LOGINMax’s office was silent except for the soft ticking of the clock mounted on the far wall. Morning light filtered through the tall windows behind his desk, casting long streaks of pale gold across the polished floor. The room carried the same atmosphere it always did, everything perfectly arranged, nothing out of place. Max sat behind his desk, flipping through a stack of documents. To anyone walking in, he looked completely normal. Focused, calm and working. But Scott knew better. Scott had been working with Max for years, long enough to recognize when something was different. And this morning something definitely was. Scott stood near the side table, a tablet in his hand as he reviewed the morning schedule. He had already updated Max about several meetings and handled three phone calls on his behalf, but his attention kept drifting back to the man behind the desk. Max hadn’t spoken much since arriving. Which wasn’t unusual. But there was a quiet tension in the room that h
Mia didn’t remember when the sky outside her window began to lighten. At some point during the endless hours of staring at the ceiling, the deep darkness had softened into the pale grey of early morning. The house slowly began to wake, she could hear sound of movement coming from downstairs. But Mia had not slept. Not even for a minute. Her eyes burned from exhaustion, yet her mind remained restless, replaying the events of the night over and over again. Max’s voice in the darkness. The way he had already been there. Waiting. The warning in his words. A soft knock suddenly broke the silence. Mia sat up instantly. Her heart jumped. For a moment, she simply stared at the door. Another knock followed, it was gentle but firm. It had to be Melissa. Or one of the maids calling her down for breakfast. Still, the suddenness of it made her stomach twist nervously. Had Max said something? Did Melissa already know about last night? Mia quickly stood and smoothed down the wrin
The walk back upstairs felt longer than it ever had before. Mia stepped out of the dark room first, the dim hallway lights suddenly feeling far too bright after the suffocating darkness inside. Her eyes adjusted slowly as her mind raced, her pulse still pounding loudly in her ears. Max’s words echoed relentlessly. You might discover things you won’t survive knowing. She swallowed hard. Well that was why she was here in the first place, but she had to survive one way or another. Without another word, she started walking. The hallway stretched ahead of her, but she could feel it the unmistakable presence behind her. Heavy, controlled footsteps followed at a steady distance. Max. He wasn’t rushing or speaking. But he was there and Mia could feel it with every step she took. Her stomach twisted. Was he escorting her back… or watching her? She kept her gaze forward, refusing to look back even though every nerve in her body screamed to check. Her bare feet moved a
Mia waited and waited and waited. The house had long since gone quiet. By the time the clock on her bedside table crept past midnight, the entire estate felt like it had fallen asleep. Still, Mia didn’t move. She sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the dark window across from her, listening. Her heart beating steadily in her chest. Because the truth was… she had already decided hours ago that she was going to do this. The hallway had been haunting her all day. Every conversation with Clara, every careful smile she gave Melissa, every polite nod during the wedding planning, it had all been a performance to cover the one thought she couldn’t shake. What was behind that door? And why had Max walked in there like he was stepping into something painful? Mia checked the clock again. 12:17 a.m. If Melissa had any habit of late-night patrols, Mia hadn’t seen evidence of it yet. The housekeeper usually disappeared shortly after dinner, and the rest of the staff stayed confined
When Mia finally retreated upstairs after lunch and other appointments for the day, the house returned to its usual rhythm. Melissa watched her disappear up the staircase before turning back toward the sitting room. The folders Clara had left behind were neatly stacked now, the chairs pushed back into place, the room looking as though the meeting had never happened. Melissa picked up her tablet, glancing briefly at the notes she had made. Then she closed it. There was something else she needed to do. Something she had been instructed to do from the very beginning. She left the sitting room and walked down the main hallway with steady, practiced steps. Her shoes made almost no sound against the polished floors as she moved deeper into the house, toward a wing that most of the staff rarely entered. Max’s study was at the far end. The door was partially open. Melissa paused only long enough to knock softly before pushing it open. Max was seated behind his desk. The room was d
By the time Mia and Melissa returned to the sitting room, Mia had already forced her expression back into something calm. But inside, her thoughts were still circling the hallway like restless birds. The door. The way Melissa’s eyes had flicked toward it. The subtle pause in her voice afterward. Mia’s stomach tightened. She might have made a mistake. It wasn’t just curiosity that worried her, it was the possibility that Melissa had noticed it. And if Melissa noticed, there was a very real chance Max would know about it too. Melissa was the housekeeper. She ran the household like a quiet machine, every detail flowing through her hands before reaching anyone else. Mia had already learned that nothing in this house escaped her notice for long. Which meant she had to be smarter and more careful. And above all… less suspicious. You need to give her something else to focus on, Mia told herself. Something ordinary. Something that made wandering down a random hallw
The invitations went out exactly one week later. Cream-colored envelopes, thick and elegant, sealed with a discreet insignia that needed no explanation. They arrived quietly and efficiently, hand-delivered to select homes across the city, homes that belonged to people who moved within the same ra
Time passed. by faster than Mia wanted and two weeks passed faster than she anticipated. Every morning, Mia woke to the same pale light filtering through the curtains of her room. The same soft knock from a maid reminding her it was time for breakfast. The same silence when she stepped into the di
Max sat behind his desk, one hand resting idly near his laptop. The screen was dark now, but his mind was anything but there. He kept thinking back to the party. Not the music or the conversations, those had been meaningless noise, but the faces. The expressions that had flickered across them w
Morning arrived quietly, the sunlight filtered through the curtains of her room. Mia lay still for a few moments after waking, staring at the ceiling as her mind slowly caught up with reality. The wedding preparations were continuing. That thought alone was enough to make her chest tighten. She







