Chapter 1 - The Broken Celebration
The festive balloons in the living room danced in the draft, their bright colors mocking the suffocating tension in the air. Forty-year-old Martha stood rigidly in her burgundy top, her chest heaving with furious breaths as she tightened her grip on the heavy wooden stick. Her short brown hair was slightly damp with sweat, and her eyes burned with an unhinged, desperate rage that frightened everyone in the room.
"Laura! Give me the money!" Martha screamed, her voice cracking with a mixture of greed and fury as she swung the stick through the air.
Sixteen-year-old Iris backed away defensively, her long brown hair tumbling wildly over her shoulders. She held her bruised arm tightly, her face twisted in absolute terror and confusion.
"What money are you talking about?" Iris cried out, her voice trembling as she pressed her back against the edge of the birthday table.
"Don't lie to me, Iris! You know where he hid the money!" Martha roared back, bringing the wooden stick crashing down onto the table, sending shards of birthday cake and frosting flying everywhere.
Family members stood frozen in horror in the background, too paralyzed by shock to intervene. Martha’s face and burgundy top were smeared with white frosting and pink decorative sugar, but she didn't care. She glared intensely at the crying girl.
Iris looked up with tear-filled, frightened eyes, hugging her injured arm to her chest.
"You can’t treat me like this," Iris sobbed quietly, the weight of the injustice crushing her spirit.
Martha leaned in close, her eyes narrowing as she lowered her voice to a venomous whisper.
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"You think your grandfather’s will protects you, but you don't even know what he left behind in the basement."
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