Chapter 1

On my wedding day, my wife's crew of guy friends cornered my little sister in the bridal suite.

I grabbed a chair and tried to smash the door down to save her. My wife wrapped her arm around my throat and threw me to the floor.

"It's our big day, babe. The boys are just having a little fun."

Her father sat on the couch across the room, rolling a pair of walnuts in his palm, watching like it was entertainment.

When the door finally opened, my sister stumbled out — clothes torn, blood running from her mouth. She had bitten through her own tongue trying to end it.

Her father called in favors to have it ruled an accident. They told me to keep my mouth shut for the sake of both families' reputations.

I came at them with a kitchen knife. My wife kicked me square in the chest. I choked on my own blood and died right there in the hallway outside the bridal suite.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the moment the wedding cars pulled up.

The first thing I did was send my sister away — told her to go find our aunt.

I watched her walk out the front gate of the estate and finally let myself breathe. I thought we were safe. I thought we'd escaped.

Then, a few minutes later, a scream tore through the ceiling above me.

I looked up in horror at the locked door of the bridal suite. My sister was gone. So who the hell was inside?

A scream from upstairs.

Then a heavy thud — the kind that vibrates through the floor and makes the crystal chandelier in the foyer sway.

My head snapped up toward the second-floor landing. The door to the bridal suite was shut tight.

I straightened my jacket and bolted for the stairs.

An arm shot out from nowhere and shoved me hard in the shoulder.

I lost my footing and slammed my lower back into the banister, the pain punching the air out of my lungs.

Linc was leaning against the railing, chewing gum, casually wiping his hand on the lapel of his groomsman suit.

"Easy, brother-in-law." He grinned. "Big day like this, you don't wanna go killing the vibe upstairs, do you?"

"Something goes wrong up there and you cause it? That's on you."

I stared at the grease on his face and said nothing.

Another sound from above — glass shattering, clean and sharp.

Then fabric tearing. Then a woman's muffled, broken sobbing.

The sounds filtered through the door like they were coming from underwater — heavy, suffocating, hopeless.

I shoved Linc aside. "Move. Someone up there is screaming for help."

He didn't budge. He shoved me back, his knuckle dragging a raw line across my forearm.

"Help?" He laughed. "That's just Zane giving the place some good luck. That girl should be thanking him."

"Half the women in Florida would kill to get Zane's attention, and she just stumbled into it. Lucky her."

"Especially since it's your wedding night. She's riding your coattails."

I shook from head to toe and raised my fist.

Someone caught my wrist mid-swing.

Cassidy — my bride — reeking of champagne, wrenched my arm down and stepped between us.

I stumbled backward and nearly went down.

She adjusted the neckline of her wedding dress, her expression flat with irritation.

"Ethan. What the hell is your problem?"

"That's the boys blowing off steam. Why would you go up there and ruin it for everyone?"

"They came out today as a favor. You should be grateful."

"The more chaos, the more blessing. It's tradition, babe."

I pointed at the ceiling. "Tradition? Tradition is rape?"

"That is a crime, Cassidy. Open that door. Right now."

She let out a cold laugh and planted herself at the foot of the stairs.

"Rape." She said the word like it tasted ridiculous in her mouth. "That's just fun. That's just a good time between grown-ups."

"Your uptight little sister has been acting holier-than-thou her whole life. I bet she's having the time of her life up there."

"Getting Zane's attention? She won't have to worry about money for the rest of her life."

Her father — Hector — was spread out on the leather sectional, cracking open pistachios with his thumbnail, dropping the shells on the floor.

He didn't look up.

"Enough. You're embarrassing yourselves." He gestured lazily. "This is a gift. That girl getting Zane's attention? That's good fortune for this family."

"You're her brother and you're standing there screaming like a lunatic. You've got no manners."

Then the scream from upstairs shifted — higher, more animal, ripping through every wall in the house.

"Help me! Please — somebody help me!"

My heart pounded so hard it hurt. I lunged again. "I'm calling 911."

Cassidy's eyes went hard. She spun and drove her stiletto heel straight into my gut.

I folded, gasping. My phone skidded across the tile.

She crossed to it in three steps and brought her heel down on the screen.

The crack was clean and final.

She picked up the broken shell of it and dropped it into the fish tank by the entryway.

It sank slowly, trailing a string of small bubbles.

Cassidy walked to the front door and turned the deadbolt. She pocketed the key.

Then she got in my face, her cheeks flushed and shaking.

"Nobody leaves this house. Not until Zane is finished. You hear me?"

"If you do anything — anything — to mess this up for me, I will put you in the ground myself."

Hector spit a pistachio shell at my chest.

"Pathetic. You married into this family and the first thing you do is try to sic the cops on your own wife."

"Men like you deserve everything coming to them."