Chapter 1
The vaulted ceiling of the grand conservatory echoed with a heavy, unnatural silence. Just moments before, the air had been thick with the sweet fragrance of white lilies and the soft murmurs of anticipation. Now, the atmosphere felt suffocating, charged with a sudden, devastating terror. Claire knelt on the pristine white marble floor, her dark grey silk dress pooling around her knees as she cradled the motionless form of eight-year-old Lily. The child lay trapped beneath the jagged splinters of a heavy wooden welcome sign that had inexplicably torn loose from its ornate brass moorings above the double
