Harvest Maze

Autumn has always been my season.

I loved the first crisp breeze after summer finally let go. I filled my little house with pumpkins, flickering candles, and strings of warm fairy lights. Fresh apple cider simmered on the stove while cinnamon rolls cooled on the counter. Every fallen leaf was an invitation to slow down and savor my cozy little life.

Then the man next door moved in.

He kept odd hours and never smiled. The neighbors whispered when they thought I couldn’t hear them, but no one seemed to know where he had come from or why he had chosen our quiet street. He carried secrets in his eyes, and every instinct told me they were the kind that killed.

I should have stayed away from him.

Instead, I found myself watching the light in his windows after dark. I listened for the sound of his footsteps outside. Every night, I wondered what kind of monster hid behind the walls of the house next door.

Then he came to my door.

He was dangerous, terrifying, and impossible to understand. Every sensible part of me knew I should have locked the door and called the police.

Instead, I let him in.

Somehow, the safest place I had ever known became the home of a monster. Beneath the violence, beneath the darkness, and beneath every terrible secret he refused to share, I found a man who looked at me like I was the only light left in his world.

Autumn has always been my favorite season. I just never expected it to be the season I fell in love with the monster next door.

Harvest Maze features an obsessive stalker, a bubbly autumn girly, a toasty hot attraction, and a love story with a cozy darkness. This is a standalone dark romance short story with morally grey choices. HEA guaranteed. Check TWs!