SHADOW OF THE HEIRESS

Charlotte sat across Jack in the cold, small-lit greenhouse behind the mansion. The moonlight penetrated through the glass panels, shining his sharp features. He leaned forward, his serious gaze fixed on her.

"Charlotte," Jack said in a low, urgent tone, "you were brought into the Hargrove family for a reason. It wasn't out of kindness or pity. It was because you're the key to breaking their curse."

Her breath caught. "What are you talking about? What curse?"

Jack ran a hand through his dark hair with frustration showing on his face. "The Hargroves are bound by an ancient curse, one that demands a chosen sacrifice every hundred years. Without it, the family's fortune collapses, the estate falls into ruin, and everyone connected to them suffers."

Charlotte's mind stumbled. She thought back to the journal she had found, the whispers in the mansion, and Evelyn's collapse. It all seemed to follow, but she couldn't accept it. "Why me?" she asked, her voice shaking. "Why not Evelyn? She's the real daughter."

Jack waited before answering. "The curse doesn't work that way. The chosen one isn't determined by blood. It's… selected. You were chosen the moment you set foot on this estate. They adopted you knowing this."

Charlotte shook her head, her chest beating fast. "No. You're wrong. The Hargroves love me. They've treated me like family—"

"Have they, though?" Jack interrupted, his voice rising. "Or have they treated you like a pawn? Think about it, Charlotte. Why do they always keep you close? Why do they look at you the way they do?"

Her thoughts flashed back to Mrs. Hargrove's forced smile, Oliver's nervous tapping at dinner, and Evelyn's hostility. Doubt began to come in.

Jack leaned back, and with a soft expression, he said. "Listen, I believe you deserve to know the truth, but try not to get scared. Evelyn is a different person from who you know. She's working with a group, a cult that's tied to the curse. They'll do whatever it takes to ensure the ritual is completed. And that means sacrificing you."

Charlotte stared at him, her blood kept boiling over. "Evelyn? No. She wouldn't…"

"She would," Jack said firmly. "She's been manipulated, just like everyone else. She is convinced that the ritual is the only way to save the family. But you're the one who'll be used as the sacrifice."

Before Charlotte could respond, a voice cut through the silence like a blade.

"You're lying."

Charlotte and Jack turned sharply to see Evelyn standing in the doorway of the greenhouse. Her face showed her displeasure at what she was seeing with her face filled with anger.

"How long have you been standing there?" Jack asked, his voice cold.

"Long enough to hear your lies," Evelyn snapped. She stepped inside looking defensive and firm. "Charlotte, don't believe a word he says. He's trying to manipulate everyone, trying to turn us against each other."

Charlotte looked at both of them concurrently with both confusion and fear mixing inside her. "Evelyn, what's going on? Is he telling the truth?"

"No!" Evelyn's voice filled with emotion. "Jack is manipulating you. He's been doing this for years, changing stories, planting doubts. He's the reason our family is cursed in the first place!"

"Oh, don't I?" Evelyn answered back. She turned to Charlotte, her voice softening. "Don't believe anything he says, he is not the messiah he claims to be. He has been walking around this estate for decades, saying the same thing to lots of people and trying to cause trouble. And now he's doing everything with you."

Charlotte felt like the ground was opening for her to enter. "Jack, is that true? Who are you really?"

Jack hesitated, his jaw tightening. "I've been watching over this estate for a long time, yes. But I'm not the enemy here. I'm trying to protect you."

"From what?" Evelyn demanded. "From me? That's ridiculous!"

Jack stepped closer to Charlotte, his voice low and urgent. "Don't let her fool you. She's part of this. She knows more than she's telling you"

"That's not true!" Evelyn said with her voice shaking and tears rolling down her eyes. She pulled up her clothe and showed a scar on her forearm. It was rugged and deep, it formed a strange symbol, a symbol Charlotte recognized from the journal.

"I'm the victim here, Charlotte," Evelyn said, her voice shaking. "This mark… they gave it to me. They said it was my duty to fulfill the ritual. They've been preparing me my whole life for this sacrifice."

Charlotte's heart pounded as she looked at the scar. "Evelyn… I don't understand. If you're the chosen one, then why is Jack saying it's me?"

Evelyn shook her head. "Because he's lying. He doesn't care about you. He just wants to keep the curse alive. Don't you see? He needs us to turn on each other."

Jack stepped forward, his voice becoming sharp. "The curse isn't something you can escape by lying about the originality, Evelyn. It's real, and it's happening now. Do you think showing that scar makes you innocent? You've been working with the cult to ensure Charlotte's sacrifice. Admit it."

"I would never!" Evelyn screamed, her voice echoing through the greenhouse.

Charlotte raised her hands, her head spinning "Stop! Both of you, stop!" She looked at Jack, then at Evelyn. "I don't know who to believe. You're both saying completely different things, and I'm stuck in the middle."

Evelyn softened, her voice breaking. "Charlotte, I swear, I would never hurt you. You're my sister, no matter what anyone says. You have to trust me."

Jack's gaze was intense. "You can't trust her, Charlotte. Not until you know the whole truth."

Charlotte looks at both of them, her heart almost out of her rib cage. "And how am I supposed to do that?"

Neither of them answered.

Charlotte sat alone in her room that night trying to replay the events of the day, with the journal opened on her lap. Her mind was filled with questions she didn't have answers to. The scar on Evelyn's arm, Jack's warnings, the whispers in the mansion, everything was pointing to something bigger and darker than she could understand.

She looked at the clock and realized it was Midnight. The house was silent, but the conversation she had with both Jack and Evelyn kept playing in her head.

A small knock at her door made her jump. She opened it to find a small envelope lying on the floor. No one was in sight.

She picked it up and opened it, her hands began shaking. Inside was a single piece of paper with a message written in rugged handwriting:

"The shadows don't lie. Look beneath the fountain."

Charlotte's breath stopped for a while. The fountain in the garden had been there for as long as she could remember with its waters calm and cold. What could possibly be hidden beneath it?

Holding the note, Charlotte peeped out her window at the garden. The fountain stood and looked as beautiful as ever in the moonlight with its surface shining. While looking at the fountain to access the bottom, she saw a shadow across it and for a brief moment, she thought she saw Jack standing by the edge of the fountain. But before she could blink her eyes, the shadow was gone.

Charlotte grabbed her coat and went toward the fountain with a determination to find answers, but she wasn't aware that someone was watching her from the darkness.