Chapter 4 - The Photograph from the Past
Evelyn looked at Lily one more time, and her expression twisted into something so dark, so full of ancient malice, that a chill ran straight down my spine.
“You want to know why I can’t stand looking at her?” Evelyn spat out the words like venom. “You want to know why every time I look at that little girl, I see the curse that destroyed this family?”
My arms tightened instinctively around Lily, shielding her ears. “Stop talking! Don't you dare say another word in front of her!”
Evelyn ignored me entirely. She turned away from the table, walking stiffly toward an antique mahogany secretary cabinet near the sweeping staircase. She unlocked a hidden drawer with a small brass key, reached deep behind a stack of thick, leather-bound family photo albums, and pulled out a single, loose photograph.
She walked back to the dining table and threw the photograph down onto the wood. It slid across the polished surface and came to a stop right in front of Daniel.
Daniel looked down. His face changed instantly—all the color draining from his skin as if he had been struck physically.
I craned my neck to look at the picture.
The photograph was old, faded at the edges, polaroid-style from the early nineteen-nineties. It showed a young man, maybe twenty-five years old, standing beside Evelyn in front of this very estate. He was handsome, with dark hair, a confident smile, and an unmistakable jawline.
But it wasn't Evelyn who made my blood run cold.
It was the man’s face. Specifically, his eyes.
He had Lily’s exact eyes—the unique amber flecks, the intense gaze, the precise shape that I had always thought came from my side of the family.
May you like
Daniel looked up from the photograph, his breathing shallow. He stared at his mother, his voice barely a whisper. “Who... who is this?”
Evelyn’s lips began trembling uncontrollably. “The man who ruined our family.”
