Chapter 2 - Sanctuary in the Warmth
Within ninety seconds, the ballroom was completely deserted. The wealthy parasites who had been drinking my wine five minutes earlier trampled over each other in their rush to escape before the police arrived.
Julian tried to slip out through the side terrace doors, but my head of personal security, Marcus—a former Marine who had served with me years ago—stepped into his path, placing a heavy hand on Julian's shoulder.
"Not you, sir," Marcus said calmly. "The deputies want a word with you regarding wire fraud."
Vanessa stood alone amidst the abandoned lobster platters and spilled champagne, shivering as the cold mountain air crept into the grand foyer through the open front doors.
"Richard... please," she sobbed, clutching her diamond necklace. "I made a mistake! I was overwhelmed! Taking care of four girls who aren't mine... it drove me crazy! We can fix this! We can go to counseling!"
I didn't answer her. I didn't even look at her.
I turned my back on her completely and walked back down the dark hallway toward the children's wing.
When I opened the dining room door, my heart broke all over again.
My four little girls were still huddled together near the cold radiator. Emma, the eldest by ten minutes, had wrapped her arms around her three sisters, trying to warm them with her tiny body. Sophie was crying silently into Emma’s shoulder, while Grace and Lily sat perfectly still, holding the cracked plastic plate with the moldy bread as if it were their only possession.
"Girls," I whispered, dropping my heavy coat onto the floor and sinking to my knees beside them.
Emma looked up, her gray eyes—so painfully like her mother Claire's—filled with incredible caution. "Daddy? Is... is the loud music gone?"
"It's gone, sweetheart," I said, my voice cracking. "It's never coming back."
I reached out and gathered all four of them into my arms at once. They felt so terrifyingly light, so fragile, their skin like paper-thin ice. Sophie buried her face into my neck, her small hands clutching the lapels of my suit jacket with desperate strength.
"I'm so sorry," I wept softly into Grace’s cold hair. "Daddy was gone too long. I'm so, so sorry."
"Did we do something bad, Daddy?" Lily whispered, her tiny lips trembling blue. "Vanessa said you left because we weren't pretty like the ladies on TV."
A surge of rage flared in my chest so intense it nearly blinded me, but I kept my embrace soft, warm, and steady.
"No, Lily. You are the most beautiful, most wonderful girls in the entire world," I said, kissing each of their foreheads. "And nobody is ever going to hurt you again. I swear it on your mother’s memory."
Marcus walked into the room quietly, carrying four heavy wool blankets from my private suite upstairs, followed by Dr. Harrison, our long-time family physician whom I had called from my car forty minutes ago.
"Doctor," I said, looking up.
Dr. Harrison’s face was grim as he looked at the children, the cold room, and the moldy bread on the table. "Get them upstairs to your master suite, Richard. It has the secondary radiant heating grid. I brought pediatric IV fluids, thermal wraps, and warm nutritional supplements."
I picked up Emma and Sophie in my left arm and lifted Grace and Lily with my right, carrying all four of my daughters out of that frozen room.
As we passed through the foyer, Vanessa was being handcuffed by two Pitkin County Sheriff's deputies. She looked up at me, her face pale, tears ruining her expensive mascara.
"Richard!" she screamed as the deputies led her toward the door. "You can't do this to me! I'm your wife! I built this estate with you!"
My daughters flinched at her voice, burying their faces deeper into my chest.
May you like
I stopped near the front doors, looking down at the woman who had tormented my blood.
"You built nothing, Vanessa," I said quietly. "And tonight, you lose everything."
