The storm started the moment Maya stepped into the old seaside cottage—an omen she tried to ignore. She hadn’t visited this place in years, not since her father passed it down to her like a final secret. But tonight, she wasn’t here for memories. She was here because of a text message.
“If you want to know the truth about Adrian… come alone.”
Her heart hammered inside her chest as she pushed the door open. The lights flickered, shadows stretching across the wooden floor like silent witnesses. Wind howled through the cracked windows, carrying the faint scent of salt and something else—something colder.
Betrayal.
Adrian had been the kind of love people wrote books about. He wasn’t just charming; he was careful, attentive, and impossibly devoted… or so she believed. They planned a future together—late-night rooftop promises, whispered dreams, matching keys to the same apartment.
But everything began unraveling two months ago.
Missed calls. Unexplained disappearances. A perfume she didn’t wear lingering on his jacket. A quietness in his voice when he said her name.
Still, Maya clung to hope… until the message came.
She took a cautious step inside, her phone gripped tightly in her hand, its dim screen casting an eerie glow. “Hello?” she called out. “Is anyone here?”
Silence.
Then—a creak from the second floor.
Her breath caught. She considered running, but something stronger held her in place: she needed answers. She deserved answers.
Maya placed one foot on the staircase, feeling the wood groan beneath her weight. Another step. And another. With every movement, her pulse quickened, a chilling heat rising through her veins. Halfway up, her phone vibrated.
A new message.
From Adrian.
“Where are you? I need to see you… something’s wrong.”
Her blood froze.
If Adrian was messaging her now…
Then who was waiting for her upstairs?
She swallowed, her hand trembling as she reached the top of the staircase. The hallway stretched before her—dark, silent, a tunnel of unanswered questions.
Then she saw it:
A faint light glowing beneath the last door on the right.
Her heart slammed against her ribs as she moved toward it. Someone was in that room. Someone who knew something. Someone who wanted her here.
She reached for the doorknob.
The light flickered.
And a voice—soft, familiar, and heartbreakingly calm—whispered from the other side:
“I didn’t want you to find out like this… Maya.”
Her breath shattered.
She knew that voice.
It wasn’t Adrian’s.
It was a woman’s.
And the worst part?
Maya recognized it instantly.
The story she believed was about love…
…was about to become a story about betrayal far darker than she ever imagined.
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