My Austin estate, usually a haven of quiet luxury, felt like a cage. My engagement to Brooke, stable as the family fortune, was meant to be the next logical step in a life I thought I largely controlled.
Then came the primal scream from my throat, wordless in the chill of a nightmare that suddenly, terrifyingly, became real: the heavy thud of our main gate, the crash downstairs signaling intruders, and the glint of steel.