Chapter 3 Shadow In The Hall

The soft click of her shoes echoed through the marble hallway as Isabella carried a small stack of books to the rare manuscripts room. Her days had settled into a quiet rhythm—cataloging, reading, the occasional polite conversation with Mr. Elias, and the ever-present mystery of the man upstairs. The note she’d found in the book hadn’t left her mind. She hadn’t dared take it, though she longed to study it again. Every word had felt like a secret. A confession. Whoever had written it—likely Damian Blackwood—wasn’t just hiding from the world. He was burying pieces of himself in ink.