The steam in the luxury bathroom smelled faintly of lavender and burning skin. Clara pressed her back against the cool marble tile, her small hands shaking as she pulled her pink towel tighter around her shoulders. Across the room, her stepmother, Victoria, stood over the tub wearing a silk robe. In her right hand, Victoria held a heavy clothing iron, its metallic surface hissing with hot steam under the bright daylight pouring through the tall windows.
Victoria: Hold still, you useless child!
Clara: Mommy, please! It hurts so bad! Please stop!
Victoria: Shut your mouth! If you scream one more time, I will press it against your face!
Clara wept hysterically, her small body shivering in the lukewarm water. A deep, angry red burn covered her forearm, skin blistering beneath the heat. Victoria leaned closer, her eyes cold and unyielding, adjusting her grip on the iron's handle as the steam hissed loudly. On the wall above them, a prominent American flag hung framed in gold, completely ignored in the quiet horror of the moment.
Suddenly, the heavy bathroom door slammed open with a sharp clatter. Maria, the family's housemaid, sprinted across the light marble floor, her grey uniform rustling as she threw herself between Victoria and the bathtub.
Maria: Get your hands off her, you monster!
Victoria: How dare you lay a finger on me, servant!
Maria: I don't care who you think you are! You are burning a seven-year-old child!
Maria forcefully shoved Victoria away, sending the woman in the silk robe stumbling back against the glass shower door. Water splashed over the rim of the tub as Maria knelt down, wrapping a clean white towel around Clara's blistering arm. But Victoria only sneered, resting the hot iron on the counter as heavy footsteps thundered down the hallway outside. The nightmare that had plagued this estate for months was about to break wide open.