“ 9-1-1 , what ’ s your emergency ,” the silky-voiced woman asked on the other end .
“ My mother ’ s trying to kill my father ’ s mistress ,” came Ebony ’ s weary reply .
* * *
The funeral , for all of its length and pretentiousness , went off well . Ebony ’ s father , Darek Mandel , had not been the best of men , but he was a shrewd businessman worth over forty million , give or take , and owned half of the people in the small suburb of Chicago where he ’ d been born . Darek had left Eyecuville as the teenaged outcast of a dirt-poor family and headed to Texas to make his fortune in oil . He came back years later to clean house , starting with the politicians who were lining their own pockets at the people ’ s expense and ending with every man and woman who had done him wrong in some way .
That kind of power does something to a man . So much so , that many , including his wife , Samara , rarely stood up to him . Except when it counted …
Twenty-seven years ago
* * *
“ Shut up and sign it ,” Darek demanded while the new attorney , Tina Evans , stiffened with anger .
Samara , in her wedding dress , flawless make-up , hair pulled into a love knot with wisps of curls framing her honeyed face , could only stare at the man she had planned to marry and spend the rest of her life in wedded bliss . They were in the near-empty foyer of the Drake Hotel , a space that led into a magnificent ballroom decorated in lavender and silver that made up a fairytale wedding fit for a princess and her prince . Right before the start of the wedding march , he had called Tina to draft a last-minute prenup .
“ I ’ m not signing that ,” she replied with a quick glance at the ten-page document . “ I need to read it and have my own lawyer look at it first .”
“ She ’ s right ,” Tina chimed in , then clamped down on saying anything else the moment Darek gave her a hard glare .
“ Then go right inside that ballroom and tell everyone there isn ’ t going to be a wedding ,” he challenged , placing those ice blue eyes on her dark brown ones .
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