Chapter 2 - THE GOLF CLUB ABOVE HERMaria crossed the kitchen in three steps.
She dropped to her knees beside Hazel and wrapped both arms around the little girl.
Then she turned.
Her entire body covered Hazel.
The black steel golf club swung downward.
It struck Maria across the upper right shoulder.
Pain exploded through her arm.
Maria screamed.
Her white apron twisted as she collapsed forward, but she did not release Hazel.
“Don’t touch her!”
Hazel cried beneath her.
“Maria!”
Celeste stared at the club in her hands.
For one second, even she appeared shocked by what she had done.
Then her eyes moved toward the kitchen security camera.
A small indicator light should have been glowing above the entrance.
It was dark.
Celeste had disabled it twenty minutes earlier.
No one had seen.
“Get away from her,” Celeste ordered.
Maria tightened her arms.
“No.”
“You attacked me.”
“You raised a golf club at a child.”
“You ran toward me.”
“To protect her.”
Celeste stepped closer.
Maria tried to rise.
Her right shoulder would not support her.
Hazel crawled beneath Maria’s left arm.
A red bruise had already begun spreading under the uniform fabric.
“Please stop,” Hazel sobbed.
Celeste lowered the club.
She heard movement outside the open back doors.
Footsteps crossed the stone terrace.
Jonathan Whitlock entered the kitchen at the exact moment Maria tried to stand.
He wore a tailored gray suit and white shirt. His neatly styled dark hair was slightly disturbed from the evening wind.
His expression changed instantly.
Shock.
Disbelief.
Then protective fury.
He saw Maria kneeling over Hazel.
He saw the broken cup.
He saw spilled juice.
Most importantly, he saw the golf club in his wife’s hand.
“Celeste?”
She turned.
The vicious rage disappeared from her face.
False fear replaced it.
She dropped the club to her side and pointed at Maria.
“Jonathan, thank God!”
He did not move.
Celeste spoke rapidly.
“She attacked me—your daughter started it!”
Hazel pushed herself upright.
“No!”
Her small hands held Maria’s white apron.
“Maria saved me!”
Celeste looked at the child with open hatred.
Jonathan saw that too.
He crossed the kitchen.
Celeste lifted the club defensively.
Jonathan took it from her hand with one forceful movement.
He threw it across the floor.
The steel shaft struck the marble and slid beneath the dining bench.
Then Jonathan stepped between Celeste and the injured Maria.
His voice was controlled.
“Get out of my house.”
Celeste stared at him.
“You believe a housekeeper over your wife?”
Jonathan looked at Hazel trembling behind Maria.
“I believe what I saw.”
“You saw her on the floor.”
“I saw the club strike Maria.”
“It was an accident.”
“You swung it.”
“Hazel was out of control.”
“She is seven.”
“She broke Olivia’s cup to punish me!”
Jonathan’s eyes moved to the fragments.
Hazel shook her head desperately.
“She pulled it from me.”
Celeste’s mouth tightened.
Jonathan removed his smartphone.
He called emergency services.
Celeste stepped backward.
“You’re calling the police?”
“I’m calling an ambulance for Maria.”
“And what will you tell them?”
“The truth.”
For the first time, Celeste looked afraid.
Then she glanced toward the dark security camera.
May you like
A faint smile appeared.
“You don’t know the truth yet.”
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