“Daddy, don’t drink it!”

My daughter’s scream stopped the teacup an inch from my mouth.

I turned.

Lily was already running toward me across the dining room, her pale pink dress swaying around her knees, terror written across her six-year-old face.

Then Nora caught her.

My partner wrapped both arms around Lily and dragged her backward.

“Stop right now!”

Lily kicked and twisted.

“Nora!”

Before I could get out of my chair, Lily threw her entire weight forward.

Fabric ripped.

The shoulder of her dress tore open.

She broke free.

Instead of running to me, she charged at the table.

Both hands hit its polished edge.

She shoved.

Hard.

Everything jumped.

My teacup slipped from my fingers.

CRASH.

Porcelain shattered across the marble floor.

Tea spread beneath my chair.

Then it hissed.

White foam bubbled around the broken pieces.

I shot to my feet.

“What the hell…?”

Lily stood beside me, sobbing, one shoulder exposed where her dress had torn.

She pointed at Nora.

“She made it for you!”

Nora’s face emptied of color.

I looked at the foam.

At Lily.

At Nora.

Something primitive took over.

I crossed the room and slapped Nora once across the cheek.

She stumbled into a chair.

I immediately stepped between her and my daughter.

“You tried to poison me in front of my daughter?”

Nora slowly turned her face toward me.

She wasn’t angry.

She was terrified.

And that frightened me more.

Because Nora didn’t deny it.

Instead, she whispered:

“Daniel, get Lily out of this house.”

“What?”

“Now.”

“Why?”

Her eyes moved toward the broken cup.

“That wasn’t supposed to happen yet.”

My blood went cold.

“Yet?”

Lily grabbed the back of my shirt.

Then Nora said something that changed the question completely.

“I didn’t put anything in your tea.”

I stared at her.

“Then who did?”

Nora looked toward the dining table.

More specifically, toward the empty chair directly across from mine.

“Ask Lily why she was already waiting for you in this room.”

I turned toward my daughter.

Lily’s crying stopped.

And in her tiny clenched fist, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before.

A small silver key.