The Price of Her Indifference

the large, sunlit living r

omm

rapping around them in a tight hug. She looked up, her face bright with an innocent joy I

he benefit of her new boyfriend, faltered. I saw a flicker

fted his weight. His handsome face, u

ll you?" he asked, hi

trying to gently detach Lily from her leg. "S

repeating the word, this time wi

s all i

ld you, Sophia! I told you I wasn'

on the marble floor. In his haste to storm away from the scene, he slipped on the puddle, his body lurch

Sophia

scared by the sudden explosion of anger. Sophia rushed

okay? Le

ed to his knee, where a small, red scrape was beginning to form. It was nothing

leaning heavily on her.

lled with a tenderness she had never once shown our daughter. She helped hi

ght with a cold fury. "Sophia, lo

is your fault, Ethan! I told you to con

hout even looking at our daughter, she issued a chilling com

ke ice. "Lock her in the upstairs c

"What? Sophia, no. Y

e guards and Lily, who was

e desperate. "You know that. She can' t be i

an. Don' t start with your lies. You always make thing

th a wave of her hand, as

ree days. Maybe then she' l

ne?" I yelled, my voice c

c," Sophia sneered.

guards, her eyes h

nd, but they were too strong. One of them easily pushed me

hter up the grand staircase. I heard her cr

Daddy,

ia stepped in front of me,

e, Ethan. You' ve ca

The sound of a key turning in a lock echoed do

lence, broken only by the faint, mu

weaker. I banged on the door, screaming her name, but no one came. The guar

night, the crying

e door to my own room, ran into the hall, and threw myself at the closet door, agai

er face blue, her small chest still. She was un

n' t br