Janet Hugghs was that one wealthy girl everyone feared. Her dad had been crowned the richest businessman in the state for years. This wasn’t his first award. It wasn’t even his sixth. He was unstoppable. No one had ever come close to challenging the Hugghs dynasty.

And, believe me, it wasn’t going to be my parents, who’d left without a word when I was just a kid, or my uncle, who’d smoked away his future. The Hugghs family had a reputation for taking business—and everything else—deadly seriously. When I say “strict,” I mean *bloodthirsty* strict.

There was something darker about them too. Rumor had it that no boyfriend who’d ever been introduced to Janet’s parents was seen again. Not a single one returned to school. They were never heard from again. People whispered it was creepy, but no one dared accuse the Hugghs family of anything shady. After all, they were powerful, high-profile dealers in gold and diamonds. As for the disappearing boys, we tried to convince ourselves that maybe they were just too humiliated to return.

But deep down, nobody believed that.

The dismissal bell broke through my thoughts, jolting me back to reality. I grabbed my bag, bolting out of the college gates before anyone even remembered I existed. Janet’s words echoed in my mind: *“Sam, I love you. I want to be your girlfriend. You’re so funny, and I’d love to introduce you to my parents. What do you think?”*

*Wait… funny? Me?* Sure, part of me was tempted to see their mansion—the mystery, the wealth, all that glamour. But another part of me told me to think this through. And the very survival instinct that wanted to keep me alive reminded me that no one ever made it back from that visit. It was a journey of no return.

I didn’t have far to walk. I lived close to the school with my grandparents, who were waiting for me. They hadn’t seen me come home so early in a long time, and I could tell by the look on their faces they were curious.

“Son, what’s wrong? You didn’t stay with your friend Charles?” my grandma asked, concern etched on her face.

Hearing Charles’s name brought a sudden, sharp pain to my heart. I ended up punching the mirror in my room, shattering it. But who did that hurt in the end? Me, of course. I was the one bleeding, not Charles. But the anger wasn’t even about him.

Just as I was finishing cleaning the blood off my hand, the doorbell rang. I froze. We didn’t get visitors often. It’d been ages.

I opened the door, and there she was: *Janet Hugghs.* The last person I expected.

“May I come in?” she asked, her golden eyes shining with an innocent look that melted my defenses. “Of course,” I stammered, feeling a strange thrill.

Luckily, my grandparents had already gone to bed. I led her to my room, where we could talk without any interruptions.

“Since you didn’t want to come over to my house, I thought I’d come to visit you instead,” she said, her eyes holding mine in a way that made me forget to breathe. “You did well,” I muttered, captivated.

But then, a chilling thought hit me: *the missing boys*. For the first time, something sinister crept into my mind. Still, her presence overwhelmed any fear. And the truth was, Janet was the first person who’d ever really treated me like I mattered.

“Janet,” I found myself saying, “I’ve made up my mind. I’ll visit your parents tomorrow.”

She gave me a strange smile. “Are you sure? I don’t want to force you.”

She wasn’t. It was my guilty conscience. I felt bad for doubting her, and I wanted to prove to her—and to myself—that I wasn’t afraid. She got up to leave, and I walked her out to the gate.

As I turned to go back inside, I heard her voice, low and sinister. She was speaking to a man waiting in a sleek black car.

“Tomorrow, a lamb will be slaughtered for the feast. You know the saying… the lamb walks innocently to the slaughter.”

A chill ran down my spine as her laughter floated through the night, echoing around me like a warning. Whatever that meant, I didn’t like the sound of it.

It sounded like… *hell.*

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