The Dark Blade: Return Of The General.

Chapter 3: The Stranger's Promise

Jacob helped Anna into his sleek black BMW, watching as she stared at the leather interior with wide eyes. The car was worth more than most people earned in five years, but to Jacob it was simply transportation. He had more important things on his mind than impressing anyone with material wealth.

As they drove away from the Tate mansion, Jacob glanced at Anna through the rearview mirror. She sat rigidly in the passenger seat, her scarred hands folded in her lap like a prisoner being transported to her final destination.

"They think I came here to get wealthy like those other fools," Jacob muttered to himself, navigating through Seron's busy afternoon traffic. "I came for someone far more important, and now I have found her."

Anna heard his words but could not make sense of them. Why would a stranger speak about her as if she were important? Her own family had just sold her like damaged merchandise to the first man desperate enough to accept her.

"Why are you doing this?" Anna asked quietly, her voice barely audible above the engine's hum.

Jacob met her eyes in the mirror. "What do you mean?"

"I know you think taking me will increase whatever payment my family promised you. You can drop the act now." Anna's tone carried years of bitterness and disappointment. "Everyone who shows me kindness wants something in return."

Jacob pulled the car to the side of the road and turned to face her directly. The accusation in her voice cut deeper than any blade he had ever faced in battle.

"Anna, I am not trying to take advantage of you. I only want to make sure you are safe and treated with the respect you deserve."

"Respect?" Anna laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. "Look at me. Really look at me. How can you talk about respect when you have seen what I have become?"

Jacob studied her face carefully. The burns had healed poorly, leaving raised scars that pulled at her skin and created an uneven texture across her left cheek and neck. But her right eye still held the same courage and kindness he remembered from that terrible night fifteen years ago.

"I see exactly who you are," Jacob said softly. "You are the bravest person I have ever met."

Anna shook her head in disbelief. "You do not even know me."

"I know more than you think." Jacob started the car again, driving toward his home on the outskirts of the city. "Anna, I want to ask you something, and I need you to answer honestly."

"What?"

"Do you believe people can change? Can someone who was once weak become strong? Can someone who had nothing become everything?"

Anna considered the question as they passed through Seron's wealthy district. Massive estates lined the road, each one representing generations of accumulated power and influence.

"I suppose it is possible," she said finally. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

Jacob smiled mysteriously. "You will understand soon enough."

They pulled into the driveway of a modest two-story house that looked unremarkable from the outside. Jacob had chosen this property specifically because it would not attract attention or raise questions about his true identity.

Inside, however, the house told a different story. The furnishings were simple but expensive, and Anna noticed details that spoke of wealth carefully hidden - imported marble in the bathroom, hand-crafted wooden furniture, and technology that cost more than most people's annual salaries.

"Who are you really?" Anna asked as Jacob led her through the main hallway.

"Someone who owes you a debt that can never be fully repaid," Jacob replied. "But I intend to try."

He stopped in front of a door at the end of the hall and turned the handle. Inside was a room that took Anna's breath away. The walls were painted in calming shades of white and blue, and medical equipment lined the shelves with military precision. It looked like the most advanced private clinic she had ever seen.

"What is this place?" Anna whispered.

Jacob opened a wooden box on the central table, revealing rows of perfectly organized vials, surgical instruments, and acupuncture needles. Each item was made from the finest materials and maintained with obsessive care.

"This is where I am going to give you back everything that was taken from you," Jacob said, extending his hand toward her. "But I need you to trust me completely."

Anna stared at the medical equipment with growing alarm. "What are you planning to do to me?"

"Heal you." Jacob's voice carried absolute certainty. "Remove every scar, repair every damaged nerve, and restore your skin to exactly how it was before that fire."

"That is impossible," Anna breathed. "The doctors said the damage was permanent. They tried everything - skin grafts, laser treatments, experimental procedures. Nothing worked."

Jacob moved closer, his presence somehow both intimidating and comforting. "Those doctors did not have access to the techniques I learned during my time away from Seron. I studied under masters who understood healing in ways that modern medicine has forgotten."

Anna backed away from him, fear and hope warring in her chest. "What if you are lying? What if this is some cruel joke? What if you make everything worse?"

"Then you will be no different than you are now," Jacob replied simply. "But if I succeed, you will have your life back. Your real life, not this shadow existence your family has forced you to endure."

He gestured toward the medical table in the center of the room. "The choice is yours, Anna. You can walk out that door right now and return to being their unwanted burden, or you can let me try to give you the future you deserve."

Anna looked around the room again, taking in the expensive equipment and obvious expertise behind its arrangement. This stranger had somehow acquired medical knowledge and resources that surpassed anything available in Seron's best hospitals.

"Why would you do this for me?" she asked. "We just met. You know nothing about who I am or what I have done."

Jacob's expression softened, and for a moment Anna thought she saw something familiar in his eyes - a memory that danced just beyond her reach.

"I know you are the kind of person who runs toward danger to save others, even when it costs you everything," Jacob said quietly. "I know you have spent fifteen years paying the price for one moment of incredible courage. And I know that the world is a darker place because people like you are made to hide in the shadows."

Anna felt tears burning her eyes. No one had spoken to her this way since the accident. Her own family treated her like a shameful secret, and strangers either stared in horror or looked away in disgust.

"What if it does not work?" she whispered.

"Then we will try something else," Jacob promised. "I will not give up on you, Anna. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever."

He extended his hand again, and this time Anna saw something in his gesture that reminded her of another hand reaching through smoke and flames, pulling her toward safety when she had risked everything to save a stranger's life.

"Just who are you?" Anna asked, but she was already reaching for his hand.

Jacob's smile held secrets that could change the world. "I am someone who never forgets a debt of honor."