Chapter 1 - The Alarm at 5:17 AM
|
The harsh blue glow of the alarm clock read 5:17 a.m. when Grant’s hand slammed down onto my shoulder, shaking me awake without a trace of softness.
“Get up, Natalie,” he commanded, his voice cold and clipped. “You’ve already overslept.”
I blinked through the haze of exhaustion, my hand instinctively resting over my swollen, seven-months-pregnant belly. Beneath my ribs, my daughter kicked softly, as if she too could feel the sudden spike of adrenaline in the room.
“Grant... guests aren’t arriving until four this afternoon,” I murmured, my voice thick with sleep. “You said I could rest until seven.”
Grant stood over the bed, dressed impeccably in tailored gray slacks and a crisp white shirt, looking like a man preparing for a corporate takeover rather than a Christmas family gathering.
“That was before I realized how much work is left,” he said, pulling back the duvet and leaving me exposed to the morning chill. “The house looks like a disaster.”
The house was immaculate. I had spent six hours the previous evening scrubbing the kitchen counters, polishing the dining room mahogany, and vacuuming every carpet until the lines were perfectly straight. But over our three years of marriage, I had learned a painful lesson: for Grant, perfection was merely the baseline, and failure was anything less than total submission.
“I’ll start on the turkeys,” I whispered, forcing myself to sit up while my lower back throbbed with a dull, persistent ache.
“Good,” Grant said, not even looking at me as he straightened his tie in the mirror. “Fourteen partners and senior associates from the firm are coming. If the dinner isn’t flawless, it reflects directly on my standing.”
“Fourteen?” My heart sank. “You said six.”
He turned around slowly, his eyes narrowing into two icy slits.
“Are you questioning me, Natalie? Or are you just being dramatic again?”
May you like
“No,” I said quickly, lowering my eyes. “I’ll make it work.”
That was the first rule of surviving Grant Holloway: never argue, never push back, and always smile through the fatigue.
