Chapter 2: Building Tension
The door to the dressing room creaked shut behind the red stiletto heels, their pointed toes tapping once against the marble slab before pausing—deliberate, predatory. The mirrored walls, already alive with a low, rhythmic pulse—like a heartbeat just beneath the surface—reflected their image back in fractured shards of gold and crimson. The dress had gone unnaturally still, its chiffon layers pooling around the floor like a liquid shadow, its lace trim trembling as if caught in a sudden draft. Not from the air. From something deeper.