I wasn’t looking for anything.
That’s the strange part.
I wasn’t trying to uncover secrets or challenge rules. I had stopped doing that a long time ago.
That day, I was simply walking..
Quietly.
Trying to stay out of everyone’s way.
The mansion had always been too large for me. Too many corridors. Too many doors that belonged to lives I wasn’t allowed to touch. I had learned which rooms welcomed me and which ones pushed me away without words.
But somehow… my feet carried me to a hallway I didn’t recognize.
It was quiet there.
Too quiet.
No servants passed through. No laughter from Sloane. No clicking heels from Tessa.
At the end of the hallway stood a huge door.
Dark wood. Locked.
Not just closed, sealed.
A heavy metal keypad was fixed beside the handle. The kind Lucien onl
