Chapter 1 - Cold Shards and Burning Eyes
The silence that followed Eleanor’s cold declaration was louder than the shatter of bone china. ""She tripped."" The two words hung in the sterile air of the dining room, heavy with poison.
Ethan dropped to his knees, heedless of the jagged porcelain slicing through the denim of his jeans. His hands, slick with cold sweat, hovered frantically over Clara’s trembling frame. Clara lay curled on the polished hardwood, her knuckles white where she clutched the swell of her belly. Her breath came in ragged, terrified gasps, her eyelids fluttering as waves of sharp agony ripped through her lower abdomen.
""Clara! Look at me, stay with me!"" Ethan’s voice cracked, raw with a visceral panic he had never known. He looked up, his face contorting into an expression of sheer hatred directed at the woman standing above them. Eleanor hadn’t moved an inch. Her silver hair remained immaculate, her dark navy button-up pristine, her hands clasped lightly in front of her. Not a single muscle in her aristocratic face twitched.
In the corner, Ethan’s younger sister, Lily, crouched by the mahogany sideboard, her hands clamped over her mouth to stifle her sobs. ""Mom... what did you do?"" Lily whimpered. ""You pushed her. I saw you.""
Eleanor didn’t blink. She turned her cold, predatory gaze from the floor toward her daughter, her voice dropping into a razor-thin warning. ""Mind your tongue, Lillian. In this house, clumsiness is not rewarded with hysterics.""
Ethan gently slid his arm beneath Clara’s shoulders, feeling the violent tremor racking her body. ""Call an ambulance, Lily! Now!"" he roared.
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Clara grabbed Ethan’s wrist, her nails digging into his skin until it burned. ""Ethan..."" she choked out, her voice barely a thread. ""The tea... she put something in the tea before...""
A fresh spasm cut Clara off, her back arching in blinding pain. Ethan reached to cradle her closer, but when his palm brushed against the fabric of her mauve top, his hand emerged wet, stained with a dark, terrifying crimson.
