Chapter 1 - The Blood on the Wood
Liam stood panting in the center of the dimly lit nursery.
His chest heaved with every breath as adrenaline violently flooded his veins.
His mother, Eleanor, slowly pulled herself up from the shattered mahogany wardrobe.
She wiped a streak of blood from her lip and smiled.
It was a terrifying, hollow smile that chilled Liam to his very core.
Sarah whimpered on the floor, clutching her heavily bruised forehead.
She wrapped her arms protectively around their sobbing newborn, Leo.
"You are an absolute monster," Liam whispered, unable to recognize the woman who raised him.
Eleanor smoothed her ruined designer coat and straightened her posture.
"I am protecting this family's legacy," she replied coldly.
"She does not belong in our world, Liam."
Liam pulled his phone from his pocket with intensely shaking hands.
He dialed emergency services without taking his eyes off his mother for a single second.
Eleanor saw the glowing screen and let out a sharp, mocking laugh.
"You will regret this," she sneered, stepping backward toward the hallway.
Liam tried to block her path, but she slipped past him with surprising speed.
She sprinted down the wooden stairs and threw open the front door.
Tires screeched in the driveway as her luxury sedan sped away into the freezing night.
Liam dropped his phone and immediately dropped to his knees by his wife's side.
He gently tilted Sarah's face upward to desperately inspect the physical damage.
A deep gash above her eyebrow was bleeding profusely onto the white carpet.
"I have got you, sweetheart," he murmured, kissing her trembling, cold hands.
Red and blue lights suddenly flashed intensely through the nursery window.
Two armed police officers burst through the front door, shouting for them to stay still.
Paramedics rushed into the room moments later and took over treating Sarah's wounds.
A senior detective began taking photographs of the bloody crib and the broken furniture.
He shined his heavy flashlight into the dark corners of the nursery.
"Sir, is this yours?" the officer asked, pointing toward the baby's blankets.
He reached into the crib and pulled out a thick, unmarked manila envelope.
Liam frowned deeply, knowing they had never seen that strange envelope before.
He ripped the paper seal open and pulled out a thick stack of medical documents.
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They were incredibly detailed, forged lab results from the local children's hospital.
The documents falsely claimed that Sarah was slowly poisoning her own baby with arsenic.
