I looked out at the freezing garden as the wind began to howl.

The intercom speaker beside the keypad crackled to life.

Static hissed into the freezing air.

“Cold out there, isn’t it?” Mark’s voice was loud and distorted.

I leaned closer to the metal grate of the speaker.

“Open the door, Mark,” I said.

My voice shook, but not just from the cold.

“I don’t think I will,” he said.

A dry chuckle came through the receiver.

“The wind is picking up, Claire. It is going to be a very long night.”

“This is my mother’s house,” I said, my hand still gripping the cold brass handle. “You have no right to lock me out.”

“I have every right,” Mark said. “As your husband, I have a duty to protect our joint interests. Or what should be our joint interests.”

I looked down at the gravel driveway.

The tall iron gates at the end of the road were completely shut now.

The heavy padlocks on the iron bars gleamed in the faint moonlight.

I was trapped on the grounds of my own estate.