Chapter 1: The Shroud and the Siren
A suffocating silence settled over the mansion's grand foyer. Conversations stopped mid-sentence. Crystal glasses hung motionless in trembling hands. Eleanor stumbled backward, clutching her throat as panic spread across her face.
"Caleb... what are you saying?" she whispered, her voice shaking. "She's gone. The doctor confirmed it."
"I don't care what he confirmed!" Caleb thundered, his voice reverberating through the vaulted ceiling.
He didn't hesitate.
Reaching into the silk-lined casket, he slid his arms beneath Sarah's shoulders and lifted her from the coffin, ignoring the horrified gasps echoing around him. Her body was cold and frighteningly heavy, but the moment he laid her on the polished marble floor, he saw it again—a faint, trembling movement beneath the lace covering her swollen belly.
He shrugged off his suit jacket, folded it beneath her head, and pressed two fingers against her neck.
A heartbeat.
Weak...
Then another.
Barely there, but unmistakably alive.
"Call 911!" Caleb shouted, glaring at a man in a tailored suit who stood frozen near the entrance.
The man fumbled for his phone.
Caleb tilted Sarah's chin back to open her airway, then lowered his ear to her lips.
A shallow, ragged breath brushed against his cheek.
She wasn't dead.
She was trapped inside a body that could barely breathe.
Outside, sirens wailed through the pouring rain, growing louder with every passing second.
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Caleb gripped Sarah's icy hand tightly.
"Stay with me," he whispered. "You're not dying here. Not today."
