Ten Years Ago.
Celine ran across the yard, her breath coming in ragged gasps, her school uniform still clinging to her skin. Her steps turned numb the moment she reached the threshold of her father's study.
There, her father lay in a pool of blood. Her mother had already collapsed to the floor, weeping hysterically in the arms of the head butler, who was trying in vain to comfort her.
"My husband. Honey. Why would you do this?" the mother shrieked. Her hoarse voice shattered the silence of a house that had suddenly grown cold.
"Dad!" Celine screamed. Her legs felt as though the bones had dissolved. She dragged her limp body toward her father's corpse. When she reached him, her resolve crumbled. She fell to her knees on the floor. With hands shaking violently, she reached for him, but fear and shock paralyzed her movements.
