CHAPTER 2 — The Husband Everyone Trusted
The next morning...
Merritt kissed Tova on the forehead before work.
"You look beautiful today."
Anyone watching would have called him the perfect husband.
The bruise beneath her collarbone still hadn't faded from where he'd slammed her into the refrigerator four nights earlier.
As soon as he left, Tova counted.
Ten...
Twenty...
Thirty...
Only then did she quietly pull a tiny prepaid phone from inside an empty oatmeal container.
The only thing Merritt hadn't found.
She had bought it eighteen months ago using cash tips.
It had never been turned on.
Until today.
Her fingers trembled.
She typed exactly three words.
Help me. Please.
She stared at Bauer's number.
Her older brother.
The last person who had ever made her feel safe.
She couldn't press send.
If Merritt somehow found out...
She deleted the message.
Again.
Across the city...
Tamash's report landed on Alaric's desk.
He expected another ordinary domestic abuse case.
Instead...
The folder kept growing.
Every page made the room colder.
Health Inspector.
Political donors.
Three charity boards.
Excellent reputation.
No criminal history.
Yet...
Six anonymous complaints from neighbors reporting screams.
Every complaint mysteriously disappeared.
Two emergency-room visits where Tova refused treatment.
Hospital security footage showing Merritt signing discharge papers before doctors finished examining her.
One insurance policy.
Worth $4.8 million.
Recently updated.
Primary beneficiary...
Merritt Calloway.
Alaric closed the folder.
Very slowly.
Then opened another.
His sister Maren's case.
The similarities were unbearable.
The same isolation.
The same financial control.
The same smiling husband.
The same invisible cage.
He whispered only one sentence.
"I won't bury another sister."
Tamash understood immediately.
"You want him dead?"
Alaric looked out over Baltimore Harbor.
"No."
Tamash blinked.
"No?"
"Dead men become victims."
Alaric's expression hardened.
"I want the world to watch him become exactly what he is."
That evening...
Tova returned home.
The apartment smelled like expensive cologne.
Merritt was already waiting.
Sitting in darkness.
One photograph rested on the coffee table.
Her.
Standing beside Alaric.
The moment he had handed her the handkerchief.
Someone had been taking pictures.
Merritt smiled.
"So..."
"You've upgraded."
Her blood froze.
"I don't know him."
He slapped her so hard she crashed into the wall.
"I said..."
"Don't lie."
He threw twenty printed photographs across the floor.
Different angles.
Different moments.
Every one made them appear intimate.
Who had taken them?
Why?
Then Merritt quietly pulled out divorce papers.
"I'll tell everyone you're sleeping with Baltimore's biggest criminal."
He leaned closer.
"They'll believe me."
"And when they do..."
"You'll lose everything."
He smiled.
"As always."
Outside the apartment building...
A black SUV watched from across the street.
Tamash lowered his binoculars.
He heard the slap through the open window.
His hand slowly reached for the pistol beneath his jacket.
His phone vibrated.
One message.
From Alaric.
Not yet.
Tamash lowered the weapon.
May you like
The boss wasn't planning revenge.
He was building something far worse.
