Chapter 1 - The Sound From the TrunkSerena heard the muffled cry before she understood what she was seeing.
She had stepped through the front doors of the mansion expecting to find Nathan waiting in the driveway. Instead, she saw the black SUV parked crookedly beside the stone steps, its rear hatch raised beneath the bright afternoon sun.
Nathan stood behind it.
And inside the trunk, curled against the carpeted cargo floor, was Hailey.
For one impossible second Serena stopped breathing.
Her eight-year-old daughter’s cheeks were streaked with tears. Her eyes were enormous with terror. Hailey twisted desperately, trying to push herself upright, but Nathan’s body blocked most of Serena’s view.
“Mom!”
The word came out muffled and broken.
Serena ran.
“Where are you taking Hailey?!” she screamed. “Give me my daughter back!”
Nathan looked over his shoulder.
There was no panic on his face.
That frightened Serena more than anything.
He simply reached up and pulled the hatch down.
“Hailey!”
The trunk slammed shut.
BANG.
The sound cracked across the driveway.
Serena reached the SUV seconds later, but Nathan stepped between her and the rear hatch.
“What are you doing?”
His voice was almost bored.
Serena stared at him.
“My daughter is in there.”
Nathan’s mouth lifted into a faint, contemptuous smile.
“I don’t know where Hailey is.”
Serena thought she had misheard him.
Then the back of the SUV shook.
THUMP.
THUMP.
Nathan’s smile did not move.
Serena’s blood turned cold.
She looked at the trunk.
“Hailey?”
Another desperate thump answered her.
Serena lunged toward the hatch.
Nathan moved faster.
He blocked her with his entire body.
“Move.”
“No.”
“Get out of my way!”
She tried to step around him.
Nathan struck her.
The slap came so quickly that Serena saw only his shoulder move before pain exploded across the left side of her face.
She lost her footing.
Her knees hit the driveway first.
Then one hand.
The world tilted.
For a moment Serena heard nothing except a high ringing inside her skull.
She tasted blood.
When she touched the corner of her mouth, her fingers came away red.
But she did not look at Nathan.
She looked at the SUV.
THUMP.
Weak now.
Her daughter was still fighting.
Nathan stood over her.
“You’re such an annoying woman.”
The words were delivered without anger.
That was the terrifying part.
For three years Serena had watched Nathan become impatient, dismissive, distant. She had listened to him complain that Hailey was spoiled, clingy, manipulative.
But she had never seen this man before.
Or perhaps she had.
Perhaps she had simply refused to see him.
Nathan turned away.
He walked toward the driver’s door.
Serena forced herself onto one knee.
“Nathan.”
He ignored her.
“If you drive away with her—”
Nathan opened the driver’s door.
“You’ll what?”
Serena stared at him.
Her hands were trembling.
Her lip hurt.
Her heart felt as though it were beating against broken glass.
But something inside her changed.
Fear burned away.
“You will never touch my daughter again.”
Nathan gave a short laugh.
Then a siren sounded beyond the mansion gates.
At first it was distant.
One rising note.
Then louder.
Nathan froze.
His hand remained on the driver’s door.
The confidence vanished from his face so quickly Serena almost did not recognize him.
His eyes shifted toward the gate.
The siren grew closer.
Nathan slowly closed the driver’s door without getting inside.
From the trunk came another weak thump.
Serena pushed herself to her feet.
Nathan looked at her.
For the first time that afternoon, he looked afraid.
“Did you call them?”
Serena wiped blood from her mouth.
“No.”
The gates remained closed.
Blue light briefly flashed against the tops of the trees beyond the stone wall.
Nathan took one step backward.
Then another.
“What did you do?” Serena whispered.
Nathan’s eyes moved from her to the SUV.
The siren stopped.
A car door slammed outside the gate.
A voice shouted.
“Police!”
Serena started toward the trunk.
Nathan grabbed her wrist.
She ripped herself free.
“Don’t touch me.”
The mansion’s security intercom buzzed.
Nathan glanced toward the house.
For one second Serena thought he might run.
Instead, he stood perfectly still.
Calculating.
That was what Nathan always did.
He calculated.
Money.
People.
Weakness.
Consequences.
He was calculating now.
Serena could see it happening behind his eyes.
The gate began to open.
Two uniformed officers appeared as soon as the driveway came into view.
One raised a hand.
“Sir! Step away from the vehicle.”
Nathan did not move.
“Sir, step away from the SUV now.”
Serena pointed toward the back.
“My daughter is inside the trunk!”
The officers moved instantly.
Nathan lifted both hands.
“This is a misunderstanding.”
Serena stared at him.
A misunderstanding.
Hailey had been crying inside a closed trunk.
Nathan had struck Serena to stop her reaching her child.
And he was still lying.
One officer kept Nathan away from the SUV while the other rushed to the rear hatch.
“Is she injured?”
“I don’t know,” Serena said. “Please open it.”
The officer reached for the release.
Nathan suddenly spoke.
“She climbed in there herself.”
Serena turned.
Nathan’s face had changed again.
The frightened husband was gone.
The calm businessman had returned.
“She was throwing a tantrum,” he continued. “Serena came outside screaming. She slipped. Nobody hit anyone.”
Serena touched the blood at her mouth.
The officer beside Nathan noticed.
His expression hardened.
The trunk latch clicked.
Serena heard Hailey crying inside.
She moved forward.
And Nathan said something so quietly only Serena seemed to hear it.
“You have no idea what she saw.”
Serena stopped.
The hatch began to rise.
Hailey’s terrified face appeared beneath it.
But Serena was looking at Nathan.
“What did she see?”
Nathan said nothing.
Hailey reached toward her mother.
“Mom!”
Serena ran to her.
Nathan watched them.
May you like
And for the first time Serena understood that whatever had happened in the driveway was not the beginning of Nathan’s plan.
It was the moment something much older had finally gone wrong.
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