The house feels different today.

The air is heavier, quieter, like someone pulled a thick curtain over everything. Even the maids walk on their toes, their eyes darting toward the stairs every few seconds as if they expect someone to appear and shout at them. I know who they’re afraid of. I am too, if I’m being honest.

Santino has been strange since last night.

Stranger than usual.

At first, I thought it was one of his moods again, the kind that comes and goes like a passing cloud.

But ...