Once in a lifetime

Elena could still feel the weight of Liam's words pressing against her chest.

Murdered. Disappeared. Found too late.

The truth was suffocating, but she wasn't going to let it bury her. Not this time.

Her gaze shifted to the grand staircase leading into the depths of the mansion. Somewhere beyond those halls lay the East Wing-the last place she had been alive in another lifetime.

She turned to Liam. "Take me there."

His face darkened. "No."

Catherine laughed softly. "Ah, there it is. The same old dance. You want answers, and Liam wants to keep you locked away from the truth."

Liam shot her a warning glare before turning back to Elena. "It's too dangerous."

Elena took a step closer, standing firm. "I don't care. If I died in that wing, then that's exactly where I need to go."

Liam exhaled sharply, raking a hand through his hair. "Elena, you don't understand. The last time you walked into the East Wing, you didn't walk out."

A shiver ran down her spine, but she refused to back down. "Then it's a good thing I've already died once."

Silence.

Catherine grinned. "Oh, I like her."

Liam's expression hardened. "This isn't a game."

Elena's pulse pounded. "And I'm not a child who needs protecting."

The air between them was thick with tension. Something was in the East Wing. Something Liam wanted to keep buried.

But she wasn't going to be kept in the dark anymore.

Before Liam could stop her, she turned and strode toward the staircase. Her heart hammered with each step. The floorboards creaked beneath her feet, the distant ticking of a grandfather clock filling the empty space.

She reached the hallway that led to the East Wing.

The doors stood at the far end, locked and waiting.

Liam's footsteps were fast behind her. "Elena, don't-"

She grabbed the handle.

A shock of cold shot up her arm.

She gasped.

For a split second, the hallway shifted-the elegant wallpaper peeled away, replaced with scorched walls and cracked mirrors. The air smelled of smoke and blood.

And then-a scream.

Not from her.

From someone in the past.

The vision vanished as fast as it had come. The hallway was normal again, the door still locked beneath her grip. But Elena wasn't the same.

She had seen it. Felt it.

Something terrible had happened in the East Wing.

And now, it was waiting for her to remember.

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Question for Chapter Eleven:

"If a place held the key to your past-but stepping inside could awaken something dangerous-would you still go?"

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