TO

THE ONE WHO STAYED Y/N thought she knew Frank Castle. Before the skull. Before the blood. Before the name Punisher became whispered across New York, Frank was simply Lisa Castle’s father—the intimidating Marine with a soft spot for his family. Y/N had been Lisa’s teacher, but their connection ran deeper. Her daughter, Evie, had been Lisa’s closest friend. The two girls grew up together, and through them, Y/N became part of the Castle family’s life. Until tragedy took everything. Y/N had already lost Evie. Then, at the park, she watched Frank lose Maria and his children—including Lisa. She witnessed the massacre that destroyed the Castle family, believing Frank had died alongside them. Years later, she discovers he survived. But Frank Castle is no longer the man she remembers. He’s the Punisher now—a violent vigilante hunting the people responsible for destroying his life. When Frank begins appearing at Y/N’s door wounded and bleeding, she knows exactly who he is. She knows what he does. And yet, she lets him in. She patches his wounds without asking questions. She doesn’t judge him, but she refuses to excuse him either. Somehow, Y/N becomes the one person Frank trusts enough to return to when the world becomes too heavy. But as the years pass, something changes. Frank starts staying longer. Watching her a little too closely. Remembering things he shouldn’t. Becoming protective in ways that feel less like friendship and more like something neither of them is ready to name. Y/N begins to wonder whether Frank keeps coming back because she reminds him of the family he lost—or because he genuinely wants her. And Frank isn’t sure of the answer himself. Because falling for Y/N means risking the one thing he swore he’d never allow himself to have again: something to lose. She knows the monster beneath the skull. He knows the woman beneath her grief. And somehow, two people who lost the people they loved most begin finding their way back to each other.