Episode 2: Shadows at Amberlight

Ada clutched the folded guest list Daniel gave her. Chika Abiola – Room 12, softly crossed out. Her heart hammered.

At breakfast, the ballroom had an uneasy hush. Teni moved like a ghost among guests who whispered behind champagne glasses. The air felt electric, as though the manor itself awaited an answer.

Daniel joined Ada near a window overlooking the reflecting pool. “That list… I added more details. Unrecorded late check‑ins. Several guests arrived after midnight.” He hesitated. “One name isn’t on our printed list—but he stayed in Room 12 last night.”

Ada’s pulse spiked. “Who is he?”

“An unknown. No RSVP. Paid cash. Identity not verified.” Daniel handed her a small card: ‘Renwick Manor Security’.

She looked up. “Someone snuck in and replaced Chika—or worse?”

Daniel nodded, glancing toward the hallway. “We need proof. CCTV or staff logs. But this place runs on silence—and secrets.”

Ada’s hands trembled as she closed the list. “Then we dig. Quietly.”

Later that day, Ada searched Chika’s dressing room. The closet was empty, except for her perfume—wild jasmine and amber. On the vanity, she found a second note, nearly identical: “I couldn’t do this to you again.” But this one had a smudged fingerprint.

Ada snapped a photo. She needed help—someone with experience in investigations. She dialed the only person she trusted for moments like these: Detective Orji, her late mother’s friend and a private investigator.

By sunset, a soft knock echoed in her suite. Daniel entered, silhouette framed by the dying light.

“We found something,” he said, pulling out a scrap of security footage from his phone. On the grainy clip, a slender figure in black entered Chika’s room at 2:13 am. No hood. No mask. Just a familiar stride.

Ada’s chest tightened. She recognized that walk. It wasn’t a stranger.

“Who is that?” she whispered.

Daniel’s jaw clenched. “I’ll show you. But first—we don’t leave this room until we know what we’re doing.”

Teni’s voice floated through the door, panicked and trembling. “Ada…please…”

Ada reached for her phone, ready to call Detective Orji. But a shadow passed under the door.

She glanced at Daniel. He eyed the door.

The hunt had begun—within the walls of a wedding built on secrets