Chapter 6 - “Dad, Don’t Eat That!”
The dining room looked beautiful in the way dangerous places sometimes do.
Warm evening light.
Cream-colored walls.
A dark dining table.
A polished marble floor reflecting the chandelier above.
Daniel sat down, tired from work, loosening his shoulders for the first time all day.
Lily had only seconds.
She ran in so fast her shoes nearly slipped on the marble.
Daniel had just reached for the cookie when she screamed—
“DAD, DON’T EAT THAT!”
His hand froze in midair.
Nora went white.
Before Lily could reach the table, Nora lunged.
She grabbed the child around the arms and yanked her backward with shocking force.
“STOP! RIGHT NOW!”
Lily cried out, struggling wildly.
Her pale-pink dress tore at the side seam as she twisted free.
Daniel shot up halfway from his chair in confusion.
“Nora—what are you doing?”
But Lily was already running.
She dashed to the table, swept the plate of cookies onto the marble floor, and snatched up the glass of water beside Daniel’s place setting.
Then she poured it over the shattered cookies.
For one terrible second, nothing happened.
Then the soaked fragments began to fizz.
And hiss.
And bubble.
The sound in the elegant dining room was so unnatural that Daniel went still.
Lily pointed at Nora with a trembling finger.
“She’s the one who did that to the cookies!”
Nora’s face lost every trace of composure.
Daniel looked from the bubbling mess on the floor—
to the torn dress on his daughter—
to his wife.
May you like
And something inside him snapped into place.
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