I Divorced the Devil with a Pet Snake

From the back cover

Everyone in Chicago calls Damien Sinclair a cold-blooded monster, and his house full of venomous snakes is proof enough. Elena married him only because their engagement predated the Carter family's bankruptcy, and for years she watched him toy with countless women while she, his wife, was left to kneel and write checks to send them away. All the while, she had loved him in silence for ten years, believing she could thaw the ice in his heart.

Then Amber arrives, a factory girl from the countryside whom Damien treats as something sacred. When Elena's sister finally finds a kidney match, the hospital calls—but it is Amber's voice that answers, and Damien's warning that follows. After her sister's death, Elena brings divorce papers to his office, only to be told to apologize to Amber, to crawl into the doghouse of his German Shepherd, Bruno, and to surrender the wooden necklace her sister made. Damien signs, and Amber pulls from her coat the small porcelain jar holding the ashes.