Chapter 1 - The Bowl of Noodles
The kitchen was bright with afternoon light, the kind that usually made the Russo house feel ordinary and safe.
White cabinets.
A family dining area.
A kitchen island with a bowl of fruit Dominic had forgotten to put away that morning.
And near the front door, just inside the entryway, sat a black rolling suitcase.
At that moment, though, none of those details mattered as much as Lily’s scream.
Five-year-old Lily Russo stood in the middle of the hardwood floor in her yellow summer dress, already crying before the bowl hit her. Her grandmother, Diane Russo, loomed over her, one hand gripping a bowl of noodles drenched in red sauce.
Then Diane turned the bowl upside down.
SPLAT.
The noodles slid over Lily’s hair, stuck to her cheeks, and clung to the front of her yellow dress. Sauce dripped down her neck in red streaks.
Lily let out a raw, shocked sob.
Diane did not flinch.
“BAD CHILDREN DON’T DESERVE DINNER.”
Owen moved before anyone else could.
At seven years old, he was skinny, serious, and protective in a way no child should have to be. He rushed in front of his little sister and spread both arms out as if he could block the whole world.
“DON’T TOUCH MY SISTER!”
Diane’s face twisted.
Her hand flashed out.
WHACK.
The open-palmed slap snapped Owen’s head to the side. He stumbled, one hand flying to his cheek, but he stayed close enough to keep his body between Diane and Lily.
There was no second slap.
Instead, Diane spun around toward the kitchen counter.
Dominic Russo was just stepping through the front door when he saw her grab a heavy metal pan.
For one fractured second, he did not understand what he was seeing.
His daughter covered in noodles.
His son clutching his face.
His mother rearing back with a pan in her hand.
Then Diane hurled it.
“GET BACK!” Dominic roared.
He lunged forward and threw up his forearm. The pan hit hard, glanced off his arm with a loud metallic crack, then ricocheted across the kitchen—
straight back into Diane’s face.
She cried out and staggered backward, one hand flying to her eye.
Lily burst into louder sobs behind him.
Owen grabbed Lily and pulled her close.
Dominic’s whole body went rigid with rage.
Diane tried to steady herself against the counter, blinking in shock as a dark bruise began to rise beneath her eye.
Dominic walked straight toward her.
He did not strike her.
He did not shout.
That was somehow worse.
He stopped inches away, looking down at the woman who had just assaulted his children in his own kitchen.
His voice turned colder than Lily had ever heard it.
“YOU NO LONGER HAVE A PLACE IN THIS FAMILY.”
For the first time, Diane looked uncertain.
“Dominic...”
He said nothing else.
Behind him, Owen huddled protectively around Lily while noodles slipped from her hair onto the hardwood floor.
And as Dominic stood there, breathing hard, his eyes flicked toward the front door.
Toward the black rolling suitcase.
It was standing there as if someone had been planning to leave.
May you like
Or planning to take someone away.
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