Chapter 1 - The Cup
The teacup was one inch from Ethan Mercer's mouth when his six-year-old daughter screamed.
"Daddy, don't drink it!"
Ethan froze.
Lily came tearing across the marble floor in pink socks, her face white with terror. Nora moved faster. She caught Lily around the waist from behind.
"Stop this nonsense," Nora snapped.
Lily kicked, twisted, then bit Nora's hand.
Nora cried out and let go.
Lily ran straight at Ethan and slapped the cup from his fingers.
CRASH.
Porcelain exploded across the floor. Dark tea spread between the shards.
Then the liquid began to hiss.
A thin white foam crawled over the marble. A faint pale-green vapor curled above it.
Ethan stared at the floor, then at the cup, then at the woman he had married eight months earlier.
Lily stepped in front of him even though she was shaking so hard her knees knocked together.
"She made it for you," she whispered.
Nora's smile vanished.
"Ethan, she's six. She saw bubbles and panicked."
"Why did you grab her?" he asked.
"Because she was acting crazy."
"She was trying to stop me from drinking something that is eating into my floor."
Nora looked down.
The foam had begun discoloring the grout.
Someone near the doorway gasped.
Ethan pulled Lily against his side.
"Nobody leaves," he said.
"Maybe."
He took out his phone and called 911.
That was when Nora finally looked scared.
Lily buried her face against his jacket.
"Daddy?"
"I'm here."
"I saw her put the green stuff in it."
Ethan's grip tightened around the phone.
"What green stuff?"
Lily lifted her head and pointed toward Nora's private study.
"The bottle she keeps in the drawer with your name on it."
May you like
Nora stopped breathing.
And Ethan understood that the broken cup was only the beginning.
