Page 3 of Joker

My stomach drops. “Cal—”

His eyes snap back to mine, and whatever was soft in his tone disappears. “Movie. Now.”

Lexi looks between us, confused, then nods and slips past him down the hall, her little feet padding quickly across the floor.

I don’t move. I can’t.

I hear her bedroom door shut.

And the second it does, his hand comes out of nowhere. The crack echoes through the entryway as his palm connects with my face. Pain explodes across my cheek, my vision going white for a second as I stumble back and hit the floor hard.

I taste blood. My ears ring. I barely register the sound of the front door slamming shut behind him. I try to push myselfup, but he’s already there, crouching in front of me, gripping my jaw hard enough to bruise.

“You really thought you were going to walk out that door?” he asks quietly.

My chest heaves, panic clawing up my throat. “I—I wasn’t—”

“Don’t,” he snaps, tightening his grip until I gasp. “Don’t insult me like that. Did you think I wouldn’t know? I see everything,” his hand waves in a circle around the house.

My eyes dart around the room, desperate, searching for something, anything. And then I see it.

The small black dome in the corner of the ceiling. Another one near the hallway. Another I hadn’t noticed before above the kitchen entry.

Cameras.

Everywhere.

My stomach twists violently.

He follows my gaze and huffs out a humorless laugh. “Yeah,” he murmurs. “I figured it was time.”

My heart drops into my stomach. “You’ve been…watching?”

“All those little trips to the store,” he says, his thumb pressing harder into my jaw. “All those extra minutes. The way you thought I wouldn’t notice a few dollars missing here and there.”

Tears blur my vision. “Cal, please—”

“I watched you plan your little escape,” he continues, his voice almost conversational. “Watched you stash money. Watched you think you were smarter than me.”

My chest caves in on itself.

He leans in closer, his breath hot against my face, his voice dropping to something cold and final. “If you want to leave me, Raven…”

My pulse roars in my ears.

“…you’ll do it in a casket.”

Everything inside me goes still.

Not calm. Not peace.

Just the sharp, terrifying clarity of someone who realizes there is no safe version of this man left.

Not angry. Not tired. Not even rough in that way I used to tell myself I could handle.

This version is worse. Quiet. Certain. Done pretending. And in that moment, as I sit on the floor with blood on my tongue and fear crawling under my skin, I understand something with brutal, undeniable clarity.

If I don’t get Lexi out of here soon…