Chapter 4 - Shadows of Blackwood
Rain lashed against the windshield of Julian’s vintage sedan as he sped down the winding coastal highway toward Blackwood Manor, the ancestral estate where Clara’s family had lived for generations. Clara sat rigid in the passenger seat, her ruined wedding dress bunched around her knees, staring blankly out into the black night. Beside Julian in the back seat, young Mia sat quietly, holding the silver key securely in her lap. Julian glanced into the rearview mirror, his mind racing with unanswered questions about the woman on the screen and the identical stranger who had crashed their ceremony. As the massive iron gates of Blackwood Manor towered over them through the storm, the heavy front doors of the dark mansion slowly swung open on their own.
