CHAPTER 1: THE SCREAM IN THE DARK
The scream was not a cry for help.
It was the sound of someone realizing they were about to die.
Julian Hale had heard fear before.
He had seen it in business meetings when companies were collapsing. He had seen it in the eyes of men who knew they had lost everything.
But he had never heard it come from his own home.
His mansion.
His family.
His mother.
Julian pushed open the heavy glass doors leading to the backyard, holding a bouquet of rare red roses in one hand.
He had planned everything perfectly.
Tonight was supposed to be a surprise.
After months of dating Bianca Laurent, he was finally ready to ask her to set a wedding date.
He thought she was the woman who would bring happiness into his family.
He thought she loved his mother.
He was wrong.
The moment he stepped inside, he heard it.
“HELP!”
Julian froze.
The roses slipped from his fingers.
One by one, the flowers fell onto the cold marble floor.
Because inside the glowing infinity pool was his 78-year-old mother, Martha.
Her thin arms shook violently as she struggled to hold onto the edge.
Her purple nightgown was soaked, pulling her deeper into the water.
“Please…” Martha gasped. “Someone… help me…”
Julian’s heart almost stopped.
Then he saw who was standing beside the pool.
Bianca.
His fiancée.
The woman who kissed him goodbye that morning.
The woman who held his hand and said, “Your mother is like my own.”
But now…
She was smiling.
Not scared.
Not worried.
Smiling.
“Still pretending to be helpless?” Bianca said quietly.
Julian felt his entire body go cold.
“What did you say?”
Martha looked up at her.
“Bianca… please… I can’t hold on anymore.”
Instead of helping, Bianca slowly stepped closer.
Then she pushed Martha’s fingers away with the tip of her shoe.
Martha gasped.
“Bianca!”
“You really thought Julian would choose you over me?” Bianca whispered.
Martha’s face filled with disbelief.
“He loves me. I’m his mother.”
Bianca laughed.
A small, cruel laugh.
“And after I marry him, this house will finally belong to me.”
Julian stood frozen behind the glass doors.
His fists tightened.
The woman he planned to marry was trying to murder his mother.
But he didn’t move.
Not yet.
Because he needed the truth.
Bianca looked around.
She wanted to make sure nobody was watching.
Then she leaned closer.
“You know what’s funny, Martha?”
The old woman trembled.
“What?”
“Nobody believes an old woman who forgets things.”
Martha’s eyes widened.
“What are you talking about?”
Bianca smiled.
“I already told people your memory is getting worse.”
Julian’s breathing stopped.
This wasn’t random.
This wasn’t anger.
This was a plan.
A carefully prepared plan.
Bianca continued.
“Everyone already thinks you’re confused. Soon they’ll think you imagined everything.”
Martha cried.
“Why would you do this?”
Bianca looked at the mansion around her.
“Because this house belongs to me.”
Then she whispered the words Julian would never forget.
“After the wedding, you won’t be alive long enough to complain.”
Silence.
A deadly silence.
Then Julian stepped out from the shadows.
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
“Say that again.”
Bianca turned around.
The color disappeared from her face.
Because Julian Hale had heard everything.
Every word.
Every lie.
Every plan.
And now…
May you like
She was no longer facing an old woman.
She was facing the man who owned everything she wanted.
