Chapter 1 - The Breach of Sanctuary
I watched the screen of my phone with a cold,
shivering detachment,
as the steel drill bit began to bite into the reinforced wood of my front door.
The sound was a high-pitched scream,
echoing through the empty hallway of my penthouse,
vibrating in my very teeth.
There stood Harrison Voss,
the man I had once promised to love until death,
looking like a common thief in a five-thousand-dollar suit.
Beside him,
Patricia was draped in her cream-colored cashmere,
her face twisted into a mask of righteous indignation,
as if she were the one being wronged.
"Hurry up,"
she hissed to the locksmith,
her voice dripping with a venom I knew all too well.
"She is unstable,
and she has family property inside that doesn't belong to her."
I felt a surge of adrenaline,
not of fear,
but of a strange,
electrifying clarity.
I didn't cower in the bedroom,
nor did I hide under the covers.
Instead,
I walked toward the door,
my silk robe flowing behind me like a battle cape.
I tapped the intercom button,
my voice calm,
steady,
and dangerously quiet.
"Harrison,"
I said,
and I watched him jump on the monitor.
"If that drill makes one more rotation,
the silent alarm I tripped thirty seconds ago will result in the Minneapolis police arriving with their guns drawn."
He froze,
his hand resting on the doorframe,
his eyes searching for the camera lens.
"Claire,
open this door right now,"
he demanded,
trying to regain his composure.
"My mother needs her belongings,
and you are acting like a child."
"Your mother has nothing in this house,"
I replied,
watching the locksmith pull back,
looking nervous.
"Except for a mountain of debt she just realized she can't pay."
"You embarrassed her,
Claire!"
he shouted,
his face turning a mottled red.
"Fifty thousand dollars at a charity auction,
and you cut her off like she’s a stranger!"
"She is a stranger,"
I corrected,
feeling a weight lift from my chest.
"She is the mother of a man I am no longer married to."
"And this penthouse was part of my pre-marital assets,
which the judge upheld yesterday."
"So,
technically,
you are breaking into a private residence."
Patricia stepped forward,
pushing Harrison aside to glare into the camera.
"You think you’re so clever,
don't you,
you little gold-digger?"
"We made you,
Claire."
"Without the Voss name,
you are nothing but a secretary with a fancy view."
I laughed,
a genuine sound that seemed to infuriate them even more.
"The Voss name is currently being dragged through the mud because you couldn't pay for a necklace,"
I reminded her.
"And if you don't leave in ten seconds,
I will release the security footage to every gossip blog in the city."
The locksmith,
sensing the shift in the wind,
began to pack his tools.
"Hey,
man,
you said this was a welfare check on a relative,"
the worker grumbled to Harrison.
"I’m not getting arrested for a domestic dispute."
"Don't you dare walk away!"
Patricia shrieked.
But it was too late.
The distant wail of a siren began to grow louder,
climbing the hills of the city toward my building.
Harrison’s eyes went wide with panic.
He knew he couldn't afford a scandal,
not now,
not when the Voss Global stocks were already shaking.
"This isn't over,
Claire,"
he hissed at the door.
"You have something that belongs to the company,
and I will get it back."
He grabbed his mother’s arm and pulled her toward the elevators just as the blue and red lights began to flash against the lobby windows below.
I leaned against the wall,
my heart thumping,
realizing that he hadn't just come for a credit card.
He had mentioned "family property" and "company assets."
May you like
But I had nothing of theirs.
Or so I thought.
