I'm not the kind of person who gets scared by a house.At least, that's what Claire Mercer tells herself the night she arrives at the Whitfield estate-alone, desperate, and with nowhere else to go. The job seems like a miracle: rent-free room in a historic country manor, excellent pay, and no references required. Discretion essential.But the moment the massive black door opens and Claire meets Lydia Whitfield's ice-blue stare, she realizes nothing about this place is what it seems.The house looms over the countryside like something half-alive, its dark windows watching, its corridors swallowing sound. Inside, the rules are strict and oddly specific. Never enter the locked third-floor wing. Never open the basement door after midnight. Never speak to Mr. Whitfield unless spoken to first. And above all, never ask about the previous housekeeper. The one who left in a hurry. The one no one mentions by name.At first, Claire tells herself she can follow the rules. She needs the money. She needs the fresh start. But the estate has a way of getting under her skin. Objects move when she's alone. Footsteps echo where no one is walking. Whispers seep through the heating vents at night, forming sentences that sound too much like threats-and sometimes, like pleas for help.As she digs into the Whitfields' carefully curated lives, Claire uncovers a tangled history of lies, affairs, and debts that should have destroyed the family years ago. Somewhere in the middle of it all is a single promise, made in desperation and sealed in blood-a promise that links Claire to this house in a way she never could have imagined.The deeper she goes, the more dangerous the truth becomes. Someone in the Whitfield estate will do anything to keep the past buried. Because the last person who tried to break the rules didn't just lose her job. She disappeared.Now Claire must decide: which is more terrifying-staying in a house that wants to consume her, or leaving and letting the same fate claim her next.The final secret of the Whitfield estate is waiting behind one last locked door-and keeping her promise might be the only way out alive.