Chapter 1
The morning after my wedding, my husband hit me again and again with a wooden cane because I refused to give him my bank card. His mother stood in the doorway smiling like she had been waiting for this moment.
“Give me the card, Emily,” Jason snapped.
I curled against the side of the bed, trying to protect my arms.
“No.”
He raised the cane again.
His mother, Diane, laughed.
“You married him yesterday, sweetheart. What’s yours belongs to this family now.”
I stared at the woman who had hugged me at the wedding and called me the daughter she never had.
Jason grabbed my purse and dumped everything onto the floor.
“Where is it?”
“You’re not touching my money.”
His face twisted with anger.
That account held everything my father had given me before the wedding.
Jason knew it was a lot.
He just didn’t know where it came from.
Diane stepped closer and said, “Stop pretending you’re special. Your husband owns you now.”
Jason swung the cane against the mattress beside me.
“Last chance.”
My hands were shaking, but I reached for my phone.
Jason laughed.
“Who are you calling? The police?”
Diane smirked.
“Go ahead. Tell them you had a little argument with your husband.”
I pressed one name.
Dad.
He answered before the second ring.
“Emily?”
I tried to speak calmly.
“Dad, I need you.”
His voice changed immediately.
“What happened?”
Jason ripped the phone from my hand.
“Your daughter is being dramatic,” he said. “This is between husband and wife.”
There was silence on the other end.
Then my father asked one question.
“Did you put your hands on my daughter?”
Jason laughed.
“Who the hell do you think you are?”
Diane laughed with him.
Neither of them knew my father had spent twenty years making sure I never learned too much about his world.
They only knew him as a quiet businessman from Chicago.
They didn’t know why powerful men lowered their voices when he walked into a room.
My phone suddenly went silent.
Jason tossed it onto the bed.
“See? Daddy can’t save you.”
Less than a minute later, three black SUVs stopped outside our house.
Diane’s smile disappeared.
Jason looked through the window.
Six men in dark suits stepped onto the driveway.
Then the rear door of the middle SUV opened.
May you like
My father got out.
And when Jason saw the men behind him, the cane slipped from his hand.
