A Wedding Night Gone Terribly Wrong novel Chapter 5

The Lockwood Mansion was a sprawling, classical estate. Deep in the meticulously landscaped rear gardens stood the Ancestral Wing, a grand hall reserved for the family's most sacred holidays and gatherings.

Behind the Ancestral Wing, hidden away like a dirty secret, sat a small, square stone building known as the Admonition Cell.

It was abandoned for most of the year. Its heavy doors and slit-like windows were perpetually sealed tight, rendering the interior dark and completely devoid of sunlight. Moisture from the estate's intricate irrigation system pooled beneath the foundation, leaving the ancient brick floor slick with dampness.

Thriving in those damp crevices were long, eight-legged, black centipedes. Their segmented bodies writhed as they roamed freely across the cold floor.

Winifred folded the ruffled hem of her dress tightly around her thighs, desperately trying to keep the creeping bugs from biting her. But the infestation was too vast. Protecting her thighs left her calves exposed, and she had already been bitten several times around her ankles.

She buried her face in her knees, violently scratching her skin. Every breath she took drew in the suffocating stench of centuries-old mildew, rot, and the distinctly sickening smell of swarming insects. The air felt toxic.

Cough, cough, cough...

She threw herself against the heavy wooden door, pounding on it with all her strength.

The door groaned open, revealing a hulking bodyguard whose face was half-hidden behind thick black sunglasses. This was Gus, the captain of the security detail. He had notoriously large ears, though a jagged chunk was missing from his right earlobe.

With her background at the Beaumont College of Medicine, Winifred had easily deduced that Gus had lost that piece of flesh in a brutal knife fight. The clean slice was the unmistakable hallmark of a sharp blade.

"What do you want?" Gus barked roughly.

"Please... let me out for a second. I can't breathe... cough, cough..."

His voice dropped to an even colder register. "Did you sign the divorce agreement?"

Winifred covered her mouth, coughing weakly as she shook her head.

Slam!

The heavy door was violently shut in her face.

Winifred slid back down the wall, engulfed once again by the suffocating darkness. Time seemed to sever its ties with her here. Outside, the sun would rise and set, the wind would blow and fade, but inside her cell, the world was utterly stagnant.

The massive mahogany doors had two tiny, diamond-shaped peepholes carved into them, barely larger than a hand. The faint slivers of light piercing through those holes were the only proof that a world existed outside.

When the lock finally clattered again, Winifred shot to her feet, dragging her ruined, dirt-stained red dress toward the sliver of opening. Seeing the face on the other side, she sagged against the wood, leaning heavily for support.

Arthur hesitated. "He did say something, but... sigh..."

"Just tell me, Arthur. I can handle it."

"The general gist was... no food, no water, and we are not to look after you."

Winifred lowered her gaze. "Thank you for taking the risk to come see me. You should go back before you get in trouble."

Arthur let out a heavy sigh. "Winifred, dear, please stop being so stubborn. Just sign the papers and run for your life. Madeleine... she might not make it."

He couldn't bring himself to say the rest. As long as Madeleine was still breathing, there was a tiny sliver of hope, but if she died, Winifred's fate would be sealed.

Arthur turned and waddled away. Gus firmly locked the door behind him.

Winifred dragged her trembling legs back to the damp bricks she had occupied the night before and sank to the floor.

Her world was frozen. She had no idea how much time had passed.