The Billionaire's Curse

CHAPTER 2

The Mansion of Secrets

Amara's POV

My throat tightened each breath. There was nobody there when I turned. The room was empty, but I knew the whisper was genuine. The words pierced my skin like fire, and the paper continued to tremble in my grasp. As I staggered back, I knocked over a pile of old books because my knees felt weak.

I didn't get any sleep that evening. I huddled my knees to my breast and sat close to the window, gazing at the moon as if it may save my life. Adrian's advice to never mention her name kept repeating in my mind. Don't ever leave. Never fall in love again. The curse was genuine, not only a long-standing legend, and it was now ensnaring me in a lifelong chain that I was unable to escape.

I tried to be normal in the morning. While the servants bustled about in quiet, I sat by myself at the huge breakfast table and picked at the cold bread. I looked into everyone's faces, wondering whether anybody else was aware. Did they all already see me as a ghost? A waiting lunatic, a wandering shadow?

I needed to know the truth. The whole truth. Not only notes scrawled in books or murmurs in corridors. I wanted answers, and the only place to search was beyond the crimson hallway's shut door. They told me not to go into that one.

That evening, I followed one of the maids and observed her from behind the corner. She had a ring of keys on her hip, and I noticed where she put them as she went into the laundry room. I tiptoed over, picked up the keys, and ran soundlessly toward the red hallway, my heart pounding rapidly.

In the lock, the key clicked. With a long, weary moan, the door creaked open. As I entered, my nose was overwhelmed with dust. Compared to the rest of the home, the room was darker. furniture that is covered. heavy drapes. chilly air. But in the middle stood a mirror—tall, gold-framed, and shattered at the corners.

I walked toward it. Something felt odd. The glass felt warm to the touch of my fingertips.

The door abruptly slammed behind me.

It refused to move as I turned and raced to it. Panic flooded my chest. I was confined. Then, the mirror shimmered, like water. A form emerged. A female. pale skin. Black hair. Lips that are red.

Selena was the one.

She opened her lips, but nothing came out. She seemed to be attempting to get out as her hands brushed on the mirror's inside.

I staggered back. Something on the floor grabbed my foot. I landed hard, and my head smacked the corner of a little wooden chest. It was all dark for a second.

The mirror was once again simply a mirror when I opened my eyes. Quiet. Still. But a large black book was within the chest that had exploded when I stumbled across it.

I carefully opened it. It was Adrian’s handwriting.

Everything had been written by him.

How he wedded each woman. How they attempted to abandon him. how they passed away. He referred to it as justice. A holy law. His forebears made a blood pledge to safeguard his fortune and reputation.

As I read further, my hands began to shake. He had figured out how to follow them and catch them. The curse persisted even after they departed the residence.

"I have to go," I said to myself as I slammed the book shut.

Finding the correct key took a while, but when I eventually opened the door, I bolted. I continued till I got to my room. Trying to catch my breath, I fell to the floor and shut the door.

I needed a companion. I needed assistance.

That's when I thought of the brown-eyed guy.

Liam.

I recalled everything, even though I hadn't seen him in seven years. His grin while I was feeling down. When I was afraid of storms, he held my hand. The only genuine item I ever owned was him. And I released him.

I lied the next morning. I informed the maid that I had to go to the market to get Adrian a special present. Though uncertain, she nodded. I instructed the driver to wait outside the store when he drove me into town.

I sneaked via the back entrance and hurried inside.

Until I got to the old area of town, I didn't stop. Everything seemed dusty, slower, and smaller. I reached the modest repair shop with the wooden sign after following my heart down the shattered roads.

He was working on a motorcycle inside.

His eyes widened as he looked up and saw me.

"Amara?"

With tears in my eyes, I nodded.

He approached me carefully, as if he was afraid I would vanish.

"You returned," he muttered.

"I was at a loss on where to go."

He handed me water and led me inside. I filled him in on everything: the mirror, the other wives, the curse, and the home. He didn’t laugh. He didn't label me insane. He just listened.

Upon my completion, he said, "You will not be spending another night there."

My voice trembled as I replied, "I can't go." “If I attempt... the curse... I’ll go mad.”

He grabbed me by the hands. “Then we shatter it.”

I stared at him, uncertain. "How?"

He gave a headshake. "We figure something out. Together.

I was able to breathe for the first time in months.

However, the gate was open when I went back to the mansion later that day. The vehicle has gone. It was too quiet in the house.

Slowly, I entered. My heels clattered on the ground.

Then I caught sight of her.

One of the wives. I believe the fourth. I knew who she was from the picture.

She was smiling and pallid as she stood in the corridor.

However, she had passed away.

I let out a scream, but everything was silent.

Then she started talking.

"Amara, run. He is aware.

Something chilly encircled my neck from behind before I could move.

I attempted to shout.

The world swirled.

It everything went black.

The icy clutch became tighter around my throat. Desperate for air, my fingernails scratched at the unseen force. I kicked and staggered, but I was unable to see what was holding me. Panic filled my chest, and the corridor whirled.

Then, as abruptly, it released its grip.

I fell to the ground, coughing violently. I crept backward, away from the site, my hands shaking. The spectral spouse had vanished. There was just quiet.

However, there was a glittering object on the floor.

I slowly picked it up. A locket.

I didn't own it.

There was a picture inside. Regarding Liam.

new. Lately. Taken from outside the business.

I felt sick to my stomach. My digits became icy.

They were watching him.

They were aware that I had seen him. knew where I went. That implied...

The children.

Heart pounding, I got up and hurried upstairs.

The entrance to the nursery was open.

Too frank.

When I shouted their names, my voice broke, but they didn't laugh, scream, or respond with a gentle baby breath. The beds were vacant. There was no damage to the toys. The temperature has dropped.

Next, inscribed in red on the wall:

** "You'll lose them all if you take one more step." **

A blood-red warning on the nursery wall threatens the lives of Amara's children, who she learns are gone. **