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At 30, Nicholas Straite, a New Yorker is the American dream. He has a
medical degree from the John Hopkins School of Medicine. Nicholas owns a penthouse on Park Avenue. He also has a lover, Dr. Anne Rosenberg. Age 45, she’s sworn never to let him go.

On August 14,2004 nineteen-year-old Elena Pereira finds trouble at the Mount, a road that leads to her home in Aguas Mansas, Puerto Rico. Afraid her family will forbid her to study in New York, she remains quiet about her ordeal. After all, they'll assume something worse may happen to her in the city. Perhaps, but Elena has vowed to become a pediatrician. Fear isn't in her cards, and neither is commitment to any man.

On the night she arrives in New York on Labor Day in September, Elena meets Nicholas Straite. He smiles, a grin that tells her, “I want you.” In turn, she can’t understand why she fears him. After all, she's never met him before, has she?

Against all odds, Nicholas wins Elena's heart. Soon after, he begins to change. Something is wrong, but what? Desperate to save their relationship, Elena seeks the help of Katí Amilsudhir, a Cuban woman who aspires to be a santera. She knows the future of these lovers.

But Katí can’t foresee a tragedy in Nicholas’ past. Neither can she see a man whom poses a greater threat than the mystery in her lover’s life. Instead, in trance she warns Elena, “Beware of a green house on stilts.”

When Nicholas reveals his secret, Elena must make a choice. She can walk away, stay and live a lie. After all, he will pretend to love her again, this time as then, for the wrong reason.

Lives are shattered and rebuilt in the face of evil. But as Katí predicts, the green house on stilts frees Elena to love again.

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