Chapter 2

Dessie POV

The morning sun struck the diamond necklace on my vanity, forcing it to sparkle with a cruelty that felt entirely personal. It was the first gift Craig had ever given me. He had stolen it from a rival shipment. He called it a spoil of war; I had foolishly called it a promise.

I grabbed a black trash bag from under the sink.

I didn't cry. The well was dry. The shock from last night had hardened into a cold, dense stone in the pit of my stomach.

I swept the necklace into the bag. Then the earrings. Then the bracelets. Every shiny, expensive shackle he had clamped onto me went into the plastic abyss. The noise was satisfying. It sounded like bones breaking.

I moved to the closet. The silk dresses he liked. The lingerie he bought. The furs he draped over my shoulders to show his wealth to his associates. I stripped the hangers bare.

My room looked less like a bedroom and more like the crime scene of a marriage. The shelves were empty. The vanity was bare. It felt sterile. It felt like I could finally breathe, even if the air was thin and sharp.

"What are you doing?"

Craig stood in the doorway. He was still wearing his tuxedo shirt from last night, unbuttoned, sleeves rolled up. He reeked of stale whiskey and her perfume-sweet, cloying, and cheap.

He looked at the bags. He looked at the empty closet. His brow furrowed, not in worry, but in the irritation of a man inconvenienced.

"Spring cleaning," I said. My voice was flat.

He strode into the room, displacing the air. The pressure changed immediately. He took up so much space; he always did. He reached out to touch my arm.

I stepped back. My body reacted before my brain could intervene-a visceral, violent recoil.

His hand froze in mid-air. His eyes narrowed. "What is wrong with you? You were weird last night. You're weird this morning."

"I'm fine," I said.

"You don't look fine. You look like a ghost." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He tossed it onto the bare vanity like he was discarding a wrapper. "Here."

It was a check. The amount was staggering. It was enough to buy a house. Or a silence.

"Go shopping," he said. "Buy something nice. You deserve it. You've been... patient lately."

Patient. That was his code for blind. That was his code for obedient.

I looked at the check. It wasn't a gift. It was hush money. It was him purchasing forgiveness for a sin he hadn't even bothered to confess.

"Thank you," I said. The words tasted like ash on my tongue.

"I have to go," he said, checking his watch-the Patek Philippe. "Business. The Senator wants to discuss the new zoning laws."

"Of course," I said. "The Senator."

He didn't catch the sarcasm. Or maybe he simply didn't care. He leaned in to kiss me. I turned my head at the last second. His lips brushed my cheek, damp and cold.

"I'll be late tonight," he said.

"You usually are."

He left. He didn't look back. He didn't notice that I hadn't unpacked a single thing. He didn't notice that his wife was effectively packing up her entire existence.

I went to the window. I watched him walk down the driveway. A black SUV was waiting. The window rolled down.

She was there. The girl in the red dress. She wasn't wearing red today. She was wearing one of his dress shirts, the fabric swallowing her small frame. She laughed and said something to him. He smiled. A real smile-the kind he used to give me before the power consumed him alive.

He got in. The car drove away.

The dizziness hit me like a physical blow, a sudden tilt of the earth. The room spun. I grabbed the edge of the window sill to keep from collapsing.

My stomach lurched. I ran to the bathroom and emptied my empty stomach into the toilet.

I sat on the cold tile floor, shivering. This wasn't just stress. I knew the rhythm of my own body, and I realized with a jolt that the rhythm had been silent for too long.

I drove myself to the clinic. I didn't use the family driver. I took my old sedan, the one Craig hated because it wasn't bulletproof.

The doctor was an old man who knew better than to ask questions. He ran the tests. He came back with a clipboard and a grim expression.

"You're eight weeks along, Mrs. Snyder."

The world stopped turning. The silence in the room was deafening.

"Does Mr. Snyder know?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No."

He wouldn't know. He hadn't touched me in three months. The math worked out perfectly to the last time he was drunk and sentimental, the night after he killed the Irish mob boss.

A baby.

I put my hand on my flat stomach. A life. A tiny, innocent spark growing inside a war zone.

This changed everything. Before, I was just leaving a husband. Now, I was escaping a father.

If Craig knew, he would never let me go. An heir was the ultimate accessory for a King. He would lock me in the tower and throw away the key. He would raise this child to be just like him: cruel, ruthless, hollow.

I couldn't let that happen.

I drove home. The city passed by in a blur of gray and concrete. I felt alone. Truly, terrifyingly alone.

I walked into the living room. The fireplace was cold. I lit a match.

I threw the check into the flames. I watched the paper curl, blacken, and dissolve. Then I grabbed the trash bag.

I threw the necklace in. The earrings. The silk.

The fire roared, hungry. It consumed the symbols of his love. It consumed the lies.

I stood there, watching the flames dance. My hand went back to my stomach.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to the spark of life inside me. "But we have to run."

I wasn't just a wife anymore. I was a mother. And a mother would burn the whole world down to save her child.