Chapter 1 - The Shattered Trust
The piercing wail of the baby echoed violently against the cold marble walls of the grand foyer.
Clara knelt on the hard floor, her heart hammering against her ribs as she cradled little Leo in her trembling arms.
Her knees were scraped and bruised from sliding across the polished stone just in time to catch the falling infant.
"Are you out of your mind?!" Clara screamed, her voice cracking with pure terror and adrenaline.
"You could have killed an innocent child!"
Arthur, the master of the estate, rushed into the hallway with sheer panic written across his pale face.
"Explain to me right now what just happened!" Arthur demanded, looking between his crying son and his stunning fiancée, Vivian.
"Sir, she deliberately threw your baby down toward the hard marble floor!" Clara cried out, pulling Leo closer to her chest.
Vivian immediately grabbed her own arm, twisting her face into a mask of fake agony.
"Stop it, you're hurting me!" Vivian shrieked, though no one was even touching her.
Arthur glared at the woman he had almost married, his eyes cold and devoid of any remaining affection.
"Get out of my sight and never step foot in this house again!" Arthur roared, pointing a shaking finger toward the heavy oak doors.
"Please, listen to me, Arthur, it was an accident!" Vivian pleaded, forcing fake tears to spill over her perfectly painted cheeks.
"An accident?" Arthur sneered, stepping protectively in front of Clara and his son.
"You tossed my child into the air like a toy!"
"I was just playing with him, I swear!" Vivian cried, reaching out for Arthur's sleeve.
"She didn't try to catch him, sir!" Clara interrupted, refusing to let this woman lie her way out of attempted murder.
"I had to slide across the floor from the other room to save him before he hit the ground!"
Vivian turned her venomous glare toward the young maid.
"You're lying, you worthless maid!" Vivian spat, dropping her innocent act for a fraction of a second.
"Shut up!" Arthur shouted, his voice shaking the crystal chandelier above them.
"She saved my child's life while you stood there and watched him fall!"
"You're really going to take her word over mine?" Vivian asked, her voice dropping into a dangerous, icy tone.
"I saw enough with my own eyes when I walked into this room."
"Security, escort her off my property immediately!" Arthur commanded, gesturing to the guards rushing through the front entrance.
The guards grabbed Vivian by her arms, dragging her toward the heavy front doors as she kicked and screamed in fury.
"You'll regret this, Arthur!" Vivian shrieked over her shoulder as the doors were forced open.
"This isn't over, I promise you, this isn't over!"
The heavy doors slammed shut, leaving a heavy, suffocating silence in the grand foyer.
Arthur collapsed onto the stairs, burying his face in his hands as he processed the horrific betrayal.
Clara stood up slowly, bouncing the baby gently until his cries faded into exhausted hiccups.
She carried Leo upstairs to the nursery, desperate to get him away from the lingering tension of the hallway.
As Clara placed the sleeping baby into his crib, she noticed Vivian's designer makeup bag had been left behind on the changing table.
Clara moved to throw it in the trash, but the bag slipped from her hands and spilled onto the carpet.
A small, unlabelled glass vial rolled out from among the lipsticks, filled with a strange, shimmering white powder.
May you like
Clara picked up the vial, her blood running cold as she read the single word written on the bottom of the glass in red ink.
The word was "Lethal."
