Chapter 1 - THE KENNEL
Eight months pregnant, barefoot, and locked inside a dog kennel, Raina Mercer realized her husband had finally stopped pretending to be human.
“Damon,” she said through clenched teeth. “Open the door.”
Damon Cole stood outside the steel enclosure with one hand resting on the latch.
“No.”
Raina stared at him.
Behind her, the kennel smelled like wet concrete and old dog shampoo. The afternoon heat pressed down on the patio, making the metal bars hot enough to sting her fingers.
Her baby kicked hard.
Raina sucked in a breath.
“I'm pregnant.”
“I know exactly what you are.”
Damon's voice was flat.
“You've been acting like you're untouchable because of that baby.”
Raina looked at the man she had married three years earlier.
The same man who had once slept on a hospital chair for two nights when she had pneumonia.
The same man who used to kiss her forehead before every business trip.
That man was gone.
Maybe he had never existed.
“What do you want?” she asked.
Damon crouched in front of the kennel.
“I want you to learn something.”
“What?”
“This isn't your father's house.”
Raina almost laughed.
Technically, he was right.
The mansion had been a wedding gift.
But Damon didn't know everything about that gift.
Before she could answer, heels clicked across the stone patio.
Slow.
Confident.
Deliberate.
Raina turned her head.
And froze.
Lacey Vaughn walked outside carrying a glass of white wine.
She was wearing a pale blue silk robe.
Raina's robe.
The one Orson had bought for her in Milan after her mother died.
Raina's eyes narrowed.
“That came from my bedroom.”
Lacey looked down at the robe.
Then smiled.
“Not your bedroom anymore.”
Something inside Raina went cold.
Damon stood and put his arm around Lacey's waist.
Raina watched the gesture.
Not because it surprised her.
She had discovered their affair two weeks earlier.
No.
What shocked her was the ease of it.
The casual ownership.
Lacey wasn't sneaking anymore.
She was settling in.
Raina looked toward the second-floor balcony.
Her curtains were gone.
Her plants were gone.
Even the small wooden rocking chair her mother had used when Raina was a baby was missing.
“What did you do?”
Damon shrugged.
“We moved some things.”
“Where?”
“Storage.”
Lacey took a sip of wine.
“Some of it.”
Raina looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
Lacey smiled again.
“I didn't like everything.”
Raina lunged toward the kennel door.
The metal rattled violently.
“You threw out my mother's things?”
Damon grabbed the door.
“Calm down.”
“Open this door!”
“You're embarrassing yourself.”
“I'm embarrassing myself?”
Raina's voice broke.
“You put your pregnant wife in a dog cage while your mistress wears her clothes!”
Damon leaned close.
“And nobody is coming to save you.”
A deep voice came from behind him.
“That's an interesting theory.”
Damon went completely still.
Lacey lowered her glass.
Raina stopped breathing.
At the edge of the patio stood Orson Mercer.
Gray suit.
Silver hair.
No expression.
Behind him were two men in dark suits.
Orson looked first at his daughter.
Then at the kennel.
Then at Damon's hand holding the door shut.
Then at Lacey.
His eyes settled on the blue robe.
Raina had never seen her father look that calm.
And that frightened her more than anger would have.
Orson walked forward.
Damon cleared his throat.
“Orson. This isn't what—”
“Open it.”
“Sir, Raina was having an episode.”
Orson stopped three feet away.
“Open.”
“The.”
“Door.”
Damon hesitated.
One of the bodyguards stepped forward.
Damon immediately released the latch.
Orson opened the kennel himself.
Raina tried to stand.
Pain shot across her lower back.
Her knees buckled.
“Dad…”
Orson caught her before she hit the ground.
For half a second, the hard businessman disappeared.
He was just her father.
“Easy, sweetheart.”
Raina clutched his jacket.
“They moved my things out.”
Orson looked over her head at Damon.
Damon raised both hands.
“Lacey is staying here now.”
Silence.
Then Orson nodded once.
“Fine.”
Damon blinked.
“Fine?”
“Absolutely.”
Lacey smiled nervously.
Orson pointed toward the mansion gates.
“She can stay wherever you're going.”
Damon's face changed.
“What are you talking about?”
Orson handed Raina to one of the bodyguards.
Then he looked back at the kennel.
His voice became dangerously quiet.
“But first, Damon…”
He placed one hand on the steel door.
“You're going to understand exactly where you put my daughter.”
Damon's face drained.
Then Orson turned to his second bodyguard.
“Call the police.”
Damon stared at him.
“You wouldn't.”
Orson looked him directly in the eyes.
“I already did.”
May you like
And from beyond the gates, sirens began to rise.
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