The Invitation

A chilling gothic thriller by Bekka Scott Some doors should never be opened. Some secrets refuse to stay buried. When journalist Marlowe Moreau receives an exclusive invitation to the Château d'Amore, she expects an evening of luxury, not mystery. The gala, hosted by the enigmatic Lucien Vallois, promises the unveiling of his most coveted vintage—a wine so rare and elusive that only a select few will ever taste it. But beneath the glittering chandeliers and gilded walls, something lurks, unseen. Shadows stretch where they shouldn't. Whispers slither through the candlelit corridors. And the deeper Marlowe searches, the more she begins to question what is real… and what has been waiting for her. Lucien is composed, unshaken—even when reality bends, when time fractures, when the air itself trembles with unseen eyes. He knows more than he admits, moving through the darkness with a quiet familiarity that unsettles Marlowe. She can't decide if he's a threat… or the only thing keeping her tethered to sanity. Then she finds it—an artifact unlike anything she has ever encountered, one that pulses with an unnatural energy and stirs something restless in the shadows. Something that knows her name. She was invited here for a reason. But not by the living.