Brice slammed the study door and turned on his personal assistant. “What the hell are you doing here, Darren?”

“I’m sorry to show up unannounced, but you didn’t answer any of my calls or return any of my emails.”

“Didn’t that tell you I wanted to be alone?”

Darren’s eyes narrowed, but the playful smile didn’t disappear. “I’ve missed you, Brice, but not your sharp tongue.”

Right. Darren worshipped Brice. He’d practically stalked Brice for weeks to get a job and be close to him. Hypnotized by Brice’s Hollywood life, the glitz and glam, even the darker side of things intrigued Darren. He craved being a part of Brice’s larger-than-life world, knowing the inside scoop about people in the business, actors, and TV and movie projects. It made Darren feel important. The middle child of five, a nobody in his small-town high school, Darren grew up feeling invisible. Being Brice’s assistant made him somebody. And Darren wanted to be somebody, no matter what it took. Brice used Darren’s eager-to-please nature to his advantage. To keep Brice happy, Darren didn’t mind using a little force or imagination to coerce others to do what Brice wanted on his behalf.

“What is so important you came all the way out here instead of calling?” Which Brice preferred, especially when Darren interrupted the most important night of his life.

“Ashley Swan.”

Brice narrowed his gaze, hoping Darren hadn’t put the pieces together. The downside of having someone privy to your personal life the way he’d allowed Darren to be—to a point—was that they knew things that if made public could hurt you. Darren had shown his loyalty time and again, helping Brice maneuver things in Brice’s favor in business and personal matters, little things, really. But Ashley was his secret treasure.

“What about her?”

“You never speak about her, the loss of her in your life, nothing.” Darren touched Brice’s shoulder. “I know you miss her. It’s been almost a year.”

Far longer than he thought it would take her to become his everything.

“We don’t have much time. I’ve got several requests for interviews next week and appearances on some of your favorite shows. They want your insight into her state of mind in the weeks and days leading up to her disappearance. You were one of the last people to see her at the After Midnight party. They’ll show clips of the two of you on the show.”

They wanted to share his memories of Ashley’s appearances on After Midnight, the intimate conversations and dinners they shared in private—that had always been ruined by her manager, agent, friends tagging along after the show—but he’d hold on to the truth and how wonderful it had been to spend this past year with her.

Up until they got interrupted.

Darren had no idea how close he’d come to getting his head split open for showing up unannounced.

“They’re hoping the publicity will generate new leads into her disappearance.”

“They? Who is they?”

“Her lawyers, manager, agent, her mother—hell, everyone wants to know what happened to her.”

“Ashley was nothing but a money machine for all of them. Not one of them understood her and what she really wanted and needed.”

“You’ll make people understand her in a way no one else can. You were her friend.”

More than that. They were kindred spirits. One look in her beautiful eyes and he heard all she couldn’t say, all the things she wanted from him but didn’t dare admit out loud. She wanted him to take care of her, give her all the things she craved deep in her heart that she didn’t want anyone else to know.

He saw it the first time she appeared on his show. He’d read her desires in her eyes. Her smile hid the truth that she wanted him to hurry up and take her away from everyone else.

She’d told him she wanted to get away from it all.

What she really wanted was to belong to him.

She didn’t want the pressure, the demands. She didn’t want to be Ashley anymore.

She wanted a timeless love story she’d never find in Hollywood.

She wanted to bring Aurora to life and feel the love and happiness Aurora found in Duncan’s arms. Brice had transformed into her ideal Duncan. Tonight, the tenacious shreds of Ashley he’d helped her shed finally fell away, and Aurora emerged wholly and fully transformed forever.

Like a beautiful butterfly, she’d come to him tonight ready to be his forever. Perfect in her beauty and love for him.

Everything would be different now.

The thrill of anticipation rippled through him. He needed to see her. He needed to touch her soft skin, feel her breath on his face a moment before they shared that perfect kiss, and revel in her body yielding as he finally loved her the way he’d always wanted but Ashley had denied him until now. Aurora would welcome her lover with open arms. She’d welcome him.

He’d give her everything she’d ever wanted.

Brice waved Darren over to the desk where he could set up his laptop and get to work. “Stay here. I need to check on something.”

“I’m sorry I interrupted your dinner. Who’s the lucky lady?”

“What?” Brice eyed Darren.

“The table full of food. The wine spilled on the tablecloth. You must have rushed whoever it is out of there pretty fast so I didn’t see them. You know, you don’t need to hide your affairs from me.”

Brice ignored Darren, walked to the door, calling over his shoulder, “I’ll be back soon.”

Brice walked through the living room, biting back the string of curse words that red wine stain on his beautifully set table invoked. Dinner ruined. The rest of his night could be salvaged.

Anxious to see Aurora’s beautiful face and have her back in his arms, he rushed up the stairs, ignoring the ache in his bum knee and lower back. Getting old sucked, but Aurora made him feel young and virile again. She was his fountain of youth, his chance for the life he’d given up for fortune and fame. For her. Now he’d have everything.

Adam’s door stood open at the end of the hall. He’d told that boy a hundred times to stay in his room. He’d never had a child. His desire for one grew in his heart now that Aurora had finally reached the pinnacle of her transformation. She’d be a lovely bride and soon the warm and loving mother his child deserved but Brice had never had himself.

If Brice’s mother had lived to see him finally happy, she’d find no fault in his beautiful creation. Aurora was everything he deserved. Everything he’d fought his mother to have one day.

She’d tried to change him.

Tired of her constant pressure to be someone else, or seek help for what she thought were his many faults and deviant behavior, he’d shut her up for good. She had no idea what drove a man like him. What might have been deeply hidden in her time had become part of the norm in many subcultures that were kept quiet, but not hidden anymore. Love came in many forms, even in pain that evoked a passion like nothing he’d ever felt.

Aurora felt it, craved it, wanted it from him. She understood his dark desires and how to play the game.

He missed Adam’s mother. When he hired her on at the ranch, he expected her to cook and clean and nothing more. But alone out here together, he soon found himself drawn to her outgoing spirit. Jackie liked to play, too. She’d been a nice distraction before Ashley came to him, but Jackie had forgotten her role and had gone against him.

She shouldn’t have done that and ended up like the others and left her child all alone.

He’d taken care of Adam, though sometimes it became tedious to remember the boy when all he wanted to do was be with Aurora. She’d taken longer than he expected, but he so enjoyed teaching her to be exactly as he desired.

And he desired her right now. So much so that his dick hadn’t been this hard and aching in years. Everything was finally as it should be.

He opened the secret panel on the wall and punched in the code. The vault he’d had built into the room—“for storing his art collection”—had been a stroke of genius. Temperature controlled and built to keep things in and people out—ha ha—he’d found the perfect place to hold his treasure.

Time to let her out and make her a real and true part of his life. If all went as he expected, they’d reemerge in Hollywood as royalty. They’d be the talk of the town.

They’d be the love story to end all love stories.

People thought she’d disappeared. Some speculated she’d run off with a lover. He’d use the publicity next week to hint that’s exactly what happened. And when the time came, everyone would see them together and understand why they’d wanted their privacy. A love like theirs couldn’t be denied and needed time to allow their souls to merge into one.

He’d felt it the moment it happened tonight.

Now they’d come together as one, and nothing and no one would ever tear them apart.

The locks slid free and the door popped open slightly. Anticipation coiled in his gut. She’d been waiting for him and he couldn’t stand to be away from her another moment. He hooked his fingers in the door and tugged the heavy panel open and stared into the dark—empty—room.

“Nooooo!”

He ran into the small space and checked every corner, up and down, all around, his mind not wanting to believe the truth turning his stomach and freezing his insides.

“Where are you?” he screamed, clutching both sides of his throbbing head. The blood pounded through his veins. His heart thrashed against his ribs. He brought his arms down, clenched his fists, and let the rage tighten every muscle. “Come back!”

Darren appeared in the doorway, his eyes lit with concern and worry. “Brice, what’s wrong?”

“She’s gone. Did you see her? Search the house.”

“Who’s gone?”

“Aurora. Find her.”

“Who the hell is Aurora?”

Brice didn’t have time to explain everything, but Darren would keep his secret. He’d do anything for Brice, which is why he kept his little pet around. “Ashley Swan.”

Darren’s eyes went wide. “She’s here?”

Brice spread his arms wide. “Do you see her? She got out.”

Darren gasped. “What do you mean, she got out?”

Brice didn’t have time to explain. “Find her. We can’t let her get away.”

With those words, dawning understanding lit Darren’s eyes. “Shit.”

“She can’t have gotten far. She’s got to be here. Where would she go? How the hell did she get out?” He tried to think through the panic and pain.

She’d left him. After all he’d done for her she’d turned her back on him and escaped. He’d thought those days were over. Transformation didn’t come easy. People instinctually fought change even when they wanted it. He’d helped her to find acceptance, and this was how she repaid him.

Well, he’d make her pay for abandoning him after all he’d done. She’d beg him to take her back so she could feel the connection and bond they shared again.

“Damn it, Brice. People are looking for her. I can’t believe you put everything at risk taking her.” The worry in Darren’s eyes didn’t hide the other thoughts he quickly put together about what would happen to them if they were caught. Brice made Darren his accomplice. “I’ll search the house. You check outside.”

Brice expected Darren to help him, but relief swept through him anyway, knowing Darren was now fully committed.

Brice rushed out of the room and checked the others down the hall.

Darren’s feet pounded down the front stairs. The front door slammed behind him as he rushed to check the property.

Brice approached Adam’s slightly ajar door, hoping to find her there, taking her place as Adam’s mother. They’d raise the boy together with their own child. He pushed open the door. It swung wide and thumped against the wall. He held it open with his hand splayed on the wood and silently seethed, the rage boiling in his gut and spreading to every part of his being, pushing against his skin. But he held back the explosion. Barely. “If you’re hiding from me, Adam, I suggest you come out now or you will never leave this room again.”

Nothing. Not even one of Adam’s pathetic whimpers. The kind Brice’s mother used to despise and punish Brice for making as she educated him on the proper way to think or behave. Brice had learned to be silent and take the pain she’d inflicted. It made him stronger. It transformed him. Brice used pain to transform Adam and Ashley, though she’d taken much longer than the boy.

And now she’d taken Adam, too. She’d pay. Dearly. And never defy him again.

He ran down the back stairs and out the side patio door. She had to have gone this way. He stopped on the back patio and searched the area, trying to figure out what she’d do. The last time she tried to leave him, she’d gotten as far as the front lawn before he’d shown her there was nothing he wouldn’t do to keep her here with him where she belonged.

Once he showed her no one would help her, she’d stopped trying to get away.

“Seems you didn’t learn your lesson the last time. I can’t wait to teach you again,” he said to the night. He listened for any sign she cowered behind one of the large potted plants or raised flower beds. Nothing.

“Have you seen her?” Darren huffed in and out as he ran toward him from around the side of the house.

Brice stared into the night, then looked up at the dark clouds rolling in. He didn’t need to see them to know they’d be buried in snow soon. The temperature seemed to drop by the second.

Overcome with the need to find her fast, he ran across the yard and into the night. He didn’t have a clue to follow. She wouldn’t have a plan or idea of where to go. He hoped to find her stumbling around in the dark, lost and ready to come home.

Darren followed on his heels. They called her name, following what seemed like the easiest path. How far could she go with Adam? She hadn’t touched a bite of the lovely meal he’d set out for them to enjoy before they were so rudely interrupted.

Somehow, she always managed to foul things up before they enjoyed the delicious meals he spent hours planning.

“Ashley!” He used that name because he didn’t want to explain to Darren what he’d been working toward and achieved this past year. Every time he used it, his frustration intensified until he felt it in every cell.

He stumbled over another rock and kicked it, sending it tumbling into the dark until it thunked against a tree. A stick snagged his pants and tore the expensive material. He thought he heard a sound to his left and ran toward it. Ten minutes later, his lungs burning, his breath sawing in and out, the cold air burning his throat and lungs, he’d found nothing. Not even a glimpse of her. For two hours he chased every whisper, shadow, and divot in the ground that might be a trail.

Darren spread out from him. Both of them frustrated when the sound they chased was each other. Time grew long and Brice’s patience frayed to the point he stopped in his tracks and screamed, “Where are you?”

Brice listened for any sound, any indication of her direction.

Leaves and brush rustled to his right.

Darren stepped out from behind a tree, his breath floating on the wind as he gasped for every breath. He closed the distance between them, lumbering on his fatigued legs. Brice’s muscles ached with the desperation he’d put into the search to find her as soon as possible.

Darren put his hand on Brice’s shoulder. “We can’t keep doing this. We don’t even know where to look. There’s no sign of her. It’s freezing out here.”

Brice turned on Darren, who stood with his arms crossed over his chest to help ward off the shivers. “You’re giving up?”

“I’m being realistic. We’re stumbling around in the dark. We’d need a huge search party to find her out here.” Darren threw his arms wide to indicate the massive ranch.

“We can’t call for help.” His frustration came out with the yelled words.

“Then we need to be smart. If she’s hiding out here, she might come back to simply get out of the cold. She’ll need food and water. If she manages to find help, you’ll need to spin this to your advantage. If she’s lost out here, well, then problem solved.”

Brice didn’t want it to end this way. He didn’t want to lose her. She belonged to him. But Darren was right—he needed to face reality.

“If you come back now, I’ll forgive you,” he shouted into the night. “This is your one and only chance.”

Nothing. Not one damn sound. Not even one of her soft whimpers, telling him she’d do as he said.

He’d given her a chance and been generous with his offer. If she’d heard and ignored him, she’d pay. One way or another.

The dark clouds obliterated the full moon, sending them into deeper darkness.

If she knew what was good for her, she’d find her way home and beg his forgiveness.

If she stayed out and the snow hit, she’d freeze to death.

If she found help, she’d wish she was dead.