Chapter 1 - The Door That Burst Open
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The chain scraped across the marble floor loud enough to silence half the room.
Lily was only five.
Her dirty pink dress twisted around her knees as Celia yanked the padded harness around the little girl’s body and dragged her past a table crowded with crystal glasses.
“Cry louder, you little brat,” Celia hissed.
Lily’s palms slipped against the polished floor.
She was sobbing too hard to answer.
Around them, a dozen guests stood frozen.
No one stepped forward.
Two massive men in black suits stood near the banquet table, watching with their arms folded.
Celia smiled.
“No one is coming to save you.”
Then the front doors slammed open.
The sound cracked through the hall like a gunshot.
Damian Moretti stood in the doorway.
Sixty-five years old.
Broad shoulders.
A broken boxer’s nose.
Hands that had once put heavyweight champions on the canvas.
But it wasn’t his size that terrified Celia.
It was his face.
Damian didn’t shout.
He simply looked at the chain in Celia’s hand.
Then at Lily.
Then back at Celia.
“Let go.”
Celia’s expression flickered.
“Dad, this isn’t what—”
Damian crossed the room before she finished.
He shoved Celia away, dropped to one knee, and unclipped the chain from Lily’s harness.
Lily threw both arms around his neck.
Her entire body was shaking.
Damian held her face between his enormous hands.
“Baby, look at me.”
Lily struggled to breathe.
“She does this every time you’re away.”
Everything inside Damian went still.
Behind him, Celia laughed nervously.
“She lies.”
Damian slowly stood.
Celia stepped closer.
“That brat deserved worse.”
The slap echoed across the marble.
Celia crashed backward into the drink table.
Glasses exploded around her.
Bodyguard One charged.
Damian pivoted.
One punch.
The man flew backward across the banquet table.
The second bodyguard lunged from beside the decorative stone statue.
Damian drove a fist into his stomach.
The man slammed backward.
The statue toppled.
Stone cracked against marble.
Damian lifted Lily into his arms.
Then he looked down at Celia.
His voice was almost a whisper.
“Enjoy your final moments.”
Celia stared at him.
“What?”
“In this house.”
For the first time that night, Celia looked afraid.
Then Lily lifted her trembling hand.
She pointed toward the shattered base of the fallen statue.
“Grandpa…”
Damian followed her finger.
Something small was blinking inside the broken stone.
A red light.
A camera.
And Celia suddenly stopped breathing.
May you like
👉 Because Celia knew exactly what that hidden camera might have recorded.
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