Chapter 1 - The Threshold of Blood and Rain
The taste of iron filled Sarah’s mouth as her cheek pressed against the cold tiles of the entryway. Beside her, five-year-old Lily let out a strangled whimper, clutching her worn teddy bear against her chest. Rain poured relentlessly through the open doorway, soaking Sarah’s beige knit cardigan and plastering her hair against her face.
Standing above them, Arthur adjusted the cuffs of his dark polo shirt, completely unfazed by the blow he had just struck. Beside him, his wife Eleanor lingered in her pristine cream robe, eyes glued dismissively to her smartphone.
“You’re pathetic, Sarah,” Eleanor remarked without looking up. “Bianca left a mess when she skipped out, and as her sister, her debts belong to you. Pay the six months of back rent, or your junk stays in the rain—and you sleep on the street.”
Sarah forced her trembling arms beneath her, pushing her bruised body upward. Her ribs screamed in agony—fresh trauma layered over the medical stitches beneath her hospital gown. She had discharged herself early, still wearing her plastic wristband, solely to protect the modest life savings meant for Lily’s corrective heart surgery.
“I told you,” Sarah gasped out, wiping the ribbon of crimson from her lip. “That money is for Lily’s treatment. I won’t let you touch a single cent.”
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Arthur chuckled, a low, grating sound that signaled another surge of violence. He took a heavy step forward, his boot coming down inches from Lily’s tiny sneakers. “Then you won't survive the night to spend it.”
As Arthur reached down to grab her collar, Sarah noticed the reflection in the hall mirror behind him—a shadowy figure standing in the rain behind the garden gate, holding a high-definition camera aimed directly at them.
