The guilt weighed heavy on Annabelle’s chest as the neighbour’s words echoed in her mind: “Your mother collapsed... she didn’t ask anyone for help.”

How had she allowed this to happen?

She’d known her mother must have been suffering from Tad’s cruelty.

Especially now that he had no one else to use for his twisted fantasies.

He must have taken out her rebellion on her mother.

But she’d convinced herself that staying away was safer for everyone.

Now, standing in the decaying yard of the house she once called home, Annabelle couldn’t escape the feeling that she had failed her mother.

The air was thick with the scent of damp...