Chapter 1
“Now it’s your turn to get in there.”
Agatha’s face drained.
I did not touch the start button.
I did not need to.
The empty dryer door remained open between us, and for the first time my mother looked at the machine from the side Noah had just seen it.
Fear changed her quickly.
Behind me, Noah clung to one of my bodyguards while Rowan struggled upright beneath the fallen blankets. Elias still stood in the service hallway, but he no longer blocked it.
Good.
I stepped toward Agatha.
“You said he only whines for food.”
Her eyes shifted.
That interested me more than the fear.
“What did you mean?”
“He’s spoiled.”
“How often does he ask you for food?”
Silence.
Noah answered from behind me.
“Grandma says dinner is for good boys.”
My jaw tightened.
I turned slowly.
“What happens to bad boys?”
He looked at Tyler.
Tyler immediately lowered his eyes.
“No plate.”
Nobody moved.
I looked at my nephew.
“How many times have you watched them take Noah’s food?”
Rowan snapped, “Do not question my son.”
I turned.
“Your son put mine inside a dryer.”
“He was playing.”
“No.”
My voice dropped.
“He knew exactly what Agatha would do after he shut the door.”
Tyler started crying.
Not loudly.
Guiltily.
Then Noah whispered:
“Tyler gets my dinner if I cry.”
I looked from Tyler to Rowan.
Then to Elias.
My father finally looked away.
May you like
That was when I understood the dryer was not some sick joke invented by two children.
Someone had built a reward system around my son’s humiliation.
