Dead Wife, Lost Dog, and Her Return

For five years, Zachary Dawson has paid off his late wife's debts, clinging to Pudding, the dog Casey Hill left behind. When Pudding is tortured by a girl named Jenna and dies, Zachary confronts the girl—and meets Casey, alive, wealthy, and indifferent. Casey calls him "sir" and demands he apologize to her daughter.

Zachary carries Pudding's urn home to his basement, where a medical report waits: late-stage stomach cancer. He has worked himself to the bone for a woman who faked her death, built a new life, and now denies him.

As grief and rage consume him, Zachary coughs up blood—and the truth of Casey's betrayal may cost him everything.