The Wedding Gift

A chilling wedding gift. A town drowning in secrets. A bride spiraling into darkness.
Emily Hayes should be basking in the joy of her upcoming wedding to Michael Vance, her childhood sweetheart. Instead, an anonymous gift casts a sinister shadow over their happiness: an antique mirror, its tarnished silver and blackened wood reflecting not joy, but a creeping dread.  Hung in their bedroom, the mirror becomes a terrifying focal point, warping familiar shadows into menacing shapes, its glassy surface marked by ephemeral handprints cold as death.
The mirror belonged to Eleanor Vance, Michael's tragically drowned ex-fiancée, a woman whose memory haunts the cobblestone streets of Cypress Creek. As Emily’s unease escalates into full-blown terror, she begins to question everything she thought she knew. Michael’s late nights at the family distillery become more frequent, his explanations increasingly hollow.  The warmth in his eyes flickers, replaced by an unsettling possessiveness.
Driven by a primal fear, Emily dives into Cypress Creek’s dark past, uncovering whispers of foul play surrounding Eleanor's death, whispers the powerful Vance family has ruthlessly silenced.  Aided by Lisa Frazier, a pragmatic historian with a penchant for the macabre, Emily unravels a web of lies, betrayals, and long-buried secrets that reach into the very foundations of the town.
But the deeper Emily digs, the more dangerous her quest becomes. Cryptic notes appear in Eleanor’s distinctive handwriting, chilling warnings to stop digging or share Eleanor’s fate. The mirror’s activity intensifies, the handprints multiplying, reaching out like spectral fingers.  And Michael’s behavior grows increasingly erratic, the loving fiancé replaced by someone distant, almost sinister.
As the line between reality and nightmare blurs, Emily must confront a terrifying question: is Michael the man she thought she knew, or is he a meticulously crafted facade? Or is someone else manipulating her, using the mirror and Eleanor’s memory as weapons in a deadly game?  Unmasking the truth will plunge Emily into the heart of Cypress Creek’s darkness, a place where love and betrayal intertwine, and where some secrets refuse to stay buried.