Sarah's POV
The Blackwood Mansion loomed in the distance as the car wound its way up the private road, its towering silhouette casting a long, ominous shadow against the fading afternoon sun. The estate, a sprawling labyrinth of gothic architecture, seemed to rise from the earth itself—stone gargoyles perched ominously at each corner, their cold eyes following my every movement. Dark ivy crept up the turrets like sinister vines, and the wrought-iron gates opened with a groan that sent a shiver through me.
It was meant to feel like home. This was supposed to be the beginning of a new chapter, a life of luxury and security, with Eren by my side. But as the mansion drew closer, a tightening sensation gripped my chest. It felt less like a sanctuary and more like a tomb—a mausoleum of secrets that had yet to be unearthed.
The honeymoon had been a blur of lavish dinners, sun-drenched days on foreign beaches, and quiet nights spent in the comfort of each other's arms. But despite the romance, something had shifted between us. The easy laughter, the stolen moments of tenderness—everything had felt increasingly strained beneath the surface. Axel's words from earlier haunted me like a persistent echo, following me even across oceans. "He's not who you think he is."
What did he mean by that? And why did it feel like there was a part of me that didn't want to know the answer?
I glanced at Eren, who sat beside me in the car. His face was the picture of calm, but his eyes… There was a wariness there now, something I hadn't noticed before. Perhaps it was just the weight of responsibility settling on him, or maybe there was something deeper. I couldn't tell. I had tried so hard to bury the doubts gnawing at me, but now that we were back in the mansion, they had returned with a vengeance.
As the car rolled to a stop in front of the massive stone doors, Eren opened my door and offered me his hand. His fingers brushed mine, warm and solid, but his touch did nothing to ease the growing unease that had settled like a stone in my stomach.
"Welcome home, Mrs. Blackwood," he said, his smile easy, almost rehearsed.
I stared at him for a moment before I took his hand and stepped out of the car. "Home," I echoed, the word tasting foreign on my tongue. Was this truly home? Or was it merely a gilded cage?
---
Inside, the mansion's entrance hall was as grand as ever, though the silence felt heavier, more oppressive. The high ceilings soared above us, the crystal chandelier overhead casting shimmering light over the polished marble floors. Portraits of Blackwood ancestors adorned the walls, their eyes following my every step as though they were silently judging me. The dark wood of the grand staircase spiraled upwards, its railing gleaming, as if the house itself was meticulously maintained to maintain its proud façade.
"Everything's so… grand," I murmured, my voice softer than usual. "I almost feel like I don't belong here."
Eren gave me a brief, reassuring smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. He gestured toward the entryway where Marjorie, the housekeeper, stood waiting. "Marjorie will take care of everything. You'll get used to it."
Marjorie's tight bun and pressed uniform gave her an air of strict authority, but she smiled warmly at us. "Welcome back, Mr. Blackwood. Mrs. Blackwood," she greeted us in her usual efficient tone.
I nodded, offering a polite smile in return. "Thank you, Marjorie."
She disappeared down the hall with our luggage, leaving me alone with Eren in the grand entry. There was something so unsettling about this place, something cold beneath the surface that I couldn't ignore.
As we ascended the stairs, Eren didn't say a word, and I didn't press him. The weight of the mansion was pressing in on us, and I couldn't shake the feeling that we were both trapped in it—me more than him.
---
The evening unfolded in a haze of tension.
Dinner was a quiet affair, the kind where words felt unnecessary, and silences stretched longer than they should. Eren sat at the head of the long dining table, his usual calm demeanor in place, but there was an edge to him that made me uneasy. Axel, sitting across from us, was unusually silent, his gaze flickering between me and Eren with unsettling focus. The clinking of silverware against porcelain filled the air, but it only seemed to highlight how strained the atmosphere had become.
"How was your day?" Eren asked me, his tone polite, yet detached. It was a question he had asked me every night, but tonight, it felt different—more like a formality than an invitation for conversation.
"It was fine," I replied, though the words felt hollow. I pushed my food around on my plate, my appetite nowhere to be found. "I explored the mansion a bit. It's overwhelming."
"You'll get used to it," Eren said, offering a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "It's a lot to take in at first."
Axel snorted, his sharp, almost mocking laugh cutting through the air. It was low, and I could see the amusement in his eyes as he glanced at me. "You're really that optimistic, brother?"
Eren's jaw tightened, his hand clenching around his fork. The tension in the room spiked, and I could feel the oppressive atmosphere closing in around us. The unspoken rivalry between the brothers had always been there, simmering just beneath the surface. But now, it was more tangible, almost palpable.
"What's your problem, Axel?" Eren snapped, his voice cool but laced with venom. "Why don't you just eat your meal and keep your thoughts to yourself?"
Axel's lips curled into a faint smile, but there was nothing friendly about it. "Nothing, Eren. Just admiring your optimism. Some of us know the truth." His eyes flickered toward me, and I shivered, despite myself.
I wanted to say something—to break the tension, to make it stop—but the words wouldn't come. Instead, I excused myself early, retreating to the sanctuary of our bedroom.
---
Later that night, I lay in bed alone, staring at the high ceiling. The quiet of the mansion felt suffocating, its silence stretching into every corner, amplifying the smallest sounds—the creak of the floorboards, the distant sound of a door opening. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching me, that the house itself was alive, breathing, waiting.
My thoughts kept drifting back to Axel, to the unsettling way he had looked at me, the intensity in his gaze. The words he had spoken lingered in my mind. "Be careful, Sarah. You think you know Eren, but there's more to him than you realize." What did he mean? Was it just another of Axel's games, or was there truth in his warning?
The weight of it all pressed on me, but I couldn't find any answers. The man I had married was slipping through my fingers, and I couldn't stop it. What did he want from me? And what was he hiding?
The distant sound of a door opening snapped me from my thoughts. I glanced toward the door, which was slightly ajar. The faint glow of light from the hallway spilled into the room, casting long shadows across the floor. I couldn't just lie there, couldn't let the mystery consume me without trying to find some answers.
My feet hit the cold wooden floor silently, and I crept toward the door. As I approached the study, I could hear muffled voices, hushed but urgent.
I peeked through the crack in the door, my heart racing in my chest. There, standing by the window, was Eren, his phone pressed to his ear. His posture was tense, his hand gripping the edge of the desk as he spoke in a voice low but fierce.
"I told you to handle it," he hissed, his voice sharp. "I don't care what it takes—just make sure it doesn't come back to me. There's no room for mistakes. If this gets out… you know what to do."
My breath hitched, and I froze, unable to tear my eyes away. Eren's words were a knife twisting in my gut. What was he involved in? What had he done?
When the call ended, he stood there for a moment, his back to me, staring out the window. His hand ran through his hair, his breath coming out in a sharp exhale. I could see the tension in his shoulders, the weight of whatever he was hiding pressing down on him.
I backed away slowly, my heart pounding in my chest. What was happening? Who was he? The man I thought I knew was slipping away, and I couldn't reach him.
I returned to bed, but sleep wouldn't come. The words Eren had spoken echoed in my mind, filling me with dread. The man I had married was not the man I had thought him to be. And I had no idea what to do about it.
---
I lay there, staring into the darkness, my mind racing. The life I had built with Eren felt like a carefully constructed illusion. The foundation of everything I knew was beginning to crack, and I couldn't ignore the nagging feeling that the truth was something far darker than I could ever have imagined.
I had married a man I didn't fully...understand. And now, with each passing moment, the cracks in the facade were becoming harder to ignore. The Eren I had married—the one I had built my entire life around—was slipping further away, replaced by a stranger whose secrets I could no longer pretend didn't exist.
The silence of the room felt oppressive, like the mansion itself was watching me, waiting for me to uncover the truth. What had I heard? What was he involved in? His words, the coldness in his tone—they haunted me, spinning in my head like a broken record. I couldn't shake the feeling that the man I had married had never truly been the man I thought he was.
The weight of everything pressed down on me. It wasn't just the mansion, or Axel's cryptic warnings. It was Eren—the man who had vowed to protect me, to love me. Had all of that been a lie? Was I simply a pawn in a much larger game I didn't even understand?
I rolled over onto my side, pulling the covers tighter around me, but it did little to dispel the chill that had settled deep inside me. I couldn't close my eyes without seeing Eren's tense posture, the look of barely-contained frustration on his face as he made those cryptic phone calls. What did he need to handle? What was it that had him so worried, so afraid of something coming back to haunt him?
I knew I couldn't stay in the dark forever. I had to confront him, had to ask. But even as I told myself this, a voice deep within me recoiled at the idea. What if the answers were worse than I feared? What if the man I loved—the man I had trusted—was as dangerous as Axel seemed to think?
I could almost hear Axel's voice in my ear, the way he'd warned me, his words dripping with a quiet intensity. "Be careful, Sarah." I could feel the weight of his stare, as if he could see right through me, right through the shell of calm I was trying so desperately to maintain.
Was Axel right? Was Eren hiding something that could tear everything apart? Or was it all just manipulation, a game Axel was playing to twist my mind, to sow doubt between me and Eren?
The mansion groaned, a low, eerie sound that only deepened the sense of unease curling in my gut. I shifted restlessly in the bed, my thoughts running in circles, too tangled to make sense of. The only thing I knew for certain was that I couldn't ignore the questions anymore. Not when every moment I spent here seemed to pull me deeper into a web of lies and shadows.
I closed my eyes, trying to calm my breathing, but sleep would not come. Every time I began to drift, a new image would flash into my mind—Eren's tense face as he spoke on the phone, Axel's smoldering gaze, the cold emptiness of the mansion.
And somewhere, deep beneath the weight of it all, I felt a growing realization. There was no going back now.
Because whatever Eren was hiding, whatever secrets the Blackwood family was keeping, I couldn't let them define me. I couldn't let them destroy what I had built, what I had believed in. I was stronger than that, even if it meant facing the darkness head-on.
I turned over in bed again, my mind made up. I would find the truth. And no matter where it led me, I would walk through it, even if it meant facing the man I had once trusted with everything. Because deep down, I knew I couldn't keep living in the shadow of lies. I had to know the truth.
And I would uncover it, one way or another.