Chapter 1 - The Ghost of a Secret
The tile was cold.
It was the kind of cold that seeped through your skin and settled in the marrow of your bones.
I lay there, curled into a ball, clutching the area where my breasts used to be.
The bandages were tight.
The pain was a living, breathing thing.
It felt like a thousand jagged needles were dancing across my chest with every heartbeat.
In the toilet, the water was still swirling.
My life-saving medication was gone.
Flushed away by a woman who called herself a servant of God.
Miriam’s footsteps faded down the hallway.
Garrick’s heavy tread followed her.
They were laughing.
Actually laughing.
I heard the clink of silverware in the kitchen.
They were going to have breakfast while I withered away on the bathroom floor.
For three years, I had been the perfect wife.
I had let Garrick isolate me.
I had let him convince me that my family was "toxic" because they had money and power.
He told me that "humility" was the only way to heaven.
And like a fool, I believed him.
I had cut ties with the only person who ever truly fought for me.
My brother.
Julian.
He was the black sheep of the family.
While our father built real estate empires, Julian built a private security firm that operated in the shadows.
He was a man of violence and loyalty.
Garrick hated him.
Garrick feared him.
So, Garrick made me choose.
And I chose the man I thought loved me.
Now, that man had just left me to die in a pool of my own agony.
I reached up to the vanity, my fingers trembling.
I found the loose strip of molding.
My nails chipped as I pried it back.
The small, burner phone fell into my hand.
It was dusty.
It was a relic of a past life.
I pressed the power button.
The screen flickered to life, casting a ghostly blue glow on my pale face.
There was only one number in the contacts.
I pressed call.
The ringing was loud in the silence of the bathroom.
One ring.
Two rings.
"Hello?"
The voice was deeper than I remembered.
It sounded like gravel and expensive scotch.
It sounded like safety.
"Julian," I whispered.
The line went silent on his end.
I could hear his breathing change.
It went from calm to the ragged rhythm of a predator catching a scent.
"Elena?"
"I need you," I said.
The sob I had been holding back finally broke through.
"I’m in Austin. I’ve had surgery. They took my medicine."
"They’re making me mow the lawn, Julian."
"In the sun."
I heard a chair slam against a floor on the other end of the line.
I heard the distinct sound of a slide racking on a handgun.
"Do not hang up this phone," Julian said.
His voice was a low, terrifying growl.
"Give me the address."
I gave it to him.
"How far are you?" I asked.
"I’m in Houston," he said.
"I’m getting in the jet."
"Elena, listen to me."
"I want you to go outside."
"I want you to do exactly what they say."
"Why?" I gasped.
"Because I want the cameras to see it," he said.
"I want the neighbors to see it."
"I want every bit of evidence of what they are doing to you."
"And then," he paused.
"I am going to erase them from the face of the earth."
I closed the eyes and leaned my head against the cold cabinet.
For the first time in three years, I wasn't afraid.
"I’ll be waiting," I said.
I hid the phone back in the molding.
I stood up, gripping the sink until my knuckles turned white.
I looked in the mirror.
I didn't recognize the woman staring back.
She was thin.
She was grey.
But her eyes...
May you like
Her eyes were starting to burn.
***
