The storm hit just after midnight.
Thunder rumbled through the mansion, shaking the windows as lightning split the sky. Power flickered once. Twice. Then went out completely.
"Generator will kick in soon," someone muttered from the kitchen.
But in the wine cellar, beneath layers of stone and steel, Ava was already trapped.
She'd gone down to find a vintage for Madam Calista's upcoming gathering, under Veronica's instruction, of course. The moment the door slammed shut behind her, she knew something was wrong.
She turned back—locked. From the outside.
Ava banged on the heavy metal door.
"Hello? Is anyone there?"
No answer.
Her heart sank.
She pulled out her phone, no signal. Of course.
Then she heard it, footsteps.
"Hello?" she called again, louder.
The footsteps paused. A faint curse echoed down the stone corridor.
Then… "Ava?"
Her breath caught. Lucien.
"What are you doing down here?" he asked, approaching from the side entrance.
"I, I was looking for the 1974 Saint-Émilion. Veronica said"
He rolled his eyes. "Of course she did."
Then the door slammed behind him too.
Lucien turned, twisted the knob.
Nothing. Locked.
They were trapped. Together. In the dark.
Ava's heart pounded. not just from the storm, or the cold, but from him.He was too close. The air was too thin.
"This place is practically soundproof," he muttered, checking his phone. "No signal either."
Great.
They were alone. No one knew they were down here.
Just like before.
They sat on an old velvet bench in the cellar's corner, surrounded by bottles of wine older than either of them.
Lucien leaned back, eyes closed. "I've been here before."
Ava turned to him, heart skipping. "You remember?"
"I don't know," he said quietly. "It just… feels familiar."
He looked at her.
"There's something about you that's been clawing at the edge of my mind for weeks."
Ava looked away, gripping the hem of her skirt.
"You keep secrets," he said softly.
"And you keep forgetting them," she whispered back.
He blinked.
"Why do I feel like I've kissed you before?" he asked.
Silence.
Then he leaned forward slowly.
She didn't stop him.
Their lips met, tentative at first. A spark. A pull.
But then, a flash in his mind.
Rain. Her laugh. Her hand in his. A chapel.
A kiss, just like this.
He gasped and pulled back, staring at her.
"What… was that?"
Ava stood quickly, shaken. "We need to get out."
Lucien grabbed her wrist gently. "Who are you really?"
"I can't" she choked, "I can't tell you. Not yet."
The lights flickered on just then.
The door creaked open.
It wasn't an accident.
Someone had locked them in and now someone had let them out.
As they walked back upstairs in silence, Ava knew two things:
Lucien was getting closer to the truth.
And someone else was watching their every move.