Page 29 of Vintage

It was then that I saw it. At first, I thought it was just a trick of the light—my eyes playing games with me in the gloom. But no, it was there, standing at the edge of the house, just beyond the garden. A shadow, a figure of a woman, barely visible in the fading light, framed by the house’s broken windows. The way she stood, so still, so unnatural, made my heart skip. I blinked hard, shaking my head.

"It's just your mind, Amir," I muttered to myself, taking another step forward. The shadow didn't move. But I couldn't shake the feeling that it was watching me.

"Ro, where are you headed?" Amery's anxious voice trailed off into the distance, and despite any reason or clarity, I found myself trailing after the shadow that beckoned me to her. Her shadow...

My legs stiffened, but I forced myself to take another step. The air grew colder, biting at my skin, and the whisper of the willow's branches seemed to grow louder.

Maybe it said, “remember me, traveler?”

“Amir.” Somewhere in the back of my mind, I could hear Darious vividly, but he too faded.

I turned my eyes away from the shadow, trying to convince myself that it wasn’t real. "No. It's just your imagination," I repeated, but even as I said the words, something in the pit of my stomach told me otherwise. The woman, or whatever it was, stood just beyond the reach of the dimming light, too still, too silent.

When I glanced back, the figure was gone.

"Amir Rowan. What’s going on with you? We’ve been calling your name for ages!" The shout and Amery’s sudden anger cleared the fog in my mind. It was obvious; there was no light around us except for our phones. The house I was staring at appeared dark and deserted inside.

"Looks like there's nothing here. We’ll check out the house next," the enforcer remarked, giving me a quick look before moving ahead toward the entrance from the backyard.

"Are you alright?" Darius asked sincerely, and I nodded, shaking my head a bit more forcefully. Maybe it was the liquor I had during dinner, but wasn’t it too late for the alcohol to be affecting me?

"I’m fine. It might just be the drink from dinner that’s making me feel a bit off," I reassured him. He gave my shoulder a pat while Amery wrapped her arm around my bicep and offered a small smile. She blew me a quick kiss, and it worked wonders. My nerves began to settle.

But the feeling lingered, like a weight on my chest. The lake’s surface remained calm, almost mockingly so, while the wind stirred the willow’s branches into a soft, unsettling rhythm. I shook my head again, telling myself that I was simply seeing things. It had to be. My mind was playing tricks. But even as I tried to convince myself, the coldness of the air seemed to press in closer, as though the house and the garden knew something I didn’t. Something I didn’t want to believe.

I quickened my pace, my thoughts racing, pushing the image of the shadow as far from my mind as I could. But the echo of her presence followed, just out of sight, just beyond my reach.

And I ignored… again.

We followed the enforcer through the muddy garden, and at the bottom of the wooden steps leading to the back entrance of the manor, Amery brushed the dirt off her shoes.

"Honestly, I’m not in the mood to talk anymore, but if I stay here any longer, Ro, you’ll be writing my obituary about how I died from a jump scare." Amery glanced at me and then around the kitchen that led to the hallways toward the main entrance. She looked genuinely frightened and unhappy in this space.

To me, it was mostly enjoyable, considering the interior was beautifully crafted from timber, from the furniture to the wall designs. I could appreciate how centuries of artistic knowledge had graced this place.

But oddly, it felt a little different than it did when I came here in the morning, a few times in the past.

There’s nothing to see here. I think that guy was drunk, Prez. Darius' treasurer called out from the second floor, signaling for Amery and me to check the place out.

"I'll head down to the basement, while Ace keeps watch outside for any trouble, and Storm will accompany me. You two take the second floor, but keep it quiet. You’ve got twenty minutes," Darius whispered, sending his enforcer out as he walked off with his treasurer, leaving me with his plan and my wife.

I chuckled to myself, catching Amery’s curious look, a bit puzzled.

"What’s so funny?" she asked, and I simply took her arm and pulled her toward the second floor.

We moved cautiously, careful of any holes or weak spots in the floorboards.

"I really hope nothing jumps out at us, or I swear I won’t make it past this moment," she whispered, staying close. Her fingers gripped the hem of my shirt tightly.

As we entered the last room in the hallway, I was taken aback by the purple-themed space, still surprisingly intact. Whoever lived here before certainly did a remarkable job with this room.

The four-poster canopy bed was covered in dust, with cushions and pillows piled on top. The lamps on either side and a deer head mounted on the wall added to the atmosphere, while a chandelier cast moonlight throughout the room.

This room felt different from the rest of the house, perhaps even significant.

"She’s stunning," Amery breathed, gazing at a painting of a woman with striking silver eyes and brown hair. The woman wore a poised smile, and for some reason, it stirred a strange ache in my chest, though it faded quickly.

Amery turned to me, fire igniting in her eyes as she traced the buttons of my shirt, and I noticed her hard nipples pressing against the fabric of her delicate dress.

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