“No,” she said. “Your father would be devastated if you stayed somewhere you weren’t safe because you were afraid of disappointing us.”
I started crying then.
Not because my marriage had lasted less than a day.
Because I suddenly understood how lucky I was to have somewhere to go.
By noon, I was sitting in my best friend Tessa’s apartment, wearing borrowed sweatpants and drinking coffee.
By two, I had convinced myself the worst part was over.
I was wrong.
Because Mason Reed could apparently accept losing a wife.
What he could not accept was losing control of one.
PART TWO — THEY CAME FOR THE MONEY
At 4:36 that afternoon, my father called.
His voice was unnaturally calm.
“Mason is here.”
I sat up.
“What?”
“Mason. His mother. His father. And another man I don’t recognize.”
“What do they want?”
Dad looked through the security camera from inside the house.
