Before the Ashes
If someone had looked at the Hart family from the outside, they would have called them perfect.
Not because they had no problems.
But because, somehow, they always chose love anyway.
The Hart mansion was never silent.
It was filled with life—soft laughter echoing through marble halls, the smell of fresh breakfast drifting from the kitchen, and the sound of footsteps that never felt lonely.
Elena Hart grew up in a home where love was not something spoken about.
It was something lived.
Every single day.
That morning began like every other peaceful Saturday.
Sunlight spilled through the tall glass windows of the dining room, painting golden patterns across the long table.
Richard Hart sat at the head of the table, his suit jacket already on even though it was still early. A stack of papers sat beside his untouched coffee.
But none of that mattered right now.
Not when his daughter was talking.
“And I’m telling you, Dad, I don’t need a driver following me everywhere,” Elena complained, crossing her arms.
Richard didn’t even look up from his papers.
“You’re twenty-three. You still get lost in your own neighborhood.”
“I do NOT.”
From across the table, Sophia Hart let out a soft laugh.
She was the calm in every storm.
The warmth in every argument.
The one who always made everything feel lighter just by being there.
“She did get lost last week,” Sophia added gently, sipping her tea.
Elena turned sharply. “Mum!”
Sophia smiled innocently. “I’m just saying facts, darling.”
Richard finally looked up, eyes glinting with amusement.
“So the family is united on this matter.”
Elena groaned. “You two are against me.”
“Always,” Richard said without hesitation.
But his smile said otherwise.
Because he was already watching her the way he always did.
Like she was the best thing that ever happened to him.
Sophia stood and walked over to Elena’s side, gently fixing the collar of her blouse.
“You don’t always have to fight us, you know,” she said softly.
Elena’s voice lowered. “I’m not fighting. I’m just trying to be independent.”
Sophia paused.
Then she smiled in that quiet, knowing way only mothers do.
“You’ve always been independent,” she said. “Even when you were five and refused to hold my hand in public because you said you were ‘a big girl now.’”
Richard chuckled.
“I remember that. She cried five minutes later when she couldn’t find us in the supermarket.”
“I was not crying,” Elena muttered.
“You were howling,” Richard corrected.
The three of them laughed together.
It wasn’t loud.
It wasn’t forced.
It was the kind of laughter that only exists when people are completely at ease with each other.
When there is no fear.
No distance.
No secrets.
Just love.
Sophia returned to her seat and looked at Richard.
“You’re working again today?” she asked softly.
Richard exhaled, glancing at the papers.
“Always.”
Sophia’s voice didn’t judge him.
It never did.
But it carried quiet concern.
“Just don’t forget to come home early. Elena said she has something planned for dinner.”
Richard looked at his daughter immediately.
“Oh?”
Elena tried to hide her smile. “It’s nothing big.”
“That means it’s big,” he said.
Sophia laughed. “It usually is.”
For a moment, Richard reached across the table and gently placed his hand over Sophia’s.
A small gesture.
But full of history.
Full of years.
Full of everything they had built together.
“We’ll be here,” he said simply.
And it sounded like a promise.
One that was supposed to last.
One that was supposed to protect them.
None of them knew that promises were the first things the world breaks.
And that love, no matter how strong, is never enough to stop what is coming.
