The bodyguard threw the heavy duffel bag into the trunk of the black Cadillac SUV. The canvas hit the metal floorboard with a loud, sickening thud.
Ara slid into the passenger seat. She pulled a slim More cigarette from her purse, lit it, and blew a stream of smoke against the windshield.
"Drive to the Hamptons estate," Ara ordered the driver. "Don't stop."
The SUV sped down Interstate 495 in the dead of night. Inside the trunk, the constant bouncing and swerving jolted a tiny fraction of consciousness back into Amelie's brain.
The air inside the bag was thick and suffocating. Amelie tried to thrash her legs, but the sedative kept her muscles paralyzed. The only sound she could make was a wet, ragged wheeze pushing through her teeth.
Two hours later, the tires crunched over gravel. The SUV pulled through the hidden back gates of the Pierce family's Hamptons estate, stopping far away from the main house, right next to the hunting dog kennels.
The trunk popped open. The bodyguard grabbed the handles of the duffel bag and dragged it out. The heavy canvas scraped violently against the sharp gravel driveway.
Ara stepped out of the car. The cold ocean wind whipped her hair across her face. She pinched her nose, disgusted by the foul, metallic stench of wet fur and raw meat coming from the kennels.
The bodyguard grabbed the zipper of the bag and yanked it open. The freezing night air hit Amelie's face. She gasped, her lungs expanding painfully as she fully woke up to the agony in her broken ribs.
The bodyguard reached in, grabbed her by the collar of her silk nightgown, and threw her onto the freezing mud in front of the cages. The filthy water soaked instantly into her clothes.
Inside the chain-link enclosures, three massive Presa Canario mastiffs began to bark. The sound was deafening. They threw their heavy bodies against the metal gates, making the steel rattle wildly.
Amelie blinked through the dim light of the wall sconce. She saw the dogs. Their eyes were wild, their jaws snapping at the air. Pure, primal terror shot through her nervous system, making her teeth chatter uncontrollably.
Ara walked up and stood over her, a cruel smile stretching across her face.
She pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket and waved it in front of Amelie's face. "Your suicide note," Ara said. "You couldn't live with the shame of your affairs, so you threw yourself into the ocean. Tragic."
Amelie spat a mouthful of bloody saliva onto Ara's designer shoe. "You are a fake," Amelie croaked, her voice raw. "You steal everything because you are nothing."
The words hit a nerve. Ara's face twisted in fury. She reeled back and slapped Amelie across the face so hard it snapped Amelie's head to the side.
"Starting tomorrow, every single design sketch you ever drew belongs to me," Ara hissed, her face inches from Amelie's. "The entire 'Aura' brand will have my name on it."
Amelie closed her eyes. Hot tears mixed with the cold mud on her face. A hatred so deep and violent it felt like a physical weight settled into her chest.
Ara stepped backward, moving safely behind the secondary iron fence. She gave the bodyguard a sharp nod.
The bodyguard walked over to a plastic bucket. He pulled out a massive chunk of raw, bloody meat and threw it directly onto Amelie's chest.
The smell of fresh blood hit the dogs. Their barking turned into a frenzied, high-pitched shrieking.
Amelie dug her fingers into the mud, trying to drag her broken body away, but the sedative made her arms useless.
The bodyguard walked to the control panel on the wall. He grabbed the heavy metal lever and pulled it down.
The metal gates shrieked as they slid open. Three black blurs of muscle and teeth shot out of the cages.
Amelie's eyes widened in absolute horror as the massive jaws filled her vision.
The first dog slammed into her chest, the physical impact crushing the remaining air from her lungs.
Thick, razor-sharp teeth sank deep into the flesh of her arm, tearing through muscle and scraping against the bone. A pain so absolute it felt like a lightning strike exploded in her brain.
Amelie let out a blood-curdling scream, but the sound was instantly drowned out by the vicious snarling and tearing of the pack.
Ara stood safely behind the fence. She pulled out her phone, initiated a secure, untraceable live video call to Hubert, and turned the screen so he could watch the bloody massacre in real-time without leaving a recorded file.
Amelie's vision went completely red. As the physical agony peaked, her consciousness began to rip apart. In her final second of life, a dark, venomous vow locked into her dying brain: If I ever come back, I will make you drown in your own blood.
Her heart stopped. The darkness swallowed her whole, leaving only the sound of the dogs tearing through the night.
