Chapter 1 - THE BOTTLE IN SERENA’S HAND
Madeline had been home from the hospital for less than six hours when she saw Serena standing beside the kitchen island with the bottle.
Warm milk filled a glass.
Serena held the small dropper above it.
Several drops disappeared into the milk.
Madeline stopped cold.
She recognized the bottle.
“That’s what you put in my drink.”
Serena slowly looked up.
No surprise.
No embarrassment.
Just a smile.
“You should’ve stayed unconscious.”
Madeline knocked the glass from her hand.
It shattered across the tile.
Serena slapped her.
Hard.
Madeline stumbled against the island.
For three days she had felt weak.
Foggy.
Humiliated by doctors asking whether she might have taken something she did not remember taking.
Now the fear disappeared.
Madeline shoved Serena backward and slapped her once across the face.
“You tried to do it again while my daughter was watching.”
Serena’s confidence finally cracked.
Footsteps pounded down the hallway.
Preston rushed into the kitchen.
Madeline expected him to grab Serena.
Instead, he grabbed Madeline from behind.
“Enough! Leave Serena alone!”
Madeline twisted free and shoved him away.
“You’re protecting her?”
Serena immediately moved behind Preston.
That tiny movement told Madeline more than any explanation could.
Then a small voice came from the hallway.
“Daddy gave Serena the bottle before Mommy got sick.”
Everything stopped.
Four-year-old Poppy stood barefoot in pale pink pajamas, clutching her stuffed rabbit.
Preston would not look at Madeline.
Serena had gone pale.
Madeline’s breathing became shallow.
She remembered waking in the hospital.
The ambulance.
Preston sitting beside her bed.
Preston telling doctors he had found her unconscious.
Preston crying.
Preston insisting he had no idea what happened.
Madeline stared at him.
“Then why were you the one who called the ambulance?”
Preston’s expression changed.
Not guilt exactly.
Something more complicated.
May you like
And Serena turned toward him with genuine confusion.
As if she did not know the answer either.
