“Are you ready for your grand reveal, Daniel?”

Chapter 6: The Shattering

I pulled the velvet down in one swift motion.

The heavy fabric pooled on the hardwood with a soft whoosh.

The silence that followed was absolute. The kind of ringing silence that only exists in the immediate aftermath of a detonation.

There they were. Six feet tall, lit by the blazing chandelier.

Their bare shoulders. Their flushed faces. My charcoal-gray headboard. My imported silk pillows. The crooked wedding portrait hanging over them like a grim reaper.