Chapter 2 - The Person Emily Called

For three full seconds after the plate shattered, no one in the kitchen moved.

The broken porcelain lay between Emily and Daniel like the remains of something neither of them could repair.

Daniel’s sister, Vanessa, sat at the breakfast island wearing one of Emily’s silk robes, her manicured fingers wrapped around a glass of orange juice. She had arrived that morning with four suitcases and announced that she would be “staying for a little while.”

No one had asked Emily.

Daniel had simply carried the luggage upstairs.

Now Emily’s wedding ring rested on the marble counter beside the sink.

Daniel stared at it, then at her.

“Put that back on.”

His voice was low, controlled, and full of the authority he apparently believed came with a marriage certificate.

Emily unlocked her phone.

“No.”

Vanessa gave a short laugh.

“Oh, please. You’ve been married for two days, and you’re already threatening divorce because Daniel asked you to make me breakfast?”

Emily looked at her.

“He didn’t ask.”

Daniel stepped forward.

“You’re humiliating yourself.”

Emily’s thumb hovered over a saved contact.

“That’s interesting,” she said. “Because I was about to say the same thing about you.”

She pressed the call button.

Daniel’s expression shifted for the first time.

Not fear.

Not yet.

But concern.

“Who are you calling?”

Emily lifted the phone to her ear.

The call connected after a single ring.

A deep male voice answered.

“Emily?”

“Uncle Robert,” she said. “I need you to come to the house.”