My mysterious fiance

Previously

…And then she was gone, leaving me alone in the echoing silence of the drawing-room, the scent of lavender replaced by the lingering, unsettling aroma of secrets and danger. The locket felt heavy in my hand, a tangible link to a past I was only just beginning to understand, and a promise of a future I had to fight for. My mother’s confession had peeled back the gilded facade, revealing the rot beneath. Julian Thorne was not my fiancé; he was my captor. And the escape plan, so carefully crafted, was no longer a precaution, but a necessity. The time for innocence was over.