Chapter 1 - The Devil in the Room
The heavy oak door swung open with a silent, terrifying grace.
Harper froze completely.
Her hands were still clutching the zipper of her maid uniform.
The cold air from the hallway rushed into the steamy, white marble bathroom.
Standing in the doorway was Gabriel Ashford.
He was taller than the newspapers made him out to be.
His dark hair was perfectly styled, and his tailored suit clung to a dangerously muscular frame.
His eyes were the color of shattered ice.
Those eyes did not look at her face first.
They dropped to her exposed back.
They locked onto the brutal, ugly map of purple and yellow bruises spreading across her spine.
Harper stopped breathing.
She expected him to yell.
She expected him to summon his guards and throw her out onto the street.
Instead, Gabriel stepped inside and quietly pushed the heavy door shut until it clicked.
He locked it.
The sound of the deadbolt sliding into place sounded like a gunshot in the quiet room.
Harper scrambled to pull her uniform up over her shoulders.
Her fingers shook so violently that she dropped the fabric.
Gabriel took a slow, deliberate step forward.
He did not look away from her battered skin.
"Who did this to you?" he asked.
His voice was a low, dark rumble that vibrated against the marble walls.
Harper backed away until her hips hit the edge of the vanity.
"No one," she lied, her voice cracking.
"I fell."
Gabriel stopped inches away from her.
He reached out slowly.
He did not touch her, but his hand hovered over a terrible, fresh bruise shaped perfectly like a man's hand.
"A fall does not leave fingerprints, little bird," he said softly.
Harper squeezed her eyes shut.
She needed this job to survive.
She could not afford to anger the most dangerous man in Boston.
"Please, Mister Ashford, I am sorry for being in here," she begged.
"I was running late, and I needed to clean the floor."
Gabriel finally looked up at her face.
He saw the faded scar above her left eye.
He saw the raw, desperate terror shaking her small frame.
His jaw tightened in a way that made him look like a predator about to strike.
"I will ask you one more time," Gabriel whispered.
"Whose name am I going to write on a bullet tonight?"
Before Harper could answer, a frantic knock pounded against the bedroom door outside the bathroom.
"Boss," a deep voice called out.
It was Elias, Gabriel's head of security.
Gabriel did not break eye contact with Harper.
"What is it?" Gabriel shouted back.
"There is a police detective at the front gate," Elias answered through the door.
"He says his name is Lawson."
Harper's heart completely stopped.
"He says his runaway wife is inside this house," Elias finished.
Gabriel saw the absolute horror drain every ounce of color from Harper's face.
He looked back at the bruises on her skin.
He knew exactly who was at the front gate.
Gabriel reached down and picked up her uniform from the floor.
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"Put this on," Gabriel ordered.
"And do not make a sound."
