Chapter 2 - The Suitcase in the Torrential Rain
The heavy wrought-iron and frosted-glass double doors slammed shut with a deafening, concussive thud that rattled the glass sconces in the grand foyer.
CLACK-CLACK.
The electronic biometric deadbolts engaged with finality.
Outside in the torrential downpour, Victoria pounded her fists against the reinforced glass, her designer mascara streaming in black streaks down her pale face, her silk blouse soaked through.
“Edward! Open the door!” Victoria shrieked through the gale. “You can’t throw me out like trash! I am your wife! I am Lily’s mother!”
Inside the warmth of the chandelier-lit foyer, Edward Montgomery did not even glance back at the door.
At fifty-eight, Edward possessed the broad, imposing stature of an industrial titan who had built Montgomery Global Capital into a multi-billion-dollar empire. His dark tailored wool overcoat was drenched from the storm, but his eyes, locked onto his trembling daughter, burned with fierce, protective devotion.
Edward knelt on the polished marble floor, wrapping both arms around five-year-old Lily and the shivering gray cat, Ash, nestled against her chest.
“Daddy is here, Lily-bug,” Edward murmured, his deep baritone trembling with raw emotion as he kissed the damp curls on her forehead. “You are safe. No one is ever going to scream at you again.”
Lily buried her wet face into the crook of her father’s neck, her small hands clutching his lapel with desperate, white-knuckled strength.
“Daddy…” Lily sobbed, her tiny body shivering. “Mommy threw Ash… she said I was bad because I showed you the hotel pictures on her iPad…”
Edward closed his eyes for three long seconds. The veins along his temples bulged with suppressed, glacial wrath.
Arthur Henderson, the head of private executive protection for Montgomery Manor, stepped forward from the archway flanked by four armed security guards in dark suits.
“Mr. Montgomery,” Henderson said quietly. “The perimeter gates at Sunset Boulevard have been locked. The Beverly Hills Police Department has been notified of the domestic disturbance, and our private medical team from Cedars-Sinai is standing by in the library.”
Edward stood up slowly, lifting Lily into his left arm while gently supporting the purring gray cat with his right.
“Arthur,” Edward commanded, his voice dropping into a register of cold, absolute steel.
May you like
“Yes, Mr. Montgomery?”
“Have the groundskeepers gather whatever clothes spilled onto the driveway, put them into trash bags, and deposit them outside the front gate. If Victoria sets one foot past the stone pillars, have her arrested for criminal trespass.”
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