The silence that greeted him when he stepped into the foyer was not peaceful but oppressive. He walked softly across the hardwood floors, noticing the air felt stagnant and neglected.
From the direction of the sunken living room, he heard a sound that made his blood turn to ice. It was a stifled, rhythmic sobbing that sounded like a child trying to disappear into the floorboards.
“Please, Toby, stop crying so we don’t get in trouble,” Audrey whispered in a voice thick with terror. Dominic rounded the corner and saw a scene that shattered his heart into a thousand pieces.
Audrey was huddled behind a high-backed chair, her hair matted and her pajamas stained with juice. She was cradling Toby, who was shaking with silent tremors and hiding his face in her neck.
Priscilla stood a few feet away, holding a tall glass of wine with an expression of pure, icy boredom. “I told you to be silent, or I would put you both in the basement until morning,” she snapped at the children.
Dominic stepped into the light and boomed, “That is enough!” Priscilla jumped, nearly dropping her glass as she scrambled to regain her practiced composure.