Chapter 2 - Behind the Marble DoorBrandon grabbed my shoulder from behind, trying to spin me around.

I stopped, turning just enough for him to see the look in my eyes.

“Touch me again,” I said in a whisper, “and tonight becomes much worse for you.”

He froze, his fingers sliding off my jacket as if he had touched hot iron.

I strode through the luxury kitchen, unlocked the rear glass doors, and stepped out into the pouring rain. The backyard stretched into a dark lawn bordered by trimmed hedges. At the far corner stood a brick storage shed. A heavy, brand-new steel padlock hung from the door latch.

Right beside the threshold lay a cracked smartphone with its screen lit up in the mud—Emily’s phone.

My hands stopped shaking. The cold anger inside me turned into pure, crystalline focus.

I pulled out my phone, took a clear photograph of the locked door, the cracked phone in the mud, and the muddy footprints leading from the house.

Then I dialed three numbers: 911, my personal attorney, and Arthur Vance—the chief of security for my umbrella corporation, Vance Property Group.

Brandon came running out into the downpour, his designer hair ruined by the rain.

“What the hell are you doing?!” he shouted over the wind.

I looked at him over my shoulder. “Documenting the end of your life as you know it.”

I didn't wait for him to respond. I raised my boot and slammed it into the lock mechanism with everything I had. The frame splintered. The second kick sheared the metal screws right out of the wood.

The door swung open.

Inside, sitting on the cold concrete floor among dusty lawn tools, was my daughter.

Her dress was torn at the shoulder, her blonde hair matted with blood, and her left eye was swollen shut beneath a deep purple welt. She was barely conscious, shivering violently against the damp air.

“Dad...?” she rasped, her voice a fragile, broken thread.

I dropped to my knees, wrapping her frail body in my dry canvas coat. Tears mixed with the rain on my face, but my voice remained steady.

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“I’m here, sweetie,” I whispered, lifting her up gently. “I’ve got you.”

Behind me, Brandon stood in the doorway, his face suddenly drained of all color as he realized what he had done—and who was watching.