The Den's Secret: A Bride's Fury

anonymous email led me to a mem

the wolf mask, with his familiar jawline an

izing the woman with him: my best

t cost me our unborn child. I soon discovered Damon never loved me;

it was a cold, calculated scheme th

ey had taken ev

ust given me a reason to bu

pte

ie

ect line, "A Message Just For You, Ellie," caught my eye, a strange, unsettling whisper

." It promised something exclusive, member

, explicit, visceral. Bodies entwined, movements

video was a loop of couples, their faces obscured by grotesque animal masks. Wolves,

thrust of his hip, the deep timbre of his voice as he murmured something indistinct. And that jawline-sh

rk, surrounded by fabric swatches and architectural blueprints, trying to design a dream for someon

behind my eyes. It was a nightmare I was living in broad daylight. My hands

ssistant, my voice thinner than I i

ntic hamster on a wheel. The urge to dismiss it, to call it a

eart hammering against my ribs. I picked up my phone, Damon's contac

is phone, ringing in the video on the screen. The masked man, the one who looked exact

break. The entire, grotesque scene unfolded before me

, the one that ran vertically down his lower back, a faint white line I' d traced a thousand times with my fingertips.

a briefcase in one hand, a bouquet of my favorite white lilies in the other. He smiled,

exhausted, angel. Come here." He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into his

trying to erase the images from my mind. I w

ur first trip abroad. Or the way he' d always made sure my coffee was exactly how I liked it, every single morning. He had been so against casual re

t a few more days, and then we're Mr. and Mrs. Velazquez. For

rushed against smooth skin, then, unmistakably, the faint, raised line of t

ly, his eyes question

lie tasting like ash in my mouth. M

Can you believe it's only a week until our big day?" His voice was thick with emotion, or what I now realize