Mia sat with her phone in her hand, staring off into the distance. The call with their wedding planner had not been good news, and Dylan wasn’t going to be happy. Heaving a deep sigh, she decided to get it over and done with.

Striding down the hall, she called out to the housekeeper.

“Sabine, do you perhaps know where Mr. Dylan is?”

The Austrian woman and her husband had been in Dylan’s employ when Mia met him, and they were fiercely loyal to the man.

Sabine came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel. “He said he was going down to his office, Ms. Mia. He said there is some business he needs to take care of urgently.”

“Thanks, Sabine.”

Mia turned for the stairs that would take her down to his office in the basement. This was a feature that had puzzled her from the start as, generally, houses in South Africa weren’t built with basements. And yet, this monstrosity of a house had one.

When she’d asked about this peculiarity, Dylan had shrugged her off with a simple, “It’s for security reasons. My work is very sensitive.” She’d left it at that, but the area had always given her the creeps. She avoided it as much as possible.

The plush carpeting in the hallway deadened the sound of her footsteps as she made her way toward his office. As she neared the door, Mia heard Dylan shouting. Stopping short of the entry, she hesitated. If he was that mad already, maybe now wasn’t the best time to be having this discussion with him.

From her vantage point outside Dylan’s office, Mia noticed the conference door was slightly ajar. She crept closer, careful to stay out of sight of the door. All she could see were his legs, as if he were leaning against something, and a man whose face she’d couldn’t see from that angle sitting in a chair in front of Dylan. As she was about to turn and go back upstairs, she saw the man jump to his feet and realized it was Dylan’s friend, Omari. Without warning, Dylan struck. Shocked that he was attacking his friend, Mia stood rooted to the spot.

As he landed a punch, Mia clapped a hand over her mouth in an attempt to smother the gasp she couldn’t contain. Frozen in fear, she waited to see if he’d heard, but it seemed the sounds of his rage had masked that small sound. Something told her that had he heard her, she would have found herself in deep trouble.

In horror, Mia watched as Dylan systematically assaulted the man until he fell to the floor. He lay unmoving, and she started to back away, thinking it was all over. To her horror, the attack continued. Blow after blow rained down on the clearly unconscious man until all she could see was a bloody mess.

She couldn’t believe what she was witnessing.

It was beyond her realm of comprehension that one human could harbor such intense violence. Mia had discovered early on in their relationship that Dylan had a temper when things didn’t work out as he wanted, but she would never have guessed he was this man.

With sudden clarity, Mia realized she didn’t know him at all.

The pleasant, thoughtful, loving man she thought she knew had been a façade he’d presented to the world to hide the monster that lurked within.

So lost in her thoughts, Mia’s body jerked in fright as the first shot rang out. She had to escape. Whirling away from the door she had almost opened, with the sound of gunshots ringing out, she ran as if the demons of hell chased her. Knowing she had to flee, Mia’s brain scrambled to formulate a plan of escape.

Dylan was a respected entrepreneur in the South African business community. He had diligently built up his reputation as an American investing in South Africa’s economy, so there was a high likelihood no one would believe her if she told them what she had just witnessed. Without any proof, she had no chance.

She couldn’t go to her family. Although her brother, James, was in law enforcement, it would be putting all their lives in danger, and she would never be able to forgive herself if anything happened to any of them because she’d fallen for Dylan’s lies.

The fog of shock began to dissipate, and her brain scrambled for a plan of action. A sudden thought popped into her head. She needed proof, and she was sure there would be something on Dylan’s computer. Sending a prayer heavenward, she hoped she’d be able to access it.

Dashing into Dylan’s office, Mia was grateful to find his computer on. If she could find anything implicating on it, maybe it would give her some leverage. She wiggled the mouse and thanked all the gods that someone was on her side as the desktop came to life.

Randomly pulling desk drawers open, she searched until she found a flash drive. Praying that she wouldn’t be caught, she inserted the flash drive and set the computer to copy files over.

Mia waited on tenterhooks for the files to copy. If anyone found her, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt Dylan would kill her. There was absolutely no reason for her to be in his office, especially since he wasn’t there, nor had he given her permission to be there. Every unfamiliar sound made her heart pound.

After what felt like an eternity, the task was complete, and Mia pulled the flash drive out, put the computer back to the screen she’d found it on, and returned it to sleep mode. It would never do for someone to discover that she’d been there if she hoped to get away without a trace.

She made her way back to the door as quickly and quiet as she could, then spotted the wall safe standing open. Praying it wouldn’t make a sound as she opened it wider, Mia rocked back in surprise at the neat stacks of cash within. She stuffed as much as she could into her clothing, anywhere she was able, before bolting from the room.

Dashing up the stairs to their bedroom and into the walk-in closet, Mia grabbed an overnight bag and haphazardly threw things in. She cast a critical eye around to ensure nothing appeared to be out of place, and she hurried out of the house, making sure to avoid anyone. There would be no way to explain her way out of her apparent departure.

As Mia slipped into the driver’s seat of her Mercedes SLK, she breathed a sigh of relief. She backed the vehicle out of the open garage and quickly made her way to the gate. Once she was off the property, Mia drove like one possessed to put as much distance between her and Dylan as she could before he realized she was gone.

She could only hope he wouldn’t figure out she’d been witness to his little “meeting” with the dead man. Considering what he’d done to his one-time friend in his boardroom, she had no doubt that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her too.

What she couldn’t understand was how she could have been so wrong about him.

Had there been signs of the real Dylan that she had missed? Or had she subconsciously ignored any warning signs? Looking back, Mia supposed there had been, but she’d been too dazzled by the persona he had presented in his fierce and single-minded pursuit of her.

At the time, Mia had been overwhelmed by the charming man he’d appeared to be. He was wealthy, sophisticated, and had seemed so far out of her league. When he had started wooing her, Mia had been so deeply flattered this sought-after bachelor had wanted her she had been too star-struck to see him for the ruthless cut-throat he apparently was.

Smothering a yawn, she pulled into the parking lot of a small hotel. The adrenalin rush had subsided, and she was crashing. She would get herself a room so she could get some rest and regroup — try and figure out what to do next.

Mia figured her best chance at survival would be to stay on the run. She couldn’t, no, wouldn’t, put her family in danger. She’d been the one to bring this monster into their midst. So it would be up to her to find a solution to this problem.

A meal and a shower later, Mia felt a bit more herself. She powered up her laptop and inserted the flash drive she’d taken from Dylan’s office. The directory came up on her laptop, and she started opening documents to see what they were.

Mia reeled in shock as she began to realize exactly what it was she was reading.

The documents were detailed records of transactions buying and selling women and young girls. They listed dates, exchange points, and how much each female was bought and sold for.

Sweet baby Jesus, her fiancé was a human trafficker. The man she’d promised to marry was this man – this … monster!

Overwhelmed, stressed, anxious — exhaustion crashed over Mia, dragging her down in a pit of despair.  No longer able to hold her head up, she lowered it onto her arms and sobbed as if her heart were breaking. She needed to find a way out of this nightmare, and she had no idea how she was going to do it.