George turned off the road and stopped the car long enough to press the keypad affixed to a pole near the gate. Silently saying a prayer his wife had heard the alert and had gotten out of the house, he held his breath as he steered the Bentley onto the gravel drive.

Addison’s pulse began to quicken, and gathering the papers she had pulled from her briefcase, she stuffed them back inside. Slipping her mobile into her jacket pocket, she ran her hand over her hair and straightened her jacket...and then the house came into view.

Chapter Thirty-One

There are approximately one million words in the English language, but as Addison stared at her house now stripped of ivy, only one came to mind. It contained four letters...and it wasn’t nice.

Addison slammed her hand on the button operating the privacy window, and before it had even moved an inch, she shouted, “Stop the car.”

“Miss?” George said, halfway turning around.

“I said stop the fucking car now!”

Before George could slip the transmission into park, Addison was out of the Bentley and gawking at the house in the distance. As she stared at her home, her blood pressure began to elevate, and it took only a matter of seconds before her face was beet red, and her hands were fisted.

Climbing back inside the car, Addison closed the door so forcefully the entire car rocked. “Drive.”

Replying with only a nod, George lightly stepped on the accelerator.

“I said bloody drive, or you’ll be out of a fucking—”

Thrown back in her seat when George slammed his foot to the floor, Addison paid no attention to the sound of the pings and chinks as the gravel bounced off the chrome and polished finish of the car. In less than a minute, sending more gravel flying to and fro, George skidded to a stop in front of the house.

Addison shoved the car door open and erupted from the Bentley like lava from a volcano. Taking the stairs two at a time, she marched across the veranda and burst into the house, sending the door so wide the handle embedded in the plaster wall behind it.

Chauncey was prancing from the parlor with his favorite toy when the door swung open, and recognizing Addison, his tail began to wag, but the look on her face changed his mind. Like a metronome, his little stub slowly wound down to zero, and with the toy still in his mouth, he turned around and scampered back from where he came.

Addison didn’t notice Chauncey, and she didn’t notice the light now streaming into the foyer from the glass panels in the dome far above her head. The only thing she noticed was the woman standing at the top of the stairs.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Addison roared, throwing her briefcase across the foyer.