At three in the morning, Audra dragged her feet toward the massive wrought-iron gates of the Hopper estate. She was missing a shoe. Her bare foot was cut and bleeding. Her trench coat was caked in mud, and her hair hung in wet, tangled clumps around her pale face.
The security guard in the booth saw her miserable state. He immediately grabbed his radio to report in, pressing the button to swing the heavy gates open. He escorted her quickly toward the main house.
The grand foyer was blazing with light. Anderson sat in the center of the room on a tufted leather sofa. A thick cigar burned between his fingers. His face was a mask of dark, brewing violence.
Hearing her heavy, dragging footsteps, Anderson snapped his head up. His eyes instantly zeroed in on the dark, purple bruises forming in the shape of a handprint on her pale neck, and her torn, disheveled clothing.
He threw the cigar onto the marble floor and closed the distance between them in three long strides. His hands clamped down on her frail shoulders like vices.
"Where the hell did you go? Who put these marks on your neck?" he demanded, his voice sharp with panic and the furious jealousy of a man who thought his property had been touched.
Audra didn't flinch. She slowly raised her hands and pushed his arms away. Her eyes were as empty as a dried-up well. "I went to see if a dead man was still breathing."
Anderson's face hardened. A flicker of guilt and anxiety crossed his eyes before he masked it with rage. "You... you saw Eben Gill."
He spun around, grabbed a heavy crystal ashtray off the coffee table, and hurled it violently at the wall. The crystal shattered into a thousand glittering pieces, raining down on the floor.
"Go find out!" Anderson roared over his shoulder to a trembling assistant by the door. "I want to know exactly whose mysterious funds are aggressively shorting my company on Wall Street! What? Preliminary reports are pointing to that new tech billionaire, Eben Gill? !" He turned back to Audra, his chest heaving.
Hearing this, a tiny, almost imperceptible ripple crossed Audra's dead eyes. Eben's revenge was already moving with terrifying speed.
"He doesn't just have his face. He is Kendall," Audra said. She stared directly into Anderson's bloodshot eyes, her voice flat and absolute.
Anderson froze for a second. Then, a cruel, mocking laugh erupted from his chest. He reached out and pinched her dirty, tear-stained cheek.
"Even if he is, so what? Do you really think he wants a woman who lied to him and crawled into my bed?" he sneered, twisting the knife into her deepest wound.
The words hit their mark. Audra's body trembled slightly, the rims of her eyes turning a raw, painful red.
Anderson stepped closer. His voice dropped to a soft, lethal whisper. "You are mine. You are going to die in this house."
Something inside Audra snapped. A sudden, violent burst of energy flooded her exhausted muscles. She shoved both her hands hard against Anderson's chest.
"I am done!" she screamed, her voice echoing hysterically off the high ceilings. "I am leaving this place! I cannot look at your disgusting, hypocritical face for one more second!"
Anderson stumbled back a step. His eyes darkened, turning incredibly dangerous. He looked like a predator that had just been challenged by its prey.
He lunged forward. He threw his arms around her waist, hoisted her over his shoulder like a sack of flour, and ignored her frantic kicking and punching. He marched over to the sofa and threw her down hard against the leather cushions.
His massive body pinned her down. His hands locked around her wrists, pressing them deeply into the upholstery.
"Leave?" he laughed, a dark, ugly sound. "You signed the NDA. I hold the evidence of your father's crimes in my safe. Where exactly do you think you can go?" He laid out his trump cards, expecting her to cower.
Audra stopped fighting. The fight drained out of her completely. Hot tears slid from the corners of her eyes, disappearing into her hairline. "Is threatening me the only thing you know how to do?"
Anderson stared at the tears tracking down her pale skin. A sudden, inexplicable irritation tightened his chest. Without realizing it, his grip on her wrists loosened slightly.
"Just stay here and be good," he tried to coax her, his tone shifting to a sick kind of reasoning. "I will handle Eben Gill. We can go back to the way things were..."
"The way things were?" Audra interrupted, a cold, bitter smile forming on her lips. "You mean watching you destroy my entire life with your lies?"
She took a deep breath. She turned her head, fixing her dead, empty gaze on the intricate molding of the ceiling.
"Anderson, let me go. Or kill me right now." Her voice held absolutely no desire to live.
Anderson looked at her lifeless face as if he had been struck by lightning. His hands slowly released her wrists, falling limply to his sides.
He stood up. He turned his back to her, his broad shoulders tense. His voice was hoarse as he barked an order to the guards standing by the door.
"Lock her in her room. No one goes in without my explicit permission." He then turned his lethal glare to the head of security. "Weld every single ventilation grate in this house shut. Install three-tier biometric locks and laser grids on every exterior door. If she manages to slip out again, I will personally see to it that you all end up at the bottom of the river."
