Chapter 1 - THE NUMBER FIVE
Ryan Carter never started with anger.
That was what made him difficult to explain.
He started with calm.
Ava stood across the living room from him, barefoot on cold hardwood, watching him unbutton the cuffs of his dark shirt.
Ryan rolled one sleeve to his elbow.
Then the other.
Slowly.
Almost neatly.
He smiled.
“Five.”
Ava’s stomach dropped.
“Ryan.”
“Four.”
She backed away.
Not because the number meant anything to anyone else.
Because she knew what happened after one.
Three weeks earlier, after an argument about Northstar Partners, Ryan had counted down from five while standing in the kitchen.
Ava stopped talking at two.
He smiled and poured himself another drink.
Nothing happened.
A month before that, she kept arguing.
At one, he took her phone and threw it into the sink.
Two months before that, she locked herself in the bathroom.
At one, he removed the door from its hinges the next morning and called it “a marriage without barriers.”
The first bruise appeared six months ago.
Ryan said he had grabbed her because she was trying to walk into traffic during an argument.
Ava remembered only trying to leave a restaurant.
Tonight was different.
Ryan looked almost pleased.
“Three.”
Ava turned and ran.
Behind her, he did not rush.
That frightened her more.
She crossed the apartment, hit the bedroom, slammed the door, and shoved a chair beneath the handle.
Then a small table.
Then the upholstered bench.
Ryan’s footsteps approached.
Not fast.
Not angry.
“Two.”
Ava pushed harder against the furniture.
Silence.
Then Ryan stopped directly outside.
“One.”
Nothing happened.
For two seconds.
Three.
Ava stopped breathing.
Then the door exploded inward.
The chair slid.
The table overturned.
Ava screamed and ran through the dressing room into the hall.
Ryan followed.
Laughing.
“Run faster, Ava.”
She nearly fell at the corner.
Her bruised shoulder hit the wall.
Pain shot down her arm.
She kept going.
Kitchen.
She reached the marble counter.
Dead end.
Ryan entered behind her.
“Nowhere left to go.”
Ava backed against the counter, shaking so hard her teeth hurt.
Ryan stepped closer.
Then Ava’s hand found cold metal beside the fireplace alcove.
The poker.
She grabbed it with both hands.
Raised it.
“Come closer.”
Ryan stopped.
For the first time, his smile disappeared.
Then he looked past her.
Toward the kitchen counter.
Ava followed his eyes.
Ryan’s phone stood upright against a wine bottle.
Recording.
Ava stared.
Ryan took one step forward.
May you like
And suddenly she understood.
He wanted her to swing.
