Chapter 21
Damon dragged me across the patio by my wrist.
I was eight months pregnant.
Barefoot.
Shaking.
The cashmere blanket I had wrapped around my shoulders slipped loose as he yanked me toward the cedar dog kennel near the garden wall.
“Damon, stop,” I gasped. “You’re hurting me.”
He did not stop.
Behind him, Lacey stood in the open patio doorway wearing my silk robe.
My robe.
Her red nails curled around a wineglass.
Her smile was slow and bright and cruel.
Damon shoved open the kennel door.
Then he pushed me inside.
I fell hard onto one knee.
Pain shot through my leg.
Both of my arms flew around my belly.
My baby moved under my palms, and that tiny movement was the only thing that kept me from breaking.
Damon threw the blanket after me.
“Tonight,” he said coldly, “you sleep where disloyal wives belong.”
I looked up at him through the cedar bars.
“Disloyal?”
My voice shook.
“You brought another woman into my bedroom.”
Lacey laughed softly.
Damon turned to her with that proud, stupid smile he wore whenever she was watching.
Then headlights swept across the patio.
Damon froze.
Lacey’s smile faded.
A black SUV stopped near the side gate.
The driver’s door opened.
My father stepped out.
He had been gone for six weeks on a business trip through Europe.
He was not supposed to be home.
His travel bag fell from his hand the moment he saw me inside the kennel.
His eyes moved from my swollen belly to my scraped knee.
Then to Lacey in my robe.
Then to Damon.
“Dad,” I whispered.
My voice cracked.
“He gave her my bedroom.”
Lacey lifted her glass like this was funny.
“Relax, Richard. The dogs never complained.”
My father crossed the patio.
Not fast.
Not loud.
Worse.
Calm.
Damon lifted a hand.
“Richard, she’s being dramatic.”
My father slapped him so hard the sound cracked through the night.
Damon’s head snapped sideways.
He stumbled backward into the kennel door.
The latch burst open.
I crawled out just as he hit the patio.
My father caught me with one arm.
Then he grabbed Damon by the collar and dragged him toward the kennel.
Damon shouted.
Lacey screamed.
My father threw him inside and locked the door.
May you like
Then he leaned close to the cedar bars.
“From now on,” he said, “this will be your home.”
