Chapter 1: The Plate
The wooden dining table felt cold beneath Miah's fingertips, but not half as cold as the glare coming from across the room.
She held her fork tightly, her small knuckles turning pale as she reached toward her plate, hoping to eat in peace for once.
Before her fork could touch the food, a sharp, manicured hand swept in and pulled the entire plate away, sliding it across the polished wood.
"That food is for family," her stepmother said, her voice smooth, icy, and entirely devoid of warmth.
Miah's chest tightened, a knot of humiliation forming instantly in her throat.
Big, heavy tears welled in her eyes, spilling over her cheeks before she could stop them.
"I thought I was family," she whispered, her voice trembling 😢.
The woman didn't even flinch.
She set the plate down in front of herself, adjusting her silk cuffs without looking up.
"Don't start.
You can eat later," she dismissed, brushing the eight-year-old aside as if she were nothing more than a minor inconvenience 💔.
"What did you just say to my daughter?"
The voice came from the head of the table.
Miah's father stilled, his fork hovering mid-air, his face darkening instantly with disbelief and rising anger.
His wife didn't back down.
She met his gaze with a cold, practiced composure, casually adjusting her posture.
"She needs to understand boundaries," she replied, as though speaking to a child who had misbehaved.
Miah buried her face in her small hands, desperately trying to wipe away the tears streaming down her face.
Without saying a word, her father reached across the table.
His large hand gripped the edge of the plate, lifting it firmly from his wife's place and sliding it straight back across the wooden surface, setting it gently in front of Miah.
His gaze never left his wife's face.
"She is my daughter," he said, his voice dropping an octave, heavy with a lethal quietness.
"She is family."
"And I'm your wife!" she snapped back, her composure slipping into sharp irritation.
"Then start acting like one," he growled 😤.
The tension in the room snapped like a stretched wire.
Miah let out a shaky sob, the fear and months of secret misery finally spilling over.
She looked up at her father, her voice breaking completely.
"Dad...
she does this whenever you're not home," she sobbed, the truth echoing loudly through the quiet dining room 💔.
Her father's face went rigid.
The rage in his eyes shifted instantly into pure, stunned shock.
"Miah, stop lying!" her stepmother shrieked, her voice cracking as panic finally broke through her cold facade 😨.
Miah shrank back, tears blurring her vision as she looked at her father.
Slowly, deliberately, her father turned his head to face his wife.
The air in the room grew thick, suffocatingly heavy.
May you like
His eyes narrowed into a terrifying, icy stare as he repeated the words, leaning forward with dangerous precision.
"Whenever I'm gone?" 🔥
