Lady Death and Despair

Chapter 3

                                     Sophie

Sophie stood at the edge of the old bridge, staring into the swirling black water below. The rain was light, barely more than a mist, but it seeped through her clothes, chilling her to the bone. She had always come here when the memories became too heavy, hoping the river's endless flow could wash away the guilt that clung to her.

But nothing ever washed it away.

It had been ten years since the accident, but in Sophie's mind, it was still as fresh as the day it happened. She could still hear the screech of tires, the sickening crunch of metal, and the screams—her screams—echoing through the night. Her family had died that night, her parents and younger brother snuffed out in an instant, and she had been left alone. Alone to bear the weight of their loss. Alone to live with the knowledge that their deaths hadn't been an accident at all.

They had been murdered.

The town of Mysteria whispered about the tragedy, calling it a freak accident on a rainy night. But Sophie knew the truth. Edward Greywick had been behind it. She had never seen him, never had proof, but she knew in her gut that the crash had been no accident. The timing had been too precise, the circumstances too suspicious. Her father had gotten too close to the secrets Greywick had hidden, and it had cost him his life.

Sophie's hand trembled as she gripped the rusted railing of the bridge, her knuckles white. For years, she had tried to bury the truth, to convince herself that she was imagining things. But the memories never faded, and neither did the guilt. She hadn't been able to save them. She had been in the car, and somehow, she had survived. But why her? Why had she been the one left behind?

Her mind drifted to Damion Greywick, Edward's son. He had returned to town recently, though she had yet to see him. She remembered him from their childhood before everything had fallen apart. He had been quiet, almost distant, but never cruel. They had shared a strange kind of bond back then—both children trapped in the shadows of their families. She had never blamed Damion for what his father had done, but now, with the rumors swirling that the murders had started again, she wasn't so sure.

Was Damion like his father? Was he capable of the same horrors?

The thought sent a shiver down her spine. Sophie had heard the whispers around town, the way people speculated about him, how they watched him with wary eyes. Some believed he had inherited his father's darkness, that the blood running through his veins carried the same cruelty that had defined Edward. Others pitied him, seeing him as another victim of Edward Greywick's monstrous legacy.

But Sophie wasn't sure what to believe.

The murders were back. The same kind of killings that had terrorized Mysteria years ago. And if it wasn't Edward—locked away in his prison—then it had to be someone close to him. And that left one terrifying possibility.

Damion.

The thought of confronting him made her stomach twist in knots. What would she even say? What could she say? But the nagging feeling in her gut told her she had to try. She had spent too long haunted by her family's deaths, too long wondering why she had been spared. If Damion was involved in the new murders, or if he knew anything about what had happened to her family that night, she had to know.

Her heart raced as she turned away from the bridge, wiping the rain from her face. She couldn't keep running from the past, couldn't keep drowning in the what-ifs. There were answers to be found, and they lay in the hands of the last person she wanted to confront.

But if Damion was anything like his father, Sophie knew she couldn't trust him. Edward had been a master of deception, hiding his crimes behind a veneer of respectability until the truth had come crashing down. Damion might be doing the same, playing the role of the damaged son while secretly continuing the legacy of blood his father had started.

Still, a part of her refused to believe it. Damion wasn't Edward. He couldn't be.

But what if he was?

The question gnawed at her as she made her way down the rain-slicked streets of Mysteria, her footsteps echoing in the empty night. She had kept her distance from the Greywick name for years, trying to bury their connection. But tonight, the past was pulling her back in, and she couldn't resist its call any longer.

Damion Greywick was back in Mysteria, and with him, the darkness that had once threatened to destroy the town. Sophie wasn't sure what she would find when she finally faced him, but she knew one thing for certain: her family's blood was on his father's hands.Sophie stood at the edge of the old bridge, staring into the swirling black water below. The rain was light, barely more than a mist, but it seeped through her clothes, chilling her to the bone. She had always come here when the memories became too heavy, hoping the river's endless flow could wash away the guilt that clung to her.