Jun 22, 2026
· 2 chapters
CHAPTER 1 — THE RETURN HOME
All the way home, he imagined happiness.
His wife opening the door.
His mother smiling through tears.
A warm family waiting for him.
After months of exhausting business trips, that image kept him going.
Then the front door opened.
And everything shattered.
Water splashed across the marble floor.
His elderly mother flinched.
Not from surprise.
From habit.
Like she had experienced this before.
That hurt him more than anything.
He stood frozen in the doorway.
Suitcase in hand.
Unable to process what he was seeing.
His mother stood soaked and trembling.
His wife stood nearby holding an empty bucket.
The atmosphere was cold.
Hostile.
May you like
Wrong.
For the first time, he realized that something terrible had been happening inside his home while he was away.
