Chapter 1 - The Shadow Behind the VeilThe bride smiled as she walked toward the altar, wearing her best friend’s lace dress, her best friend’s future, and almost her best friend’s face.
In the grand ballroom of the Eko Atlantic Hotel, three hundred distinguished guests stood up to admire the bride. Organ music filled the air, and white rose petals covered the aisle. Standing at the altar in a fitted black tuxedo was Williams—a handsome, thirty-two-year-old tech billionaire. His heart raced with devotion as he watched his bride step toward him.
He believed he was about to marry Lily—the gentle, brilliant woman who had captured his heart six months ago under the pseudonym 'Benson.'
He had no idea that the woman under the veil was Brenda.
And behind a locked dressing room door at the end of the corridor, the real Lily was still alive—trapped inside a massive, bronze-framed ancient mirror, pounding her bleeding fists silently against the cold glass while a dark, glowing shadow towered behind her inside the reflection.
For years, Brenda and Lily had called each other sisters. They had shared apartments, secrets, meals, and dreams since their days at the University of Lagos. Lily trusted Brenda with every corner of her life, never realizing that her own warmth was slowly feeding an icy, dark jealousy inside Brenda’s heart.
Brenda had harbored a secret obsession with Williams for two long years. He was her powerful, distant boss at Whitmore Capital. She believed fate had reserved him for her. Yet Williams barely looked at her beyond professional courtesy.
Then, six months ago, Lily met a charming, humble man named Benson at a community art gallery. Their romance blossomed quickly. What neither woman realized at first was that 'Benson' was merely the private alias Williams used when he wanted to be loved for himself, rather than his billionaire fortune.
The truth had exploded three weeks ago during a birthday dinner. Brenda watched in horror as Williams answered a call from 'Lily,' his voice softening into the tender, affectionate tone Brenda had dreamed of hearing for years.
In that single instant, Brenda’s envy curdled into pure, unadulterated obsession.
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She convinced herself that Lily was a thief who had stolen the life meant for her. When Lily tried to explain that she hadn't known Williams was wealthy, Brenda refused to listen. When Williams firmly rejected Brenda’s hysterical advances, her heartbreak transformed into a dark, supernatural rage.
That was when Brenda remembered the antique floor mirror locked in her late grandmother’s attic—an heirloom crafted in the 19th century, surrounded by written warnings no one in her family had ever dared to translate.
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