Chapter 1 - THE FIRST SWING
My palm drove upward beneath Gregory’s chin.
His teeth snapped together, and the shock on his face replaced the grin he had been wearing seconds earlier.
I did not follow him when he stumbled backward.
I did not need to.
The aluminum bat slipped from his suddenly loose fingers.
I caught it before it hit the carpet.
For three silent seconds, neither of us moved.
Gregory stared at me as though the woman he had married had disappeared and someone else had stepped into her body.
In a way, he was right.
“Ashlynn.”
His voice shook.
I lowered the bat but did not release it.
“Sit down.”
His expression changed.
The disbelief became anger.
“You hit me.”
“You swung a bat at me.”
“I was trying to scare you.”
“You aimed at my ribs.”
His eyes flicked toward the cabin door.
I noticed.
So did the part of my brain that had spent years teaching Marines to recognize the moment an aggressor realized he had lost control.
Gregory lunged toward the door.
I stepped between him and it.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
His breathing became heavier.
“You think you’re tough because you were in the military?”
“No.”
I held his stare.
“I think you’re dangerous because you brought a weapon onto our honeymoon and told me your father taught you to use violence against your wife.”
Gregory’s face drained of color.
The sentence sounded different when someone else said it aloud.
Less like a threat.
More like evidence.
Then someone pounded on the door.
“Ship security.”
Gregory looked at me.
His panic disappeared almost instantly.
His corporate smile returned.
It was astonishing how quickly he could put the mask back on.
He smoothed his shirt.
Then he whispered.
“Think very carefully before you open that door.”
I said nothing.
“You embarrass me tonight, and you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”
The pounding came again.
“Security.”
Gregory leaned closer.
“My family knows people on this ship.”
I unlocked the door.
Two uniformed security officers stood outside with a cabin attendant between them.
The attendant looked frightened.
“I heard something hit the wall,” she said.
Gregory immediately laughed.
“Misunderstanding.”
I raised the baseball bat.
Both officers stiffened.
Gregory pointed at me.
“She attacked me.”
I looked at the senior officer.
“My husband removed this from his suitcase, told me it was how his father kept his mother in line, and swung it at me.”
Gregory’s smile vanished.
The officer looked from him to me.
Then his gaze settled on the red mark forming beneath Gregory’s chin.
“Ma’am, did you strike him?”
“Yes.”
Gregory smiled again.
I finished.
“After he swung the bat first.”
The cabin attendant raised one trembling hand.
“I heard him.”
Everyone turned toward her.
She swallowed.
“The walls are thin.”
Gregory went completely still.
The woman looked directly at the security officer.
“I heard Mr. Hartman say something about teaching his wife her place.”
That was when Gregory finally understood.
This was no longer his story against mine.
There was a witness.
And five minutes later, while security searched his suitcase, they found something far more disturbing than the baseball bat.
A thick envelope.
Inside were photographs of me.
Photographs I had never known were being taken.
At work.
At the gym.
Outside my apartment.
And underneath them was a document with my name printed across the top.
ACCIDENTAL DEATH BENEFIT.
May you like
The amount listed beneath it was five million dollars.
The beneficiary was Gregory Hartman.
