The door rattled in the frame when it shut. Dominic stood in the middle of the room motionless. Rozie glared at him, but his gaze remained fixed on the floor. Her fear had turned into something else.

  “What the hell was that, Dom?”

  She heard the warbling hysteria in her voice. Her words buffeted him. He flinched. Rozie’s hands and face tingled.

  Somewhere in the mansion Sara taunted the others in a singsong voice. Rozie stomped to the door and gave the lock a savage twist. The rust-coated mechanism chirped in protest. She put her hands on her hips and faced Dominic.

  “What the hell was that thing, Dominic?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Dom said in a shrill voice.

  He clapped his hands to his temples and slowly drew his fingers through his closely cropped hair. For a moment he lost himself scraping the mixture of dirt, bug spray, and dead skin from his face. Rozie glared at him, willing him to break down. He stiffened suddenly, and his arms dropped to his sides, eyes drifting listlessly to the door.

  “I need a shower,” he said after a long stretch of silence.

  He stepped around Rozie into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. Water surged through the pipes in the walls as Dom opened the valves. Rozie was stunned that he could ignore her—could ignore what just happened! She spun and stalked to the bathroom, but Dom locked the door. She yanked at the knob.

  “Dominic!” Rozemarijn pounded on the door. “What is going on?”

  Fear tilted into anger. There had never been a locked door between them. Not like this. Hot tears clouded her vision, stinging her eyes. A sob racked her chest. As she wiped her face, the fingers curled around the door still haunted her memory. The long yellow nails.

  Her cries had stirred the baby from his second nap of the afternoon. She staggered backward as Dominic threw the shower curtain closed, water splashing. Her eyes fell on the closet. She could see her suitcase on the luggage rack, with her dirty clothes dumped beneath it. She lunged at the bag and, aided by anger and fear-fueled adrenaline, threw it onto the bed. With another lunge that left her lightheaded, she scooped up her clothes and threw them into the suitcase. She pounded on the top of the suitcase trying to zip it closed.

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  Rozie glared at the bathroom door. Dom was good at packing. She glared at the bathroom door. Water cascaded in the shower without disturbance, and she could envision Dom standing motionless under the stream, staring into nothing like he had in the bedroom. He had to know what was going on. These were his friends. It hung in the air. When Rozie slammed her fists onto the top of the suitcase.

  The bathroom door stood between her and the car keys, still tucked in his pants pocket—probably sitting in a pile inches from the door. They had to leave today. This place… A glimmer caught her eye. Condensation, dribbled down the outside of her cup of water. She hadn’t touched it since she had come back from her massage. At the sight of the cup, she felt her tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth.

  Rozie snatched the cup and took three large gulps. She caught her breath and then tilted back the glass, savoring the cool water. Sulfur be damned. The glass felt cool to the touch, and she stroked the condensation with her thumb. They had to leave. Not one more night here. Her baby flipped in his confinement. She could feel him relax, probably going back to sleep. A limb rested on her stinging bladder. The shower shut off.

  She stood up and approached the door. Inside, Dom stepped and shuffled. She knocked twice.

  “Dom, I need to use the bathroom.”

  The noise stopped. After a pause, Dominic finally unlocked the door. Rozie pushed her way inside. He stood at the pedestal sink with his back to her, towel wrapped around his waist. Rozie, silent and fuming, watched him as she sat on the toilet. His hands trembled as he gripped the edge of the sink. His head was down, but she saw his eyes shut tight in the mirror.

  She wanted to push. He wouldn’t let her leave without him, she couldn’t bear to him stranded here. Rozie glanced at the pile of clothes on the floor. His shirt, sweaty and streaked with dirt, lay rumpled on top of the pants where Dom had dropped them to the floor. She finished and stood, placing and hand on his back.

  “Dom?”

  His eyes opened, red and haggard. He looked at her in the mirror.

  “We can’t leave Rozie.” Exhaustion threaded through the words. “This trip. The stupid games. They’re… too important.”

  The words struck her, like he could read her thoughts.He turned around, grabbing her hands. “I need this.” His head dropped, and he stared at her belly. He placed his hand on her abdomen. “We need this.”

  They stood like that in the humid bathroom until Dominic slid out of her grasp. Rozie listened as he rummaged through his suitcase in the bedroom. He had to have seen her bag on the bed. She placed her hands on her stomach, then turned to the bedroom. Dominic lay sprawled on the bed in his underwear. His suit lay draped a chair. He twitched, and she realized he had already drifted off to sleep. She glanced at the clock by the bed. With still over two hours until dinner, and she was already hungry.

  Fatigue washed over her as her emotions staled. She set an alarm and crawled into bed next to her husband. Rozie gave the suitcase a kick and groaned as it spilled out onto the floor. After wrapping herself around her husband, trembling with anger, sleep fell suddenly on her.