Aria's pov:
"You're lying, Julian," I said. "I saw you last night by the pond."
He smiled like secrets tasted sweet. "Then you saw something you shouldn't have."
My hands went cold. "What were you doing there?"
He walked closer, his shoes wet from the grass. "Looking for something," he said.
"Maria?" I asked.
His smile faded. "Maybe."
The wind blew hard, and the pond behind us made a soft splash, like someone had just stepped in it. I turned fast, but no one was there.
When I looked back, he was staring at me. His eyes were the same blue eyes I saw in the window last night. The same one that watched me in the dark.
"Aria," he said quietly, "you look scared."
"Should I be?" I asked.
He smiled again, slow and strange. "That depends on what you think you saw."
The air felt strange, like the house was holding its breath again. Maria was still missing. We went inside, He kept looking at the walls like he remembered something. He touched one of the old pictures. "This one used to hang in Dad's office," he said.
I nodded. "Damien moved it here."
Julian looked at me. "He moves a lot of things around, doesn't he?"
I didn't know what to say.
He followed me to the kitchen. The teapot was still on the stove, cold. I tried to heat it again. He sat on the counter, swinging his legs like a boy. "So," he said, "how's married life?"
I almost dropped the cup. "It's… fine."
He raised one eyebrow. "You don't sound fine."
I turned away. "It's complicated."
He laughed softly. "With my brother, everything is complicated."
The kettle started to whistle, and I jumped a little. My hands were shaking when I poured the tea. He watched me. His eyes were kind, but there was something behind them, something I couldn't name.He knew about the note.
"Did he tell you to stay out of the west wing?" Julian asked. I froze. "How do you know that?"
He shrugged. "He used to tell me that too. When we were kids."
I looked at him. "Why?"
He didn't answer. He just sipped his tea and said, "Some doors aren't locked to keep you out, Aria. They're locked to keep something in." I didn't like that. The words crawled under my skin.
After lunch, Julian offered to help me water the garden. It was cloudy outside. The air smelled like rain and something else like old metal. I tried not to step near the pond where I found Maria's necklace. The water looked darker than before. Julian stopped and stared at it. "She used to sit there," he said softly."Who?"
He pointed at the water. "My mom. She used to read stories to us by the pond. She said she could hear voices in the water."
I felt my chest tighten. "Voices?"
He nodded. "She said the pond remembers everything. Every secret, every lie."
I wanted to laugh it off, but I couldn't.
Then he bent down and picked something up from the grass. It was a shoe. Maria's shoe.
I covered my mouth. "Oh my God."
Julian looked around. "We need to tell Damien."
"He's not home," I said quickly.
Julian looked at me again, his eyes sharp. "Then maybe that's the problem."
We went back inside. The house looked darker than before. The lights flickered even though it wasn't raining yet. I could hear something dripping in the hallway again. We reached Damien's office, The door was locked. Julian smiled a little. "He never changes the code," he said. He typed something on the keypad, and the lock clicked.
"How did you know that?" I asked.
He didn't answer.
Inside, the room smelled like old books and dust. Papers were everywhere. I saw my father's name on one of them. "Sterling Company Debt Agreement."
Julian picked it up. "He told me this was all in the past."
"What is it?"
He sighed. "A deal. Your dad owed Damien a lot of money. He traded something for it."
I swallowed hard. "Me."
Julian looked up at me. His eyes were soft now. "You didn't know?"
"I know"
He walked closer. " you didn't deserve any of this."
For a moment, I wanted to cry. But before I could, something on Damien's desk caught my eye. It was a small black recorder, I pressed play. Damien's voice filled the room. "If you find this, it means the truth is already out. Don't trust anyone not even my brother."
The recorder clicked off.
I looked at Julian. He looked at me. For a second, neither of us said anything. Then he smiled again, but this time it didn't reach his eyes.
"Damien loves his games," he said. "Don't take him seriously." But I wasn't sure.
We left the office. That night, it rained hard. Thunder hit the sky like it wanted to break it open. I couldn't sleep again, I went downstairs to get water. The hallway lights were flickering. I heard someone talking, I followed the voice. It was coming from the study. The door was open a crack, I peeked in. Julian was there, on the phone. His voice was low but clear. "Yes, she found the shoe. No, she doesn't know yet. Don't worry. I'll keep her busy."
My heart dropped.
He was lying to me.
I stepped back and bumped into the wall. The sound made him stop talking. I ran before he could see me. I hid in the library, behind the big red curtain. I could hear his footsteps searching. He opened the door and called, "Aria? Are you awake?" I held my breath.
After a few minutes, he left. I stayed there until the storm stopped.
The next morning, Damien came home. His eyes were tired and cold. "Julian," he said, "you shouldn't have come back."Julian smiled. "You can't stop me from visiting my own home." They stared at each other like two lions ready to fight. I stood between them, feeling small."What happened to Maria?" I asked.
Neither of them answered.
Damien turned to me. "Stay away from my brother, Aria."
Julian laughed. "She can talk to whoever she wants."
I looked from one to the other. "What are you both hiding?"
Damien's jaw tightened. "Nothing that concerns you."
I hated that answer. Everything in this house concerned me.
Later that day, I went to my room. Someone had placed my missing journal on the bed, I opened it. Most of the pages were blank now, except for one line written in red ink:
"He isn't who you think he is."
My heart started to pound.
I ran to the window, Down in the garden, Julian was standing by the pond again, staring into the water. His reflection looked wrong. It wasn't smiling, It looked angry.
That night, I heard a scream.I ran out of my room. The scream came from Julian's room. I pushed the door open. The window was wide open, the curtains flying like ghosts. But Julian was gone. All that was left was his phone on the floor. The screen was still glowing. There was a message on it.
From: Damien
Don't come looking.
I stared at the phone. My chest felt heavy, Was Damien trying to protect me or was he trying to hide something again?
I picked up the phone and went through his messages. The last one made my skin crawl.
From: Unknown
The girl knows too much. Handle it.
The girl. Me.
My hands shook so bad I almost dropped the phone.
I turned off the lights and sat by the wall, hugging my knees. I could hear footsteps again, slow and careful, moving down the hallway toward my room. Someone whispered my name."Aria."
It sounded like Julian.
But it couldn't be.
I crawled to the door and pressed my ear against it. The whisper came again, closer this time. "Aria, open the door.""No," I whispered back.
Silence.
Then the doorknob turned.
I screamed.
The door flew open, but no one was there. Only a wet footprint on the floor, just like before. I looked down and saw something else, The same velvet box I had dropped in the west wing. It was sitting right at my feet. I picked it up and opened it. The silver key was still inside, but now there was another paper.
It said:
"The pond will tell you the truth."
I felt cold all over. I wanted to run, but my legs wouldn't move.
Outside, the thunder started again.I didn't sleep that night, I just sat on the floor holding the box, waiting for morning.
When the sun finally came up, I looked out the window. There was something new by the pond.
A second shoe