INT. STUART-CLAUDIO RESIDENCE – MORNING – MONTREAL, QUEBEC

The soft morning light filters through tall windows, casting golden warmth on the kitchen tile. The smell of toast, eggs, and fresh coffee floats in the air. The house buzzes gently with the hum of a school-day morning. Backpacks are zipped, lunchboxes clatter, and coats shuffle. PRESTON STUART, mid-40s, composed but alert, sips from a coffee mug near the kitchen island. MARIE VAN CLAUDIO, late 30s, sharp-featured, elegant but visibly tense, is adjusting their youngest daughter’s dress at the front door.

PRESTON
(quietly, measured)
Marie. You’re still upset about Amy.

MARIE
(not looking at him)
Upset? Preston, I’m past upset. I’m at the end of my leash. She’s evasive. Like a duck — smooth on the surface, paddling like hell underneath — and just as slippery. Duck and run, that’s Amy Harrison. She knows more than she lets on, I’m sure of it.

PRESTON
(sighs, watching the kids put on their boots)
You can’t force this. If you go at her too hard, she’ll shut down. Or worse. She’ll bolt.

MARIE
(whips around slightly, her voice low but heated)
You think I don’t know that? But she doesn’t talk, Preston. You have to squeeze the truth out of her. Sometimes I think the only way to get it is to beat it out of her.

PRESTON
(puts down his coffee sharply, his tone firm)
Marie. No. If you lose your patience — really lose it — it’s not going to be pretty. And you know that. Think about what that looks like. To everyone. To our daughters.

A beat. Their youngest daughter, AMEILIA, 5, tiny and bright-eyed, runs up to Marie and throws her arms around her waist, hugging her tight.

AMELIA
Bye Mama! I love you!

MARIE
(softens instantly, wrapping her arms around AMELIA)
I love you too, sweetheart. So much.

Lucie pulls back and beams before running off to join her older sister at the door. Marie watches them with a tight, unreadable expression.

MARIE
(softly, to Preston, as the kids head out)
I agree with you. You’re right. But I can’t promise I can wait much longer.

Preston watches her carefully, jaw tightening slightly. The front door closes with a soft click. The house falls momentarily quiet.

PRESTON
(with quiet disappointment)
That’s exactly what I was afraid of.

They stand there in the stillness, the tension between them palpable, hanging like thick smoke in the air.