Chapter 1 - Crawl or Lose Everything
“Crawl under my dog three times... then you can leave.”
Edwin Stanford stood barefoot on the polished marble floor of his Bel Air mansion, lazily spinning the front door key around one finger.
Thunder rolled outside.
Rain hammered the massive glass doors.
I knelt on the cold marble, my pink-and-blue dress soaked where his dog had shoved me moments earlier.
The enormous Caucasian Shepherd stood between me and the exit, growling low enough to vibrate through my chest.
Behind Edwin, Beverly crossed her arms.
Annika smiled as if she had paid to watch a show.
Neither woman looked away.
My phone buzzed inside my purse.
The hospital.
Dad.
My heart stopped.
Edwin glanced at the screen before I could reach it.
“Oh... your father’s hospice.”
He smirked.
“The doctors say he probably won’t survive the night.”
My hands shook.
“Please.”
I hated that word.
But my father had only hours left.
“I just want to see him.”
Edwin crouched until his face was inches from mine.
“If you crawl under my dog three times like the pathetic little thing you are...”
He dangled the front door key.
“...I’ll let you go.”
Beverly laughed.
“I’ve never seen a daughter-in-law this desperate.”
Annika lifted her wine glass.
“Record this. Nobody will believe it.”
Edwin pointed toward the dog.
“Move.”
The shepherd barked once.
I flinched.
For three years I had accepted every insult.
Every humiliation.
Every cruel dinner.
Every fake apology.
Because I believed loving someone meant surviving them.
Tonight something inside me finally broke.
Not because of Edwin.
Because my father deserved to see his daughter standing.
Not crawling.
I slowly wiped the tears from my face.
Edwin frowned.
“Why did you stop crying?”
I stood.
The dog watched me but did not move.
For the first time since marrying Edwin, I looked directly into his eyes without fear.
He actually stepped backward.
“What are you doing?”
I slipped my phone from my purse.
Edwin laughed.
“Calling the police?”
“No.”
“My lawyer?”
“No.”
“You don’t have anyone left.”
His confidence almost made me smile.
He had spent years making sure I believed that.
He isolated me from friends.
Convinced me my father hated him because he was jealous.
Controlled every account in my name.
He thought he had removed every exit.
He forgot about the one promise my father made before I married.
If you ever discover that your husband fears your strength more than your tears...
Call me.
Dad had given me one private number.
He told me never to use it unless everything was already lost.
I pressed the contact.
The call connected after one ring.
A calm male voice answered.
“I’m ready.”
I took one slow breath.
“I need you to start immediately.”
Silence.
Then only three words.
“We’ve been waiting.”
The line disconnected.
Edwin laughed louder than ever.
“You think one mystery phone call changes anything?”
I slid the phone back into my purse.
“No.”
“It changes everything.”
He tossed the front door key onto the marble.
It landed near my feet.
“Go.”
I picked it up.
Instead of thanking him, I unlocked the door.
Wind exploded into the entrance hall.
Rain whipped across the marble.
I stepped outside.
Edwin folded his arms.
“Who do you think is going to save you from me?”
I turned one last time.
Lightning illuminated the mansion behind him.
My voice stayed perfectly calm.
“The countdown to your destruction just started.”
At that exact moment, Edwin’s phone rang.
He glanced at the screen.
The smile disappeared from his face.
His fingers suddenly began to shake.
The caller ID displayed one name.
ROBERT STANFORD.
Edwin’s father.
May you like
The man buried ten years ago.
📖 Edwin recognized the impossible caller immediately, but the voice on the line would reveal why Claire’s dying father had prepared for this night years in advance. 👇
