Chapter 9: Stephen Montgomery

Stephen's POV

SIX MONTHS AGO

I meant to tell her earlier. Truly I did. Who I was, what had happened to me. But I just couldn't get the words out to explain. And the longer I put it off, the harder it became to tell her. I had been roaming the house for over a century, and I had never really wanted to reveal myself completely to anyone. Until there was her.

Others had attempted to rent the house before, of course. It wasn't hard for me to convince them to leave. I would walk around at midnight, turn on the lights, things of that nature. One man was stubborn. I had heard talk about turning my home into something called a condominium, and he was the hardest to convince. Apparently, there was a great deal of money on the line for him. And so I had whispered in his ear, night after night, to go away. He didn't want to admit why he decided against developing the land, but eventually he too packed his bags and ran. Then the house had remained vacant for a long time. Until Charlotte.