THE SILENT LENS OF MADNESS

Julian ducked his head sideways, his left hand sweeping upward to strike Eleanor’s wrist, knocking the silenced pistol off-target. The gun discharged with a dull, muffled phut, the bullet burying itself harmlessly into the leather cushion behind his head.

Julian stood up, grabbing Eleanor’s forearm with an iron grip, twisting her wrist backward until the bones cracked sharply. Eleanor let out a high-pitched scream of agony as the gun slipped from her fingers, clattering onto the glass coffee table.

Julian dragged her off the sofa, shoving her face-down onto the hard floor, pinning her shoulder beneath his heavy knee. He pulled the Glock 19 from his waistband, pressing the cold steel barrel directly against the base of her skull.

"Don't move," Julian growled into her ear, his breath heavy, his pulse racing with adrenaline. "Give me one reason, Eleanor. Give me one single reason not to end this right now for what you did to Sarah."

Eleanor lay pinned against the rug, her expensive suit rumpled, her face pressed against the floor, sobbing hysterically. "Julian... please... please don't shoot me... it was Vanessa's idea... she made me do it!"

"You killed the mother of my child," Julian whispered, his finger applying two pounds of pressure to the trigger. The dark, intoxicating urge to pull it, to deliver final, violent justice for Sarah’s murder, pulsed loudly in his ears.

The house was completely silent. He was alone in the dark with the monster who had destroyed his life. Nobody would blame him. It would be deemed self-defense.

Then, from the top of the stairs, a tiny, quiet voice echoed through the high-ceilinged foyer.