Chapter 1 - ABOUT WHAT YOU DRINK
Evelyn Ashcroft knew something was wrong before the teacup hit the saucer.
Her hand had started trembling first.
Then came the heat beneath her skin.
Then the strange heaviness in her throat.
Across the sitting room, Aunt Celeste watched her with a softness that did not belong in her face.
The room was beautiful.
That made everything worse.
Persian rug.
Cream walls.
Mahogany tea cart.
Afternoon light spilling through tall windows.
A porcelain tea service her grandmother had bought in Vienna before Evelyn was born.
Nothing in the room looked dangerous.
Celeste smiled.
“Are you all right?”
Evelyn tried to answer.
Her throat tightened.
She set her cup down too hard.
Tea sloshed over the rim.
“Celeste…”
Her aunt took another slow sip from her own cup.
“What?”
Evelyn stood.
The room tilted.
She caught the edge of the tea cart.
Her knees failed.
She hit the rug.
Pain ran through one shoulder.
Air would not come properly.
“Help…”
Celeste did not move.
Evelyn looked up.
“HELP…!”
Celeste crossed one ankle over the other.
Still holding the teacup.
Still smiling.
Then she stood.
Her cream heels crossed the Persian rug.
Evelyn reached toward her.
Celeste planted one shoe against Evelyn’s shoulder and shoved her backward.
“Die quietly.”
Evelyn hit the floor.
Her breath came in broken pieces.
“Why…”
Celeste laughed.
Not loudly.
Almost affectionately.
“Because you made everything so difficult.”
Evelyn crawled toward the side table.
Her phone lay there.
Three feet.
Maybe four.
Her fingers reached.
Celeste walked past her and kicked it away.
The phone slid beneath a chair.
“No one’s coming.”
Evelyn stared up.
Celeste raised her cup.
“By sunrise, your fortune is mine.”
The sentence struck through the panic.
Not someday.
Not after probate.
By sunrise.
Celeste believed something would happen automatically.
That meant paperwork.
Structure.
Something Evelyn did not know about.
Her lungs tightened again.
Celeste’s face sharpened.
“JUST DIE!”
She pressed her shoe harder against Evelyn’s side.
Evelyn clawed at the rug.
Then she stopped.
Completely.
Her body went still.
Celeste’s smile widened.
“Finally.”
Evelyn let her head drop.
Then slowly moved one hand beneath the tea cart.
Her fingers found what she had hidden there earlier.
A tiny empty glass vial.
She pulled it out.
Celeste frowned.
“What is that?”
Evelyn lifted it weakly.
Then reached for Celeste’s hand.
Celeste let her.
Confident now.
Amused.
Evelyn placed the empty vial directly into her palm.
Celeste looked down.
The color in her face changed.
“What…”
Evelyn’s eyes moved toward Celeste’s half-empty teacup.
Celeste followed her gaze.
Her smug smile disappeared.
“What did you do?!”
Evelyn gave her the smallest smile she could manage.
Celeste violently threw the cup away.
It shattered against the fireplace.
“WHAT DID YOU PUT IN MY DRINK?!”
Evelyn looked straight into her terrified eyes.
“You should be more careful…”
Celeste backed away.
Evelyn glanced at the broken porcelain.
May you like
Then finished:
“…about what you drink.”
