“I do,” my husband Steven said, as he handed off his daughter to her soon-to-be husband.

His line was supposed to be, “Her mother and I do,” but he wouldn’t deign to acknowledge me on such a special occasion. I’m now just his trophy wife, his arm candy—as I’ve been for the last nineteen years.

I’m fairly certain, now that he has our nineteen-year-old daughter married off, I’m no longer needed on his arm. One of his younger lovers will take my place at his side, I’m sure. That’s how I got there all those years ago.

Oh, I believed all of the crap he spewed then. His wife was cheating on him, she wouldn’t give him children, they hadn’t had sex in months, he was leaving her—the usual crap a distinguished older man tells a naive, barely eighteen-year-old girl when he’s trying to bed her.

He was handsome, rich and he hooked me like a trout.

He had just been named President of one of his father’s companies and I was working at the Starbucks next door to his new office. He had my virginity within a month of meeting me. The only problem for him was that he got me pregnant shortly after.

That was when he decided to finally divorce his wife. It turned out some of what he told me was true. She didn’t want kids. The divorce was messy and she walked away very rich.

She had lost him in a game she didn’t know she was playing until he told her that I was having his child and he was divorcing her. It embarrassed me how he handled it, but I wanted him and I needed him to take care of the growing child in my womb. I’d thought that I had won some great prize, and for a while, it felt like I had.

He made me quit working immediately and he moved me into his huge estate home. He doted on me and took great care to ensure I was well cared for and comfortable. We were married the day after his divorce became final when I was seven months pregnant.

My parents hated him, but put up with him for the sakes of their grandchild and myself. My new husband spent a lot of money trying to buy my parents’ affection, but they saw through all of the gifts, trips, and cars he bought for them. They were smarter than I was, I didn’t see him for the man he really was until it was too late. He wouldn’t even pay for decent headstones after they passed away several years apart.

He was a conniving and ruthless man whose only concerns were himself, his daughter, and his business. He, of course, wanted a boy but ultimately that was the one thing I refused to give him. It became much worse after his parents were both gone. He didn’t feel like he answered to anyone any longer.

I had gotten on birth control after Ava’s birth and over the years had to bribe a few doctors to keep that secret from him. He would never put up with me, knowing that I was keeping him from having more children so he couldn’t have a son, but once I saw through his facade I knew I could never have a son who grew to be a newer version of him. The problem with that plan was our daughter ended up a female version of him.

I believed that he stayed married to me because of the negative fallout from his getting me pregnant before divorcing his wife. I don’t think he wanted his businesses to have more fallout from me and so he kept me around.

It didn’t take long for me to find out how he really was, but he never abused me and he took good care of us, so I lived the lie and pretended to love him. He never noticed I didn’t.

On our daughter’s wedding day, my husband beamed as he sat beside me in the Cathedral’s pew. Who knows how large of a check he had to write to have Ava marry there. We weren’t parishioners at any church, let alone that large one.

“She’s so beautiful,” he whispered after he gave our daughter away. I nodded and our interaction ended as quickly as it usually did.

Ava was beautiful. She was always the apple of his eye and he spared no expense spoiling her rotten. That’s a funny expression, to say someone was spoiled rotten, but she was and her wedding proved it to be accurate.

I was having my third glass of wine, sitting at my table, tired of being congratulated, when he walked over to me.

“May I have this dance?” Jackson Foster asked.

I nearly melted. My new son-in-law’s baritone voice was like aural sex.

“Um ... Of course, Jackson,” I said stammering like an idiot.

He took my hand and I felt a shock of electricity.

“Ooh, sorry about that shock,” he said. “I must’ve dragged my feet or something.”

I almost laughed at the absurdity of thinking that it was anything but static electricity.

Being in his arms on the dance floor was almost too much for me to handle. Looking up into his deep brown eyes, I couldn’t concentrate on anything but him at that moment.

“The hall looks great, doesn’t it?” He asked.

“Yes, the planner has outdone herself,” I said.

‘She better have,’ I thought, for all of the money she cost.

“I’m glad you came around,” he said as he spun me around the floor.

Confused, I asked, “What do you mean?”

“I had the impression that you didn’t approve of me marrying your daughter, well with the age difference.”

“That would kind of make me a hypocrite, wouldn’t it? I mean, Steven is a dozen years older than I am.”

“I suppose,” he said with a bright smile. “It just seemed like you didn’t approve of a thirty-three-year-old man with her.”

I laughed and said, “No, you’re a great guy. As a parent we all want our children to be happy and you certainly make my daughter happy.”

Of course, I knew exactly how happy, from hearing her orgasmic screams when we all stayed at our lake home a month prior. I was so turned on by their noise, I almost woke Steven to see if he would give me a mercy fuck. I settled for quietly pleasuring myself.

The song ended and he hugged me warmly.

“Thank you for the dance, Son,” I said.

Laughing he said, “Am I even six years younger than you? Forgive me if I don’t call you Mom, Alyssa.”

I laughed and could swear I saw his eyes sparkle.

“I’d better go and find my bride, excuse me,” he said. He kissed my cheek and walked off.

I touched my cheek where he kissed me and I sighed like a schoolgirl with a crush. ‘What a man!’ I thought and looked around to see if anyone noticed my infatuation.

I looked over and saw my daughter in her resplendent gown. She sparkled and looked happy dancing with her bridesmaids.

My husband was off in the corner likely working on some deal with Jackson’s father. Steven doesn’t know it, but I know all about him setting up Jackson to meet Ava.

Steven had wanted to acquire their company for years but they wouldn’t sell. I thought his marrying his daughter into their family was so he could get a foot in the door there. Later I would learn he and my daughter had a much more sinister plan.

Steven had a party on the 4th of July the year before the wedding. Ava was there, in the skimpiest bikini I’d ever seen.

Freshly graduated from high school and enrolled at Wellesley College, she was set on following in her daddy’s footsteps. Long gone were the days of mom and daughter shopping trips and spa days. Her spare time was spent at her father’s office being groomed for greatness.

She was barely legal, but when Jackson Foster walked into the backyard, she was on him like a heat-seeking middle. The poor man never knew what hit him. As far as I could see, she never left his side the entire afternoon and managed to get him to take her to a movie the very same night.

Their courtship was quick. By Christmas, he had proposed and by New Year’s Eve, a date was set.

As much as I wanted to be involved in helping my daughter plan her wedding, I was rebuffed by her and Steven. They hired a wedding planner and told me in no uncertain terms I wasn’t needed.

I was depressed for a month over it. I took off to Europe for the entire month of January and I’m not sure that anyone noticed. I knew then that my time was short.

Jackson thought that I didn’t approve of him, but he was dead wrong. I was jealous of my daughter.

Jackson is a walking panty melter. His perfect broad shoulders. His dimpled smile. His six-pack abs. His rock-hard ass. His six-foot, five-inch height, all made me weak in the knees. I must’ve burnt out three vibrators on Jackson fantasies alone. To top all of that off, he was the sweetest man I’d ever met.

He was the president of some company that supplied one of my husband’s companies with something. Honestly, I couldn’t have cared less about the details of their respective businesses. Both were family-owned for generations and my husband was trying to get his hands on Jackson’s.

I suppose it was a masterstroke to convince Ava to go after Jackson. It certainly would be no loss for her. She may have tried for him without Steven’s prodding, although I couldn’t see Jackson going after her at fifteen years his junior.

I caught one of Steven and Ava’s conversations when they didn’t know I was around. That was when I first knew my daughter was lost to me.

I’d always held out hope that she would come back to me and share in our old mother/daughter bonding again, but I knew she was too far gone to the dark side.

I remember that Wednesday evening like it was yesterday. They were in his study and I had just returned home from shopping.

I walked down the hall and heard Steven say, “Baby, it’s time to bring you to the big leagues. I want you to go after Jackson Foster. I think merging our families would create an opportunity to expand our businesses and grow to new heights. We could even merge our businesses at some point. You know I’ve been trying to buy them out, but they won’t budge.”

“He’s gorgeous, Daddy, but he’s ancient. Do you think he’d be interested in me?” She asked.

“Ava, as long as you’re interested in him, you won’t have to worry about that.”

They laughed and I’d turned and walked away, having heard enough. He crossed a line asking her to go after a man for business reasons, and it was worse that she agreed to do it. Two weeks later was the Fourth of July party where she ensnared him.

I was disgusted with their plan. I know I shouldn’t have been at that point, but I was shocked that she agreed to it in the first place. He didn’t even have to convince her. She’d just gone along with it as if it were already a done deal. Where had I gone wrong raising her? Feeling helpless to stop it, I ran away again and spent a month in Napa Valley, drinking a lot of wine

After Jackson and Ava left the reception, I looked around for Steven. I hadn’t seen him in half an hour, but I didn’t care where he was. I was drinking myself to a stupor just fine without him.

I finally found him as he walked out of the little side room where the bridal party had their private room. The hall had a small room set up with appetizers and a mini-bar. This was where the bridal party could fix their make-up or get a drink or snack without being interrupted by the other guests seeking their attention or standing in line at the bar.

A moment behind Steven, Sarah DeVries walked out. She was Ava’s best friend and maid of honor.

Steven walked up to me and said, “Ready to go, Alyssa?” His tone was sharp, with just a bit of slur to his speech.

Before I could answer, Sarah walked by.

“Hold that thought, Steven. Sarah dear, you have a bit of cum on your chin.”

She froze and raised her hand to her chin to wipe off what was not there. I’d figured he got a blow job from her. He wouldn’t have the audacity to screw her at his daughter’s wedding.

Steven grabbed my arm and dragged my unsteady body along the floor and out of the room. “Just what the hell was that all about?” He asked.

“She had some cum on her chin. I’d hate for her to be embarrassed.”

“No, she didn’t. I checked before we left the room.”

With that, he turned and stormed off into the hotel lobby. That moment was the end of my marriage.

There was nothing to fight for in the divorce. I had signed a prenup that gave me 100k per year for every year we were married if I didn’t cheat. It didn’t matter if he cheated or not.

I signed the papers that I was served, saw that almost two-million dollars were wired into my account, and then I moved out of the house.

I bought a condo downtown that overlooked the river and had a lovely view of the skyline. I never went to college because I was a rich stay-at-home mom, but I had been working for a charity as a fund-raiser since my daughter started high school. It paid pretty well so I wouldn’t be hurting for money. I’d also socked away another million over the years in various accounts that, per the prenup, I was able to keep.

It was a cute little provision that I had them add in before I signed it. It said, any funds in my name only, at the time of divorce, were not considered marital assets. I guess Steven never imagined that his uneducated trailer-trash mistress would be smart enough to protect herself by gradually putting a lot of his money into my accounts. When I added that to the prenup, I had only $87.67 in my checking account and that’s only because it was payday.

Steven wanted me gone quickly and without a fight, so he didn’t even complain about that money. It turned out that Sarah was pregnant with his child and he wanted another quick wedding. I hoped it was another girl.

As for my daughter, she was going to college, preparing to follow in her father’s footsteps and playing the happy wife for Jackson. She hadn’t returned any calls, texts, or emails from me after the wedding, and that hurt. I loved her with everything I had and I would never forgive Steven for turning her away from me.

I ran into Jackson about a year after the wedding. He was having dinner with his parents and they asked me to join them.

“How have you been, Alyssa?” He asked.

“Good, Jackson. I keep busy with work and volunteering.”

“I’m sorry that you haven’t been able to attend our parties. For the next one, I’ll have to have Ava clear the date with you in advance.”

“What parties?” I asked.

He looked confused and said, “We’ve had about half a dozen various parties over the last year. Ava said you...” He frowned and shook his head. “She never invited you did she?”

A tear fell down my cheek as I said, “She hasn’t spoken to me or responded to my texts and emails since the wedding.”

His mother gasped and his father said, “I told you, Jackson. You can’t trust that family. Everyone knows the divorce was because Steven got that hussy pregnant. Any woman that would cut her mother out of her life is no woman to have a family with.”

Jackson sighed and said, “I did find it strange, but she never says anything bad about you. She acts as if you’ve got a great relationship.”

“She’s a manipulator, Jackson. A nineteen-year-old version of her father,” his mother said.

He shook his head as I listened to them complain about her and how they felt about their marriage. I never knew they disliked Ava so passionately.

When dinner ended, we exchanged phone numbers and agreed to stay in touch. It seemed the gold-plating was falling off the marriage already.

A month went by and I received a call from Jackson’s father.

“Mr. Foster, nice to hear from you,” I said.

“Alyssa, we have a problem, listen carefully. I’ve got a car waiting for you outside of your condo. The driver is going to take you to the airport, where you will board my company plane.”

“Mr. Foster...” was all I said before he cut me off.

“Listen, young lady, you’re in danger. I can’t explain it now, but when you get to Lisbon, Jackson will fill you in.”

“Lisbon? Jackson?”

“Damn it! Grab your passport and get in the car. I don’t know when it’s going down, so I don’t even know if you have time to pack a bag.”

“Alright. I’ll do as you ask, but if this is some kind of joke...”

“Just get moving and be careful.”

What the hell is going on, I wondered.

Dozens of scenarios ran through my mind, but nothing I came up with could explain what was happening and why Jackson and his father were involved.

I packed a carry-on bag as quickly as I could and hurried out to the waiting car.

There was a man in a suit standing by the open rear door.

He said, “Ma’am, I am here to escort you to Lisbon. I am private security and I will be making sure nothing happens to you until you are in the safe house Mr. Foster has set up for you and his son. There is a team of security there as well.”

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“You’re in danger and I’m protecting you. That’s all I can say right now. Let’s go please.”

I got in the car and had A feeling that I was going down the rabbit hole. He asked for my phone and then did something to it before tossing it out the window.

“Hey! That’s my phone, jerk. I need that.”

He handed me a box for a brand new iPhone.

“You can download everything from your old phone to this one from the cloud. This one has security on it that prevents it from giving its location.”

I walked down the stairs of the plane after landing in Portugal with a large man in front of and behind me. I saw Jackson exit a black sports car and walk towards me.

“Alyssa, I’m sorry for all of the cloak and dagger stuff. I think my dad is taking it a step too far, but he’s always been a worry-wort.”

“Jackson, will you please tell me what the hell is going on?”

“How much do you know about your ex-husband’s businesses?”

“Nothing. I know your company supplies him something and he’s been trying to buy it, but that’s it. I never cared for any of that stuff.”

“Alyssa, after our dinner last month, my father hired some investigators to look into Ava and her activities. Originally, he was hoping that he could find out she was cheating on me and let me know. What he found was much worse.”

“What did he find out,” I asked. I could barely hold the contents of my stomach down from the anxiety I was already feeling. Add to that, Jackson flying through the streets of Lisbon made me more queasy—and now he was going to tell me what was going on. I wanted to vomit.

“Dad’s investigators recorded a phone call in which Ava and Steven talked about finding your cameras.”

“What cameras?”

He looked at me confused. Confused on his face was quite sexy.

“The cameras you had installed in Steven’s house. In his study especially.”

“I didn’t have any cameras installed.”

“Oh wow!” He said. “This is getting crazier.”

He pulled into a gated parking garage and said, “We’re here.”

“Where exactly is here,” I asked.

“My Dad’s childhood friend owns a condo in this building. It has its own security, but my dad supplemented it. We have a guy living with us and we should be fairly safe. No one can trace this place to me or my dad.”

“Oh,” I said, “You still haven’t finished telling me what’s going on.”

The men from the airplane ran up to us.

“Sir, we need to get you inside. They’ve figured out that you aren’t in Boston.”

Just then Jackson’s phone rang. He showed me the screen and it showed that it was Ava.

“Hi, honey,” he said.

He frowned as she spoke and shook his head.

“No, I left the city. I knew that you had tests this week and couldn’t get away so I drove over to the Hamptons. I was going to call you when I got settled in.”

He smiled. I hoped that meant that she bought his lie.

“Okay, baby. I’ll FaceTime you later, but only if you do that thing I like.”

He moved his finger to his open mouth making a gagging motion. I wonder what it was that he was talking about.

“Okay. Love you too. Bye.”

He pressed the end button and said, “Don’t ask.” He grabbed my bag and we walked into the elevator entrance.

I caught his eye and he gave me a wide smile that made me tingle.

“We are going to be fine,” he said. “They have no way to track us to Lisbon. If they did, they still couldn’t find us here.”

I smiled and nodded. I didn’t feel as confident as he sounded.

As soon as we walked into the apartment, another man checked my bag. I guess he was looking for bugs or something. Finding nothing, he handed it back.

It was a large and nicely appointed penthouse condo that had two levels. I was glad that I wouldn’t be kept in a cramped little apartment.

Jackson showed me to my room and it too was very nice. I sat on a chair in the corner and stared at him with my arms folded across my chest. After a few moments, he got the hint and continued the reason for our going into hiding.

“Where was I?”

“Cameras.”

“Right. When Steven found the cameras, he figured you were spying on him to catch him cheating on you and hadn’t removed them. He went into a panic. He called Ava and I have that conversation recorded from Ava’s side. This was recorded last night.”

He pulled out his phone and played an audio file.

“Hi, Daddy.”

“Ava, we’ve got trouble. I found cameras in my house.”

“Security cameras?”

“No, damn it! Cameras your mothers installed to spy on me.”

“Oh shit!” She said.

“Yeah, oh shit. She knows everything we’ve talked about in here.”

“Going back how far?”

“I don’t know, but we have to assume the worst. I’ve disabled and removed them all and I had my security Chief sweep the house. There are none left.”

“Dad, she can’t know about our plan for Jackson. She would have stopped the wedding.”

“No, we have to assume she knows. She’s probably holding back so she can blackmail me. That fucking bitch!”

“So, if she knows that we’re going to kill Jackson so I can take control of his company shares, we have to kill her too.”

“That’s what I’m thinking as well, Ava. We have to play this carefully. We have to get the recordings from her first.”

“How do we do that? I haven’t spoken a word to her since the divorce.”

“I’m going to send some boys to her condo. They will be very persuasive.”

“Okay, Daddy. Let me know how it goes.”

After the recording finished he looked up at me and before I knew what was happening, he pulled me into a hug.

As I sobbed into his chest, I struggled to catch my breath. The realization that my daughter not only planned to have her husband killed, but she also wanted to kill me as well, destroyed me. I was upset enough that she had cut me out of her life, but her wanting me killed crushed my soul.

“Calm down, Lis. I’ve got you and I’ll protect you,” Jackson whispered.

He called me Lis. I almost melted in his arms, from his giving me a pet name.

Still, I couldn’t breathe well enough to speak. I stuttered, “My ... daughter ... wants ... me ... dead.”

“It’s her father that did this to her. This is his influence,” he said.

“Yes, but this is who she has become. It’s been years since she was the sweet girl I knew and loved. He made her into a clone of himself.”

“Hush now. My dad is already working with the District Attorney and police to get them arrested. I just wish I knew who put those cameras in. We need to get all of the videos. Can you think of anyone that would do that?”

“No. Could someone have hired an investigator as you did?”

“Maybe, but how would they get in to have them installed? I know the house. There’s a man at the gate, security cameras, staff working inside, any number of people working outside, I just can’t see how they could do it.”

“I don’t know, Jackson. How long do you think we’ll have to stay here?”

“Until I’m told it’s safe to go back. Even if they are arrested, you’re still dangerous to them as a witness. Even if their plan for me is thwarted, you’re still in danger.”

“Oh, Jackson.”

I sobbed into his chest again, feeling the wetness from my previous and current tears.

“I’m not leaving until I know you’re safe. Don’t worry about a thing. We can stay here as long as needed.”

“Thank you,” I said.

He kissed my forehead and hugged me tightly. It was a moment of heaven surrounded by hell.

I woke to the morning light streaming through the windows. I was momentarily shocked by my surroundings but remembered the prior day’s events. I smelled coffee, so I decided to get up and start the day.

There was a plush robe lying on the foot of the bed and I put it on over my bra and panties. I struggled to remember getting undressed and then why I didn’t put on my nightgown. I guessed I was too tired to dress for bed after the long emotional day.

Walking into the kitchen, I was surprised to see Jackson at the stove. The smell of the omelet he was making was incredible. On the table was an assortment of fresh fruit and some wonderful looking croissant.

“Good morning, Lis,” he said without turning around. “The croissants are fresh and warm. Help yourself and I’ll pour you some coffee.”

He swirled the pan of eggs slowly and ran a spatula around the edges carefully.

“Thank you, Jax, and good morning,” I said.

“Jax, huh?” He said turning around with a wide smile and a glorious pot of coffee.

I smiled and accepted the steaming cup he handed me.

“If you get to make up names for me, I feel I should have the same prerogative.”

He laughed and kissed my cheek. He’d already showered and smelled divine. I wanted to taste him desperately.

“Fair enough. No one calls me Jax, so it’s all yours.”

He rolled the pan as he lifted the edges of the eggs, shook it smoothly, and then surprised me by flipping the omelet into the air.

“You’ve got hidden talents,” I said as he sprinkled cheese onto the eggs.

Laughing, he said, “I love to cook. It’s pretty much my only hobby.”

He added some par-cooked mushrooms, onions, tomato, and red peppers, then folded it gently, waited a moment, and slid it onto the plate waiting patiently next to the stove.

After adding some salt and freshly cracked pepper, he set the plate in front of me.

“I can make you something else if you wish.”

“No, this is perfect, thank you.”

As I ate he said, “I’ve heard from my father.”

“Oh? And?”

“It’s not great news. The recording from my PI isn’t admissible in court so they can’t arrest them.”

I couldn’t believe it. I wondered if I would ever be safe.

He continued making his breakfast and hadn’t turned around. I wondered why he was talking to me with his back turned. I understood that he was making breakfast, but I still found it slightly rude.

“What are we going to do?” I asked.

He took the pan off of the flame and turned around.

“First, Lis, I need you to close your robe so I can look you in the eye rather than in the cleavage.”

I gasped and quickly closed my robe with a face so red it burned from embarrassment.

He smiled and said, “Thank you, I was finding it difficult to talk to you while the girls were on display.”

He turned back to his eggs and continued, “Second, we don’t do anything. We wait for word from home that it’s safe to go back. Until then, we relax in this beautiful city, eat amazing food, and have some good conversation about everything except Steven and Ava.”

“What are you going to do about Ava?” I asked.

“Try for an annulment, I suppose. It seems clear that she only married me so she could get my family business.”

He sat next to me and opened a jar of preserves.

“Do you like strawberries?” He asked. His inability to focus on one thing at a time was distracting. It was as if he was treating my daughter wanting to kill us as a non-issue.

“Yes,” I said as he spread some of the preserves onto half of a croissant.

As he handed it to me he said, “You may think I’m taking all of this rather lightly, but I assure you I’m not.”

Jesus! Was he a mind reader?

“I just choose to not dwell on things out of my control. I have complete trust in my father handling everything at home, so my concern is handling everything here.”

I swallowed my last drop of coffee and he immediately refilled my cup.

“If you’re up to it, I was thinking we could take a walk after breakfast. The architecture of the city is amazing.”

“Is that safe?” I asked.

“The security team assured me that we can move around freely here. My soon-to-be-ex and your ex, don’t know we’re here and we do have surveillance on Ava. If they find out where we are, we will have plenty of advance notice to bug out.”

“Where will we go if that happens?” I asked.

He smiled and said, “My mom has a friend the will let us stay at their chalet near the Swiss Alps.”

I shook my head and went back to my amazing breakfast. I realized I hadn’t eaten dinner the night before.

“How did you plan all this out so quickly, Jax? I thought you found out just before I did. But wait! You were already here when I got here.”

He smiled and said, “Well, as to how we did it so quickly, my father and friends that he trusts with his life, have a set-up in place that they can execute immediately if needed. That ‘network’ set up a couple of houses in Europe and Asia to where they can escape in a hurry.”