Chapter 2: The Final Meal
Eleanor slowly pulled her hands away from her face, wiping the flour from her eyes. She knew exactly what Chad thought of her. He thought she was a trophy wife with no spine. He forgot that before she gave up her life for him, she had been a brilliant chemist at a major pharmaceutical firm in Boston. She knew exactly how chemical compounds worked. She knew how they dissolved. And she knew how they tasted.
"I asked you a question, Eleanor," Chad barked, stepping over the spilled flour, his expensive leather loafers leaving deep tracks in the white powder. "Are you going to clean this mess up, or are you just going to lie there like a pathetic dog?"
From the doorway, Chloe let out a tiny, involuntary gasp. Chad snapped his head around, glaring at the younger girl. "Do you have something to say, Chloe? Or do you want to join her on the floor?"
Chloe shook her head rapidly, backing into the shadows. "No, Mr. Vance. Real sorry, sir."
Eleanor knelt on the floor, absorbing the abuse, absorbing the humiliation. But inside her chest, her heart was beating with a strange, dark rhythm of anticipation. She was secretly waiting. She was waiting for the arsenic and tasteless digitalis extract she had meticulously infused into the reduction sauce of that ruined steak over the last two hours to finally take effect.
She had been micro-dosing his morning protein shakes for the past three weeks to weaken his heart, but tonight was the finale. Tonight was the main course.
"I'm sorry, Chad," Eleanor whispered, her voice perfectly mimicking a broken, terrified housewife. She slowly got to her knees, shaking the flour from her clothes. "Let me... let me fix it. I made a backup steak. It’s in the warming drawer. Please, just sit down at the dining table. Let me serve you."
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Chad sneered, adjusting his black shirt. "You're lucky I don't throw you out on the street tonight. Bring it to the table. And it better be perfect."
He turned his back on her, walking confidently into the grand dining room, completely secure in his absolute dominance.
