Chapter 1 - The Clattering Silver Dome
The elegant luxury dining room was suffocatingly quiet, save for the soft crackle of the fireplace. Glowing crystal chandeliers cast a warm, golden light over the heavy red and white floral centerpiece and the fine bone china.
Emma, a young woman in her twenties wearing a classic black and white maid uniform, approached the head of the table. Her hands were trembling violently. Wrapped tightly around her right wrist was a white bandage, faintly stained with a single drop of fresh blood.
She reached out with her injured hand to lift the heavy silver food dome covering the main course.
Pain shot up her arm like a lightning bolt. Her fingers gave out.
The heavy silver dome slipped from her grasp and clattered loudly against the polished mahogany table. Emma gasped, looking down at her throbbing wrist, completely distressed and terrified.
"I'm sorry," Emma whispered, her voice nervous and incredibly quiet.
Sitting to her left was Vivian. She was a strikingly elegant woman in her thirties, her dark brunette hair pinned into a flawless, sophisticated updo. She wore a dark red strapless evening gown and matching diamond drop earrings.
Vivian didn't flinch at the noise. She elegantly continued cutting her steak, pausing only to look up at Emma with a cold, utterly dismissive expression.
"Then try again," Vivian commanded, her tone laced with absolute ice.
Emma swallowed hard, blinking back tears. She nervously reached out with both hands to try and lift the dome again.
Sitting at the head of the table was Julian, a handsome, muscular man in his late thirties. He wore an all-black suit jacket over a black, unbuttoned dress shirt. His sharp eyes narrowed, ignoring his meal completely as he watched the young maid struggle. His gaze locked entirely onto the blood-stained bandage.
"Emma..." Julian said, his voice serious and observant. "What happened to your wrist?"
Vivian instantly stopped cutting her food. Her dark eyes shifted rapidly. Before Emma could even open her mouth, Vivian interrupted, speaking with a quick, heavily defensive tone.
"She hurt it in the pantry," Vivian stated, trying to firmly control the narrative.
Julian completely ignored his wife’s explanation. He leaned in slightly, looking directly at the terrified young maid with intense, suspicious eyes. He was waiting for her confirmation.
"Did she?" Julian asked, his voice probing and perfectly calm.
Emma looked down. She was visibly terrified, her chest heaving with heavy, panicked breaths. She felt the crushing weight of Vivian’s murderous glare burning into the side of her head.
"I... I slipped," Emma stammered, forcing out a trembling, hesitant lie.
Julian didn't blink. He gently reached across the table, taking Vivian's hand in his own, while casually raising his crystal wine glass with the other. He turned his head slowly, looking his elegant wife dead in the eye.
A tense, incredibly dangerous pause hung in the air.
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"Interesting," Julian said, his tone sharp and freezing cold. "I hadn't asked where."
👉 How will the terrified wife try to talk her way out of her massive mistake?
