Chapter 1 - FOURTEEN HOURS
The filthy cleaning rag struck Chloe Whitmore across the mouth before she had finished her first cup of coffee as a married woman.
She caught it against her turquoise satin dress and stared at Derek.
Fourteen hours earlier, he had stood beneath white roses at a country club in Greenwich, Connecticut, promising to honor her in front of 126 people.
Now he stood at the bottom of his mother’s marble staircase in yesterday’s blue suit, collar open, looking irritated because Chloe had not started cleaning the breakfast mess.
Brenda hovered three steps behind her.
Smiling.
“You’re not my wife—you’re the maid now,” Derek said. “Earn your keep.”
For one stunned second, Chloe thought it had to be a joke.
Then Brenda pointed toward the dining room.
“There are champagne glasses everywhere. And those floors won’t polish themselves.”
Chloe looked at the woman she had called Mom during the wedding toast.
Then at Derek.
“Are you serious?”
He shrugged.
“You wanted to be part of this family.”
Something inside Chloe became extraordinarily quiet.
“All right,” she said.
Brenda’s smile widened.
“I understand.”
Chloe turned and walked upstairs.
She did not cry.
She packed.
Passport.
Laptop.
Three dresses.
Running shoes.
The toiletries still zipped inside her honeymoon bag.
The certified marriage certificate Derek had insisted they pick up first thing Monday.
And the cashier’s check for forty-five thousand dollars Chloe had obtained Friday from the proceeds of selling her Stamford condo.
That money had been intended for the down payment on the home she and Derek supposedly planned to buy together.
Her suitcase wheels clicked across the landing twenty minutes later.
Derek looked up from below.
“Where are you going?”
“Out.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
He ran toward her.
Chloe gripped the suitcase handle.
Derek reached the top steps and grabbed for her backpack.
She turned.
Her gold heel struck directly across his face.
His head snapped backward and he caught the railing.
Brenda screamed.
Derek recovered almost instantly.
“You crazy—”
He lunged again.
Brenda pointed at Chloe’s bag.
“Drag her back upstairs before she takes what belongs to this family!”
Chloe tore the backpack strap from Derek’s fist.
“Fourteen hours married, and you thought I’d stay for this?”
She shoved him backward.
Derek looked at the open backpack.
The marriage certificate appeared first.
Then her passport.
Then the green edge of the cashier’s check.
His rage vanished.
“Chloe.”
He came up one step.
“Give me that.”
Brenda’s expression changed too.
That frightened Chloe more than the shouting.
She drew the bag against her chest.
“Touch me again, Derek, and this certificate goes straight to my lawyer.”
Derek lunged.
Brenda reached over Chloe’s shoulder.
Chloe jerked the bag away and ran down the opposite side of the staircase.
At the front door, she heard Derek shout something she would remember for months.
“Monday morning is forty-eight hours away!”
Chloe stopped.
Monday?
She had never mentioned any Monday deadline.
She turned.
Derek realized his mistake.
Brenda whispered his name.
Chloe walked outside.
By the time her rideshare reached the end of the driveway, Derek had called six times.
The seventh contact was a text.
PLEASE DON’T DEPOSIT THAT CHECK YET.
Chloe stared at it.
May you like
She had never told him she planned to deposit it anywhere.
And suddenly the forty-five thousand dollars she thought belonged only to her future seemed to be part of a plan everyone in that mansion understood except her.
