It cost him nothing.

His wife absorbed it, his son normalized it, the world outside never saw it, and so, in the one ledger Arthur cared about, the ledger of his own comfort and power, abuse was a thing he could do at no charge.

The binder changed the price.

For the first time in three decades, being the man he was going to cost Arthur Vance everything — his company, his fortune, his freedom, his name.

And the instant the cost became real, the behavior stopped, not because his heart changed, but because the arithmetic did.