Chapter 1 - The Birthday Box in His Hands
“Dogs eat after the guests.”
Victoria Cole’s cruel laughter floated across the backyard as she pointed at the chicken bones on Margaret’s plate.
Margaret sat on the cold concrete beside an open black dog kennel, her thin body wrapped in a torn purple robe. Her gray hair was tangled. Her face was streaked with tears.
Four women in designer dresses surrounded her.
Two recorded with their phones.
Another lifted her champagne glass and laughed.
Margaret tried to pick up a scrap of chicken, but her fingers shook so badly that it slipped back onto the plate.
“Please,” she whispered. “I haven’t eaten today.”
Victoria tapped the plate with the toe of her red heel.
Rice, dry bread, and chicken bones slid onto the concrete beside the white bowl marked ROVER.
The guests laughed harder.
Then a man’s voice cut through the backyard.
“Victoria.”
Every phone stopped moving.
Ethan Cole stood at the edge of the patio in his navy suit, holding a white bakery box tied with a red ribbon.
He had returned early to surprise his mother on her birthday.
Instead, he found her sitting beside a dog kennel while his wife treated her suffering like party entertainment.
Victoria slowly turned around.
Her smile disappeared.
“This isn’t what it looks like,” she said.
Ethan placed the cake box on a table, pulled out his phone, and stared at her with terrifying calm.
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“I know exactly what it looks like,” he said. “Because I recorded every second.”
👉 But the video Ethan had just captured was not the first evidence hidden inside that mansion.
