Chapter 1: Ashes and Echoes

Eva Langley had spent years building a life where heroes didn’t matter—a life where she wasn’t compared to her mother, where she wasn’t reminded that she was the powerless Langley, the failure of her bloodline. But standing beneath the dim glow of the streetlight, staring into the burning red eyes of the Phantom Flame, she realized something chilling.

No matter how far she ran from that world, it always found her.

The villain standing before her wasn’t just some petty criminal. Phantom Flame was the kind of name spoken in warning. The kind that lingered in police reports and whispered conversations between heroes who weren’t as untouchable as they pretended to be.

And he was watching her with something dangerously close to amusement.

“You’re awfully calm,” Dante remarked, tilting his head slightly. “Most people would be running by now.”

Eva exhaled slowly. She wasn’t calm—her heart was hammering against her ribs, every instinct screaming that she should get as far away from him as possible. But she also knew something else.

Dante Voss didn’t hunt randomly.

If he was here, if he was speaking to her, then that meant he wanted something. And if he wanted something, then she wasn’t dead yet.

So, she did what she always did. She played the hand she was given.

“Running never got me anywhere,” she said evenly. “Besides, if you wanted me dead, I’d already be ashes, wouldn’t I?”

Dante let out a low chuckle. “Smart girl.” He took a slow step forward, and even though he wasn’t touching her, she swore she could feel the heat rolling off him in waves. “Tell me, Langley—do you ever wonder why your family’s so desperate to control you?”

Eva tensed. That was not the question she expected. “What are you talking about?”

Dante studied her, his gaze searching, as if trying to see through her.

“Your mother,” he said. “Your golden boy brother.

They keep trying to pull you back into their perfect world. But not because they care, not really.” His voice dipped lower, almost like a secret. “It’s because they’re afraid of what you might learn if you stayed away long enough.”

Eva’s fingers curled into fists. “You don’t know anything about me.”

Dante smirked. “I know more than you think.”

She wanted to tell him he was wrong. That her family wasn’t some corrupt, power-hungry empire. That Jason might be arrogant and her mother overbearing, but they weren’t bad people.

But the words didn’t come.

Because deep down, Eva knew something had always felt off.

The way they refused to acknowledge anything beyond their own version of justice. The way they treated the hero world as an exclusive club, their influence stretching into places it had no business being. The way they had buried their failures, their mistakes, under mountains of good PR.

And the way they had treated her—as something broken, something that either had to be fixed or forgotten.

Dante must have seen something flicker in her expression, because his smirk faded, replaced by something almost curious.

“You’re not like them,” he murmured. “That’s why I came to you.”

Eva narrowed her eyes. “You think I’m going to help you?”

Dante chuckled again, low and dry. “I think you’re going to want answers as much as I do.”

He stepped back, giving her space again, as if offering her the illusion of choice.

“There’s a lot of dirt under the hero world’s shining façade,” he said. “Secrets they don’t want anyone to know. And your family?” His gaze sharpened. “They’re at the center of it.”

Eva’s stomach twisted.

She should walk away. Right now.

She should pretend she never had this conversation, go back to her apartment, and forget that Dante Voss had ever stood in front of her and planted these doubts in her mind.

But she had spent her whole life living under the shadow of secrets.

And for the first time, she had a chance to uncover them.

“…Where?” she asked, the word barely more than a breath.

Dante’s smirk returned, this time slower, darker.

“I’ll be in touch.”

And then—he vanished.

One moment, he was standing before her, and the next, his body melted into thick, curling smoke, dissipating into the night as if he had never been there at all.

Eva swallowed hard. What the hell had she just done?

She barely slept that night.

Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Dante’s red gaze staring back at her. She could still hear his voice, curling through her mind like smoke—They’re afraid of what you might learn.

By morning, she had almost convinced herself that it was a mistake, that listening to a villain would only drag her down a path she didn’t want to walk.

And then her phone rang.

She nearly ignored it until she saw the name flash across the screen.

Jason.

Eva hesitated, then sighed, pressing the answer button.

“Eva.” Her brother’s voice was crisp, controlled. “You’re coming to the gala tonight.”

She blinked. “Excuse me?”

“It’s important. Mom wants you there. We want you there.”

Eva let out a dry laugh. “And you’re just assuming I’m going to say yes?”

Jason sighed, as if she were a child throwing a tantrum. “You’re a Langley, Eva. Whether you like it or not.”

Her jaw tightened. There it was again.

A reminder that, no matter what she did, they would never let her go.

She had spent years running, pushing them away, carving out a life of her own—and yet, here they were, demanding her presence like it was an obligation, not an invitation.

Maybe Dante was right. Maybe there was something they weren’t telling her.

And maybe… she was done being in the dark.

Eva inhaled slowly. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll come.”

Jason sounded almost surprised. “Good. Wear something appropriate.”

She hung up before he could say anything else.

Then, she sat back in her chair, staring at the ceiling, forcing herself to breathe.

If she was going to the gala, she wasn’t going as the powerless Langley who was grateful for an invitation.

She was going to get answers.

And if she had to cross paths with a villain to get them?

Then so be it.

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