One day, Celeste Harper received a phone call informing her that, according to the will of her deceased boyfriend, she was now the heir to the various properties under his name—assets estimated to be worth around $150 billion. Along with those properties, she had also become the owner of the Blackwood Estate, a 105,000-square-foot modern mega-mansion that had once been a Gilded Age Vanderbilt home, and she was expected to reside there. Celeste was shocked for three reasons. First, she had never had a boyfriend. Second, she was a broke university student struggling to pay her mother’s hospital bills—so how could she suddenly have money? Third… she actually had money. Still dazed, when she moved into the estate she barely processed what was happening. It felt as though she were a puppet, with events unfolding around her on their own. She now lived in an enormous estate with countless servants, surrounded by unimaginable luxury. She should have felt lucky, grateful even—but she didn’t. From the moment she stepped inside the estate, an eerie feeling settled over her, something she couldn’t explain. The coldness that seeped from the walls and corridors was unlike anything she had ever experienced. Strange things began happening around her—small, unsettling moments that made her skin crawl. In the grand living room hung a portrait of the dead boyfriend who had supposedly left her this fortune. Adrian Blackwood. The painting loomed like a shadow, and whenever she looked at it, it felt as though he were staring back. She convinced herself it was just her imagination—until one night she saw a silhouette sitting on the edge of her bed as she slept. She jolted awake, frozen with shock. When she looked closer, her heart nearly stopped. It was the man from the portrait. Adrian Blackwood. She trembled like a leaf as he tilted his head slightly and asked, “Did I wake you up, love?”