THE room seemed to freeze as the owner of the voice stepped in fully. It was Ermis. His tall figure filled the doorway, and his sharp eyes moved slowly from his niece on her knees, trembling, to his wife with her arm raised high, gripping the fat cane, and then to his daughter standing nearby, her arms folded and her lips twisted into a satisfied sneer.

Ermis’s voice came again, deep and calm, but laced with quiet authority.

“I will ask again… what is going on here?”

The cane ...