And then I capped the marker, and picked up my daughter, and became, again, the surgeon — because it was the surgeon, not the wife, who was going to keep us both safe.

Chapter 8 — The Trap Springs

For two days I recovered in a high, quiet apartment in Charleston and let the thing I had built do its work, while Priya fed me the fallout by the hour.

Roderick’s first move was to drive to my parents’ place, certain he’d find me weeping in their guest room.

Instead he was met at the gate by my brother, Everett, who declined to let him past the end of the driveway — and who then, without raising his voice, recited back to him the make and registration of Odette’s sports car and the exact unit number of her waterfront apartment, so there could be no more pretending any of it was a secret.

But the real reckoning arrived at nine o’clock on Monday morning, when my legal team served formal notice of the trust freezes directly to the corporate headquarters of the Pembroke Group.