Chapter 4 - The Emerald Target
The mother’s gaze snapped away from her husband.
She looked past his kneeling form, her focus sharpening on the head of the table.
The older woman sat there, bathed in the warm, golden light of the chandelier.
Her emerald green silk dress draped perfectly over her shoulders.
A thick strand of heavy, perfectly spherical pearls rested against her collarbone.
The older woman’s lips were slightly parted.
The ghost of a patronizing smirk was still etched into the deep lines around her mouth.
She had been laughing.
The mother stepped right over the man’s extended legs.
The fabric of her dark trousers brushed against his white cuffs.
She crossed the distance to the table in three long, predatory strides.
The guests shrank back in their carved wooden chairs.
The grandmother raised a manicured hand, a heavy diamond flashing on her ring finger.
She opened her mouth, inhaling to speak.
The second slap was even harder than the first.
It caught the older woman square on the right side of her jaw.
The sheer force of it snapped her head back against the velvet chair.
The heavy pearl necklace rattled violently, clicking against her porcelain teeth.
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A tall crystal wine glass tipped over from the sudden jolt of the table.
Dark red liquid spilled out, racing across the white linen tablecloth like a freshly opened vein.
