ry

as heavier and more suffocating than their presence had been. It was the silence of

to it-a cramped space my father never bothered with, filled with yellowing ledgers and forgotten corresponde

rboard, the weapon I'd spent my previous life failing to find was now heavy in my pocket. The financial ledgers were spread across a narrow worktable. The numbers p

the study creaked open. I didn't need to look up to know who it was. The s

still, my pen hover

red and puffy, her expression a carefully crafted mask of misery. She crossed to where my father sat nursing a

ce. A soft, broken sob escaped her lips. "Arthur," she whimpered

ol and pity, stroked her hair. "Ther

gone. The Steins will never accept me now." She looked up at him, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "Please, Arthur. You're all

nally crumbling. They thought my face was unmarred by grief, but I had simply learned to bury the trauma of my mother's 'accident' beneath a mask of ice. She wasn't just aski

father's eyes. His vanity and foolishness were

he mumbled, taking a large gulp o

I decided I ha

red the quiet. I rose, crossed the small archive room

ehind Arthur's chair like a frightened rat. My f

-" he

study door, closed it, and turned the heavy brass key in

ther blustered, trying to sound auth

of a place in this family?" I asked, my voice deceptively

d forward, forcing him to meet my gaze. "Are you really so stupid?" I ask

his ground. "It is for the good

from my throat. "Our future? You dar

pulled out a folded, yellowed piece of pape

e with age. And across the elegant, faded sc

e. All the color drained from his face. His whiskey glass sl

voice dropping to an icy whisper. "Mothe

ehind the chair, her ey

he died because she found you. With Kaila's mother. In your marital bed. They argued. You pushed her. And when she

m. Kaila gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. T

mered, his eyes wild with panic. He lunged

ve already secured the rest of the diary. And if you ever defy me, copies of every blood-stained page will land on the desk of

of it drained away, leaving only a hollow, terrified shell. He stared at me,

ity he had just lost. "You will stop all this nonsense about legitimizing any

ould barely manage it, he pulled open the bottom drawer of his desk, took out the heavy,

avy in my hand. It was power.