Follow Danny on this mysterious journey of the so called hunted "Harper House".
Follow Danny on this mysterious journey of the so called hunted "Harper House".
If you'd asked twelve-year-old Danny Carter about his summer plans two weeks ago, he'd have shrugged and said, "Nothing much." After all, summers on Maple Street were pretty much the same every year: hot days, melted popsicles, and trying to dodge chores. But this summer? This summer was shaping up to be the most epic one yet-and not necessarily in a good way.
It all started with a dare.
"Bet you won't do it," said Tommy Greene, grinning wide like the Cheshire Cat. Tommy was Danny's best friend, but he had a knack for getting them both into trouble.
Danny squinted at the old, abandoned house at the end of the street. Everyone in the neighborhood called it the Harper House, though nobody really knew why. It had been empty for as long as Danny could remember, its peeling paint and broken shutters giving it a spooky, forgotten vibe.
"You're chicken," Tommy teased, flapping his arms and making clucking sounds.
"I'm not chicken," Danny shot back, though his voice wavered a little.
"Prove it."
Danny swallowed hard. The dare was simple enough: go up to the house, touch the front door, and run back. Easy, right? Except for the fact that the Harper House was rumored to be haunted.
"C'mon, Danny," urged Sarah, Tommy's little sister, who had tagged along. She was holding a half-eaten bag of Skittles and looked way too excited for her own good. "You're not scared, are you?"
"I'm not scared!" Danny said, louder this time, as if saying it out loud would make it true. He took a deep breath, wiped his sweaty palms on his shorts, and started walking toward the house.
The gravel crunched under his sneakers as he approached. Up close, the house was even creepier than it looked from the street. The windows were dark and empty, like hollow eyes, and the porch sagged in the middle, threatening to collapse under the slightest weight.
"Danny, don't forget to knock!" Tommy called out, laughing.
Danny rolled his eyes. No way was he knocking. He wasn't that stupid. He stepped onto the creaky porch, heart pounding in his chest, and reached out to touch the door. His fingers had barely brushed the wood when-
SLAM!
The door swung open, making Danny jump back so fast he tripped over his own feet and landed on the porch with a thud.
"Danny!" Sarah screamed.
But it wasn't a ghost or a monster standing in the doorway. It was a girl. A girl about their age, with wild red hair, freckles, and a mischievous grin.
"Who are you?" she asked, hands on her hips.
Danny blinked up at her, too stunned to answer. Behind him, Tommy and Sarah ran up the porch, their curiosity getting the better of them.
"I thought this place was abandoned!" Tommy blurted out.
The girl shrugged. "It's not. My name's Hazel. My dad just bought this place. We moved in last week."
Danny felt his cheeks burn. He'd just made a fool of himself in front of the new girl.
"Uh, sorry for, you know, trespassing," he mumbled, scrambling to his feet.
Hazel's grin widened. "No worries. I've been watching you guys from the window. You're pretty brave, coming up here."
Tommy elbowed Danny. "See? I told you it wasn't haunted."
"Yeah, right," Sarah muttered. "You were just as scared as Danny."
Hazel laughed. "You guys are funny. Want to come inside?"
The three of them exchanged nervous glances. The Harper House-or whatever it was called now-still gave off major creepy vibes. But Hazel didn't seem scared, so maybe it wasn't so bad.
"Sure," Tommy said, always the first to jump into anything.
Danny hesitated but followed. What could go wrong?
As it turned out, a lot.
The whispers said that out of bitter jealousy, Hadley shoved Eric's beloved down the stairs, robbing the unborn child of life. To avenge, Eric forced Hadley abroad and completely cut her off. Years later, she reemerged, and they felt like strangers. When they met again, she was the nightclub's star, with men ready to pay fortunes just to glimpse her elusive performance. Unable to contain himself, Eric blocked her path, asking, "Is this truly how you earn a living now? Why not come back to me?" Hadley's lips curved faintly. "If you’re eager to see me, you’d better join the queue, darling."
My husband, Bennett, and I were New York's golden couple. But our perfect marriage was a lie, childless because of a rare genetic condition he claimed would kill any woman who carried his baby. When his dying father demanded an heir, Bennett proposed a solution: a surrogate. The woman he chose, Aria, was a younger, more vibrant version of me. Suddenly, Bennett was always busy, supporting her through "difficult IVF cycles." He missed my birthday. He forgot our anniversary. I tried to believe him, until I overheard him at a party. He confessed to his friends that his love for me was a "deep connection," but with Aria, it was "fire" and "exhilarating." He was planning a secret wedding with her in Lake Como, at the same villa he'd promised me for our anniversary. He was giving her a wedding, a family, a life—all the things he denied me, using a lie about a deadly genetic condition as his excuse. The betrayal was so complete it felt like a physical shock. When he came home that night, lying about a business trip, I smiled and played the part of the loving wife. He didn't know I'd heard everything. He didn't know that while he was planning his new life, I was already planning my escape. And he certainly didn't know I had just made a call to a service that specialized in one thing: making people disappear.
After five years of playing the perfect daughter, Rylie was exposed as a stand-in. Her fiancé bolted, friends scattered, and her adoptive brothers shoved her out, telling her to grovel back to her real family. Done with humiliation, she swore to claw back what was hers. Shock followed: her birth family ruled the town's wealth. Overnight, she became their precious girl. The boardroom brother canceled meetings, the genius brother ditched his lab, the musician brother postponed a tour. As those who spurned her begged forgiveness, Admiral Brad Morgan calmly declared, "She's already taken."
"You need a bride, I need a groom. Why don't we get married?" Both abandoned at the altar, Elyse decided to tie the knot with the disabled stranger from the venue next door. Pitying his state, she vowed to spoil him once they were married. Little did she know that he was actually a powerful tycoon. Jayden thought Elyse only married him for his money, and planned to divorce her when she was no longer of use to him. But after becoming her husband, he was faced with a new dilemma. "She keeps asking for a divorce, but I don't want that! What should I do?"
To the public, she was the CEO's executive secretary. Behind closed doors, she was the wife he never officially acknowledged. Jenessa was elated when she learned that she was pregnant. But that joy was replaced with dread as her husband, Ryan, showered his affections on his first love. With a heavy heart, she chose to set him free and leave. When they met again, Ryan's attention was caught by Jenessa's protruding belly. "Whose child are you carrying?!" he demanded. But she only scoffed. "It's none of your business, my dear ex-husband!"
On the night of her birthday, Anastasia's world is turned upside down. Her father's brutal attack sets off a chain reaction that shatters her dreams and changes her life forever. In a shocking twist, her father is forced to reveal a dark secret. Anastasia is to marry into the infamous Greyson family, the most powerful and feared dynasty in the world. And her husband to be is none other than Dante Greyson, the enigmatic, ruthless billionaire with a reputation for getting what he wants, no matter the cost. As Anastasia is dragged into the Greyson's treacherous world, she's confronted with a toxic web of family dynamics, including an ex-girlfriend with a hidden agenda, a mother-in-law who despises her, and sisters-in-law who'll stop at nothing to destroy her. But Dante, the man she's bound to, is a puzzle she's desperate to solve. With a heart frozen by past betrayal, can he ever love again? And what happens when the sparks between them ignite a fire that threatens to consume them both? But just as Anastasia begins to navigate this treacherous new world, a sinister message arrives, shattering her fragile sense of security: "Leave Dante or get caught up in the storm"
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