haven

Chapter 3 - The Zip-Ties on the Mahogany Bedframe

I reached into the emergency travel kit inside my personal duffel bag and pulled out four heavy-duty, industrial nylon zip-ties—items I had routinely carried since my deployments overseas.

With practiced efficiency, I bound Gregory’s wrists tightly behind his back, followed by his ankles.

Using a length of decorative satin curtain cord from the window, I lashed his bound wrists to the heavy, bolted mahogany post of the suite’s bedframe.

He was completely immobilized, lying facedown on the floor with his nose dripping blood onto a white hand towel I tossed under his chin.

“Ashlynn... please,” Gregory wept, his voice muffled by the carpet. “We can talk about this! It was a joke! My dad told me it was an old family tradition to scare new brides into respecting their husbands! I wasn't actually going to break your ribs!”

I pulled a chair over, sat down backward, resting my arms across the backrest, and looked down at him with cold detachment.

“You swung with full rotational hip torque, Gregory,” I replied evenly. “If that aluminum barrel had connected with my floating ribs, it would have punctured my left lung and caused internal hemorrhaging eighty miles off the Florida coast.”

Gregory flinched, unable to meet my eyes.

“Now,” I said, standing up and walking toward his open leather suitcase resting on the luggage bench. “Let’s see what else your charming father packed for our romantic getaway.”

I tipped the expensive leather bag onto the dining table.

Out tumbled his designer shirts, expensive colognes, and silk ties. But beneath the zippered false bottom of the suitcase lay a sealed manila envelope stamped with red confidential seals from Hartman Private Wealth Management.

I tore the envelope open.

Inside were four documents:

A $3,000,000 accidental death life insurance policy taken out on me fourteen days before our wedding, naming Gregory and his father, Arthur Hartman, as sole irrevocable beneficiaries.

A supplemental maritime clause providing triple indemnity payout in the event of an accidental drowning at sea during international transit.

A signed medical affidavit falsely stating I had a documented history of severe clinical depression and nocturnal sleepwalking.

And a typed checklist written in his father’s unmistakable handwriting: 1. Establish physical submission on Night One. 2. Secure signature on trust transfer on Night Two. 3. Overboard incident near Bahamas trench on Night Three.

The air in the cabin turned to pure ice.

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Gregory hadn't just brought a baseball bat to intimidate me.

He had brought a murder itinerary.

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