Chapter 1
“There won’t be any honeymoon here.”
Desmond’s face went pale.
My engagement ring lay beside the dented silver tray between us.
Behind me, Priscilla remained safely in Rafe’s arms, one tiny hand twisted into his jacket while frosting stained the front of her cardigan.
I looked at Desmond.
“You packed her things?”
He straightened slowly.
“Ophelia—”
“Yes or no.”
“Yes.”
The garden went completely silent.
Three minutes earlier, guests had laughed while he humiliated my daughter.
Now no one wanted to breathe too loudly.
“Where were you sending her?”
He glanced toward the service drive.
Wrong direction.
I followed his eyes.
“Rafe.”
One of my guards moved immediately.
Desmond stepped forward.
“It isn’t what you think.”
I looked at him.
“You told a three-year-old she was being replaced.”
His jaw tightened.
“I was angry.”
“You packed her belongings while calm.”
That ended that defense.
Priscilla suddenly spoke from behind me.
“My blue suitcase too.”
I turned.
“What?”
“Blue one. Bunny pajamas.”
My stomach tightened.
She had seen them.
Not one overnight bag.
Everything.
Rafe returned six minutes later with another guard.
His face told me enough.
“Three suitcases at the service gate.”
I closed my eyes briefly.
“Driver?”
“Yes.”
“Destination?”
Rafe hesitated.
Then:
“Rose House.”
I looked at Desmond.
He stopped pretending.
Rose House had been closed for nineteen years.
An old Huxley property in Connecticut.
Children had once been sent there when family elders believed the main household was “unstable.”
Nobody talked about it anymore.
I had been told the place was empty.
Apparently Desmond knew otherwise.
“Who gave you access?”
Silence.
Then his phone vibrated on the cake table.
One message appeared across the screen.
CORDelia HUXLEY:
IS THE GIRL ON HER WAY?
My father’s older sister.
My senior family adviser.
The woman who had hugged Priscilla an hour earlier and called her our little Huxley princess.
I looked at Desmond.
Then at the phone.
May you like
This had never been about a honeymoon.
Someone inside my own family had already decided my daughter would not be coming home with me.
