Trunk For Our Daughter Seat For Her Dog Novel by Halsey Yates _ Novel




Trunk For Our Daughter Seat For Her Dog Chapter 01

Chapter 1 Seven Years Together

On the hottest day of the year, my husband's assistant, Alicia Stanton, shoved my daughter, Lyra, into the trunk of the car so her dog could have the seat.
"Max is a big dog. He can't fit in the trunk. If she doesn't wanna ride back there, she can always get out and run alongside us."
She didn't stop there. "Besides, my fur baby is worth way more than that little brat. He's purebred. She's not. She's a bastard, right?"
I pulled Lyra into my arms, my heart breaking for her. Then I turned around and shipped Alicia off on a business trip to Ironveil, a sweltering, crime-ridden wasteland of a country.
The very next day, my husband, Roman Steele, showed up with Alicia clinging to his side, sobbing her eyes out. He walked straight up to me and slapped me across the face.
"Whatever Alicia says goes. Who the hell gave you the right to mess with my people?"
I stared at him in disbelief and screamed back. "That's your daughter, Roman! It was 104 degrees out, and she was trapped in that trunk all day! She's still in the hospital!"
He shoved me aside like I was in his way.
"Alicia treats that dog like her own son. So let's settle this fair and square. We'll have them race. Whoever's faster gets to be my heir."
*****
I couldn't believe what I just heard. The blood rushed to my head so fast that everything went numb, and I couldn't even come up with a response.
"You know what, forget it." Alicia dabbed at the corner of her eye where no tears existed and put on a scared little act. "I don't want Nadia coming after me again behind your back. Next time, she'll probably ship me off to some war zone and get me killed."
Roman took the bait instantly. "Not while I'm around. She wouldn't dare."
His eyes turned cold, and he picked up his phone to have Lyra dragged out of the hospital right then and there.
When they brought her in, she was so weak she could barely open her eyes. Her lips were cracked and caked with dried blood.
"Mommy..."
That one word shattered me. I lunged for her, but the bodyguards grabbed me and held me back.
Roman gave me a flat, emotionless look, then ordered them to toss Lyra into the fenced yard without a shred of hesitation.
"Nadia, think real hard about the consequences before you touch one of my people again."
Seven years of sharing the same bed, and the man standing in front of me was a complete stranger.
He was the same person who had taken Lyra to every Disney park in the world.
And now he was making her race a dog in hundred-degree heat.
Lyra and I had been by his side when he had nothing. Then Alicia blocked one drink for him at a party, and that was all it took to steal his heart.
"Mommy, I don't feel good... it's so hot..."
Lyra struggled to her feet and wobbled toward me. But before she could take more than a step, Alicia's dog slammed into her and sent her crashing to the ground. The back of her head hit the pavement with a sickening thud.
"Aw, good boy, Max! Protecting Mommy like that." Alicia scratched behind the dog's ears and smiled, then held up her wrist to show a faded red mark that was barely visible anymore. "Who knows if that little psycho would've snapped again. She bit me yesterday, you know."
That mark was from Lyra struggling when Alicia forced her into the trunk. The second Lyra's teeth grazed her skin, Alicia had slapped the child hard enough to leave her face swollen.
Now she was using it as ammunition.
"Roman, if you do this to Lyra, I want a divorce!"
I screamed at him, my eyes locked on Lyra, who couldn't even stand up anymore.
Roman's expression darkened. He closed the distance between us in two steps, gripped my chin, and squeezed hard enough to bruise.
"Divorce? Could you really walk away from all this? Everyone knows you're just a gold-digging tramp, Nadia. If my business hadn't blown up, you would've run off with that little childhood sweetheart of yours a long time ago.
"Throw all the tantrums you want. It won't change a thing. Alicia deserves payback, and she's going to get it."
So that was what he really thought of me. Seven years together, and one rumor from a stranger meant more than everything we had built.
"No... don't yell at Mommy... I will run. I will run right now..."
Lyra grabbed the fence and pulled herself up. The gravel sliced into her tiny palms, and blood dripped steadily from the back of her head.
Her whole body was drenched in sweat. The skin on her little face was raw and peeling from the sun. But she forced her eyes open as wide as they would go and started dragging herself forward.
Half a mile of road, and that massive dog treated the whole thing like a game. It circled Lyra with wild excitement, toying with her like a cat batting around a mouse. It slammed into her over and over, knocking her to the ground, then barked at her to get back up.
I could see her legs shaking. She had nothing left.
"Roman, I'm begging you. If you want payback, take it out on me. Leave Lyra out of this. She's just a little girl. Are you really gonna kill her?"
My voice cracked into a raw scream, and tears blurred everything in front of me.
Roman just stood there watching me fall apart. His expression didn't change. "Alicia is my whole world. I just want you to understand what it feels like when someone messes with the person you'd die for."
Alicia blushed and gave Roman a playful shove. Then her eyes lit up with an idea.
"Why don't we just let Max take her for a run? It's so hot out here, and I wanna go home and crank the AC. The only place I'm okay with sweating is in your bed."
She giggled and called the dog over. She unclipped its collar, looped it around Lyra's neck, and pulled it tight. Then she handed the leash to the dog's mouth.
"Go on, Max. Take her for a run."
The dog shot forward like a rocket. Lyra never stood a chance.
I watched her get yanked off her feet again and again. Every time she hit the ground, her chin split open a little more until her face was a mess of raw, bloody skin.
By the end, she wasn't even trying to stand. The dog just dragged her by the neck across the dirt.
"Mommy... Mommy..."
Her voice was barely a whisper. She couldn't even open her eyes anymore. All she could do was mouth my name.
When it was finally over, I sprinted to the end of the road and scooped Lyra into my arms. She was unconscious.
"Hope that teaches you a lesson this time."
Roman had his arm around Alicia. He tossed the words over his shoulder like an afterthought and walked away.
I stared at their backs, then pulled out my phone and called my childhood friend. "This time, I'll go with you."

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