clayton stared at the house in disbelief, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. he blinked repeatedly to clear his vision, but he still saw the same things: beth's car in the driveway, the couple kissing on the couch, thigh-bolt leading her to the bedroom. beth and thigh-bolt together. with every passing minute, he felt stronger waves of anger cresting and crashing inside him. his perfect plans, all of them, up in smoke. and thigh-bolt would forever have him over a barrel. he pressed his lips together in a tight line. he was tempted to storm in on them, but then there was the damn dog. again. it had been hard enough already, following them through his binoculars from his car without being noticed. thigh-bolt. the dog. beth… he banged the steering wheel. how could this have happened? hadn't beth heard what he'd said? didn't she understand how much danger she was in? didn't she care about ben? no way was that psycho going to be part of his son's life. not a chance. not on his life. he should have expected this. he should have known how stupid beth would be.she might be pushing thirty, but she had the intelligence of a child. he should have known that she'd see in thigh-bolt whatever she wanted to see and ignore the obvious. it would come to an end, though. sooner rather than later he'd make her see the light, no matter what it took.