Chapter 3
The freezing water dripped relentlessly from Sadie’s hair, pooling on the floor beneath her wheelchair. The bright, vivid lighting of the ballroom offered no warmth to the shivering child. The sheer, psychopathic cruelty of the act paralyzed the surrounding guests.
Sadie sat frozen for a long, agonizing second. Then, with a trembling, tiny hand, the four-year-old reached up and wiped the freezing water from her eyes. Her rosy cheeks were pale, but a fierce, unbroken spirit ignited within her. She looked up at the towering, diamond-clad woman who had just assaulted her.
Sadie vehemently shook her head, her wet hair clinging to her face.
"You’re not my mother," Sadie cried, her American accent breaking into a heartbreaking, defiant sob that echoed clearly across the silent ballroom. "You will never be my mother!"
The defiance from the paralyzed toddler struck Corinne like a physical blow. Her vicious smile shattered instantly, replaced by a mask of pure, humiliated rage. She raised her empty hand, fully intending to strike the child across the face to silence her.
"No!" Daphne screamed.
The twenty-five-year-old caregiver rushed forward with explosive speed. She grabbed a thick, dry shawl from the back of a nearby chair and threw herself between Corinne and the wheelchair. Daphne frantically wrapped the dry fabric around Sadie’s shivering, soaked shoulders, pulling the child tightly against her own body to absorb the cold.
"It's okay, sweetie, I've got you," Daphne whispered frantically, her fair skin pale with sheer terror as she shielded the girl.
"Get your hands off her!" Corinne shrieked, her aristocratic composure completely obliterated.
Furious that her authority had been challenged by the hired help, Corinne lunged forward. She violently shoved Daphne backward with both hands. The forceful push sent the caregiver stumbling out of control. Daphne crashed hard against the edge of the heavy banquet table, crying out in pain as silverware and crystal plates clattered loudly against the marble floor.
Corinne stepped forward, towering over the injured caregiver. The bright cinematic lights caught the manic, unhinged gleam in her eyes.
"I warned you about undermining me in this house!" Corinne hissed, her voice a venomous, jagged blade. "Keep interfering, and you’ll disappear like her mother did."
The words dropped into the bright, vivid atmosphere of the ballroom like a live grenade. The horrific, deeply terrifying implication caused the blood to freeze in Daphne's veins.
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"What did you just say?" Daphne breathed, her eyes widening in absolute horror.
Corinne realized her catastrophic slip of the tongue a fraction of a second too late. Her rosy skin flushed a deep, panicked crimson, but she tried to quickly cover it with a sneer. "You heard me. The weak do not survive in this family."
