breath caught.
It was her signature.
In her own handwriting.
Right beside it… Vincent's.
Flashback Fragment.
"You can't stop them," Vincent said, pouring wine into two glasses.
"I don't want to stop them. I want to destroy them," Isabella hissed.
Vincent smiled. "Then we make a pact. You get the power to crush your enemies, and I get your loyalty. Body, soul… and legacy."
She hesitated. "And Liam?"
Vincent's eyes glinted. "He'll be protected. As long as you fulfill your end."
"And if I fail?"
Vincent raised his glass.
"Then he belongs to me."
Present.
Ava staggered to her feet. "I sold him. I gave Liam away?!"
"You didn't understand the price," Maya said, voice trembling.
Liam didn't speak.
He just stepped back hurt and shock twisting across his face.
"You made a deal with Vincent?" he finally said. "You chose him?"
"No no, I didn't choose him," Ava cried. "I chose you. That's why I took the poison!"
"You also signed your soul away," Maya whispered. "That's why you're back. That's why Celeste's still watching."
Ava fell to her knees.
Tears blurred the world around her.
"I tried to protect you," she said, voice breaking. "And I cursed us both."
Outside — Watching from the shadows
Vincent stood in a black coat, eyes glowing faintly in the darkness.
He watched the window where Ava cried.
Celeste appeared beside him.
"She remembers," she said.
Vincent nodded once. "Good."
"What now?"
Vincent's smile was slow. Wicked.
"Now we see if she'll finish what she started."