I'll take everything from you

chapter 1: Runaway dreams

Claire Holbrook’s life had been an intricate lie for three years. Once celebrated as the youngest billionaire tech genius, she now poured coffee for truckers and retirees at Rosie’s Diner in Briarwood. The town was quiet—perfect for someone like her, hiding from the glare of the world she’d left behind.

Her shift had just ended when she found it. A folded piece of paper, tucked beneath the windshield wiper of her battered old car.

“I’ll take everything from you.”

The words chilled her, not because of their menace but because they felt personal. Claire’s past was full of people who might want to destroy her. A former business partner? A jilted lover? Or had someone discovered her secret and decided to expose her?

But as the shadows lengthened, Claire began to suspect this wasn’t an ordinary threat. Her dreams that night were plagued with visions of a figure cloaked in darkness, its eyes gleaming with malice.

The next morning, she learned that her neighbor, a kind widow named Mrs. Redfield, had vanished overnight. Her cozy house was untouched, her dog still tied up in the yard, barking at the empty air.

Claire’s blood ran cold. She couldn’t explain why, but she knew it was connected to the note.