Chapter 1: The Kitchen Threshold

Connor stiffened. He did not look at his mother immediately; instead, his gaze locked onto the glowing smartphone lying face-up on the marble countertop next to a drying rack. He reached out, his fingers brushing past the sponge, and picked up the device. The screen illuminated his face, displaying a continuous loop of security camera feeds and meticulously typed checklists that Helen had enforced upon his exhausted wife. Connor’s jaw tightened, the muscles ticking in his lean cheeks as the full weight of his mother’s psychological torture became glaringly clear. His eyes hardened with a quiet, dangerous fury that frightened even Amy. He pulled Leo into the crook of his other arm, holding his son close against his heart.