776 Results in the "Thriller / Mystery" category


    • Chapter

      Chapter 28

      Chapter 28 Cover
      by testsuphomeAdmin Chapter 28 begins with a question I barely realize I’m asking, my words looser than they should be after three glasses of sauvignon blanc. As the car winds down from the country club, everything feels quiet—too quiet—but Eddie’s sigh fills the stillness. I ask if he’s worried, and while his answer isn’t entirely clear, the tension in his voice speaks volumes. His hand finds my knee briefly before returning to the wheel, his face shadowed in the dim dashboard light. There’s a tiredness around…
    • Chapter

      Chapter 8: Bea

      Chapter 8: Bea Cover
      by testsuphomeAdmin Chapter 8: Bea begins in a setting she’s carefully curated—the launch party for Southern Manors at the historic Tutweiler Hotel in Birmingham. The venue’s old-world charm aligns perfectly with the brand she’s so painstakingly crafted: a blend of Southern grace and timeless elegance. The guests sip bourbon cocktails, and the air hums with praise, yet Bea remains distanced in her thoughts. This is her success, the culmination of years of grit disguised as effortless charm. But even amid admiration,…
    • Chapter

      Chapter 29

      Chapter 29 Cover
      by testsuphomeAdmin Chapter 29 begins with a decision so reckless it surprises even me. Running through the neighborhood in the early morning, I tell myself it’s just another jog, nothing suspicious. But my pulse races for more reasons than cardio. I’m on my way to Tripp Ingraham’s house—a man recently charged with murder. The logic is flimsy at best, but his late-night texts haven’t left my mind. There’s a part of me, deeper than instinct, that whispers he’s telling the truth. Tripp has plenty of flaws—he…
    • Chapter

      Chapter 32

      Chapter 32 Cover
      by testsuphomeAdmin Chapter 32 begins with a jolt of pain and regret. My skull throbbed like it had been split open from the inside, and the nausea rising in my stomach felt thick and threatening. I turned to the side, waiting to throw up, but nothing came. Instead, I choked and spat onto the floor, staring at the blood, wondering how I had failed to see this unraveling. Bea had always been the sharpest person in any room. Of course, she wouldn’t stay trapped forever. And I should’ve realized it—should’ve planned for…
    • Chapter

      Chapter 33

      Chapter 33 Cover
      by testsuphomeAdmin Chapter 33 opens with the narrator analyzing the personality contrasts within their social orbit. At the center is Bea—confident, driven, and remarkably self-assured in a world where appearances reign. Jane, by comparison, plays the part of someone who's simply fallen into things, though the narrator senses there’s more calculation beneath her modest surface. As for themselves, they admit to being neither bold like Bea nor passive like Jane, but rather someone who observes, rarely steering the…
    • Chapter

      Chapter 34

      Chapter 34 Cover
      by testsuphomeAdmin Chapter 34 begins with a decision that can’t quite be explained. The narrator finds himself driving toward the lake, unsure if it’s curiosity, jealousy, or something deeper that pulls him there. Tripp had casually mentioned Bea’s invitation earlier, and while they weren’t close, it planted a seed. The idea that Bea would ask Tripp to join a supposedly women-only weekend felt wrong. Something in that gesture stirred a quiet discomfort, a nagging instinct that wouldn’t settle. Maybe it was the look…
    • Chapter

      Chapter 35

      Chapter 35 Cover
      by testsuphomeAdmin Chapter 35 — Chapter 35 begins with shock, not from violence, but from the unexpected appearance of someone long presumed dead. After barely escaping Eddie's violent outburst—where a silver pineapple became a weapon—the protagonist finds herself face-to-face with Bea Rochester. Not only is Bea very much alive, she seems curiously unfazed by the revelation that her husband tried to kill someone else. Calmly requesting wine as if hosting a routine dinner party, Bea leads them into the kitchen. Her…
    • Chapter

      Chapter 36

      Chapter 36 Cover
      by testsuphomeAdmin Chapter 36 — Chapter 36 starts with a confession neither of us expected. He loved you. Hearing those words from Jane shakes something loose inside me. It’s not because I believe her—it's because part of me wishes I didn’t. Jane wouldn’t want to believe it either, which makes her saying it feel like a jab more than comfort. But the tone in her voice? It doesn’t sound bitter. She looks at me with something close to understanding, and that unsettles me more than anger would have. She is not who…
    • Chapter

      Chapter 37

      Chapter 37 Cover
      by testsuphomeAdmin Chapter 37 — Chapter 37 begins in a hospital room that smells like antiseptic and regret. I haven’t been admitted since I broke my elbow at fifteen trying to impress a skater boy. I hated hospitals then, and being here now hasn’t improved my opinion. I’m told I’ll be discharged tomorrow, but I don’t even know where “home” is anymore. The estate in Thornfield is gone—burned down to the bones—along with any future I thought I was building. Maybe it’s strange that what I fixate on…
    • Chapter

      Chapter 38

      Chapter 38 Cover
      by testsuphomeAdmin Chapter 38 — Chapter 38 marks a strange kind of calm after the chaos, the kind that settles in when wounds begin to close but everything still aches. At Emily’s house, I get the guest room with the floral sheets and a stack of crime novels by the bed. She spoils me at first—smoothies with fresh pineapple, ice cream that soothes my throat, takeout containers I don’t have to clean up after. Even Adele seems to understand this is a safe place. She sleeps at my feet each night, her weight grounding me…
    Note