Chapter 3 - THE WORD SHE COULDN’T SAY
Chase did not look angry.
That frightened Katarina more.
Anger was predictable.
His anger came with pacing.
A tightened jaw.
The clicking sound he made with his tongue before saying something cruel.
Tonight he looked relaxed.
White shirt.
Dark jeans.
Bare feet.
A glass of whiskey in one hand.
As if he had been waiting for dinner rather than standing inside an apartment he had torn apart.
Joanna moved closer to Katarina.
Chase noticed.
“Why is she here?”
Joanna answered.
“Because Katarina asked me to come.”
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
Katarina felt Joanna stiffen.
“Chase.”
His eyes shifted to her.
There.
The tiny change.
Possession.
“Where were you?”
“Work.”
“Until six?”
“Yes.”
“Your meeting ended hours ago.”
“I work after meetings.”
He smiled faintly.
“Smart.”
Katarina hated when he used that tone.
Like praise for a dog.
She looked at the destroyed living room.
“What happened?”
“I was looking for something.”
“You found the phone.”
“Yes.”
“Then what else?”
His smile disappeared.
“Why do you have it?”
Joanna spoke.
“I gave it to her.”
Katarina wanted to scream.
Chase looked at Joanna.
“I knew it.”
“Good. Mystery solved.”
“Joanna.”
Katarina’s warning came too late.
Chase took one step toward them.
Joanna did not move.
“You’ve been filling her head with garbage for months.”
“No.”
“Don’t lie.”
“I’ve been telling her she deserves not to be terrified in her own apartment.”
The color changed in Chase’s face.
Katarina saw it.
“Stop.”
Neither listened.
Chase pointed toward the door.
“Get out.”
Joanna said, “Katarina comes with me.”
“This is her home.”
“Ask her.”
Silence.
Chase looked at Katarina.
The question no longer belonged to Joanna.
It belonged to her.
Do you want to leave?
Katarina opened her mouth.
Nothing came.
Chase smiled.
“See?”
Joanna’s eyes never left Katarina.
“Cat.”
Chase interrupted.
“She’s staying.”
Katarina’s ankle throbbed.
Her left arm hurt beneath the blouse.
She looked at the alarm clock cord visible through the bedroom door.
She remembered Chase’s hand wrapping it neatly around the base after unplugging it.
Calm.
Always calm.
Her phone vibrated inside her purse.
Once.
Then again.
Probably Vittorio.
The word.
Safe.
She had promised to send it after leaving.
She had not left.
Chase heard the vibration.
“Who’s calling?”
“No one.”
“Give me the phone.”
Katarina’s heart started pounding.
“No.”
The word surprised everyone.
Including her.
Chase tilted his head.
“What?”
She had said no before.
Small things.
No onions.
No movie tonight.
No, I’m tired.
But never when his voice sounded like this.
“I said no.”
Joanna exhaled slowly.
Chase set the whiskey glass down.
“Katarina.”
“Don’t.”
He stared.
“Give me your phone.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
Joanna moved between them.
Chase laughed.
“You think she’ll save you?”
Katarina looked at him.
Something strange happened.
For two years, Chase’s anger had seemed enormous because she was always alone beside it.
Now Joanna stood there.
The apartment door remained open behind them.
Neighbors could hear.
The hallway existed.
The outside world existed.
Chase became only a man.
A frightening man.
A dangerous man.
But not the whole world.
Katarina took one step backward.
“I’m leaving.”
His expression changed completely.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“We’ll talk.”
“Not tonight.”
“You’re not walking out because she put stupid ideas into your head.”
Joanna whispered, “Keep moving.”
Katarina stepped backward again.
Chase reached for her.
Joanna slapped his hand away.
Everything happened quickly after that.
Chase shoved Joanna.
Not hard enough to knock her down.
Hard enough to reveal himself.
Katarina screamed.
“DON’T TOUCH HER!”
Chase froze.
Joanna recovered.
The neighbor across the hallway opened his door.
“What’s going on?”
Chase immediately changed.
“Nothing. Family argument.”
Katarina looked at the neighbor.
Mr. Patel.
Seventy years old.
Retired chemistry teacher.
He had carried her groceries upstairs twice.
She saw uncertainty in his eyes.
Katarina knew this moment.
She could smile.
Say everything was fine.
Door closes.
World disappears again.
Instead she said, “Please call the police.”
Chase stared at her.
The hallway became perfectly quiet.
“Katarina.”
She stepped into the corridor.
“Call them.”
Mr. Patel reached for his phone.
Chase’s face hardened.
“You’re making a mistake.”
The words no longer sounded private.
Joanna heard them.
Mr. Patel heard them.
The woman from apartment 8C had opened her door too.
Katarina’s fear shifted.
It was still there.
But now it had witnesses.
Chase stepped toward the threshold.
Joanna held up her phone.
“I’m recording.”
He stopped.
“Good,” he said.
Then he looked at Katarina.
“You think Servino is going to protect you?”
Her stomach dropped.
Joanna’s eyes sharpened.
“What does Vittorio have to do with this?”
Chase smiled.
“So that’s where you’ve been.”
“No.”
“Everybody knows how he looks at you.”
“That’s not true.”
“You think I’m stupid?”
Katarina felt the old panic rising.
Defend.
Explain.
Reassure him.
Then she remembered Vittorio telling her she did not have to answer questions simply because someone asked them.
She said nothing.
Chase laughed bitterly.
“You’re sleeping with him.”
“No.”
Joanna whispered, “You don’t need to—”
Katarina lifted a hand.
She looked at Chase.
“I’m not sleeping with anyone.”
He smiled triumphantly.
“But if I were, you still wouldn’t have the right to put your hands on me.”
His smile disappeared.
Police arrived eleven minutes later.
By then Chase had transformed again.
Calm.
Cooperative.
Confused.
He told officers it was a relationship disagreement.
He claimed Katarina was emotional.
He pointed out that he had never struck anyone that evening.
He explained the apartment was jointly occupied and he had every right to search it.
Then Joanna showed them photographs.
Not tonight’s.
Older ones.
Katarina stared.
Joanna looked guilty.
“I took screenshots the times you sent me pictures asking what kind of concealer to use.”
Katarina’s face burned.
There were bruises.
Her bruises.
Different dates.
Different explanations.
One around her wrist.
One beneath her jaw.
One near her collarbone.
An officer’s expression changed.
“Ma’am, did he cause these?”
Katarina looked at Chase.
His eyes contained a promise.
Not love.
Not apology.
A promise of what would happen if she spoke.
Her mouth went dry.
She could still say no.
The officer waited.
Joanna did not speak for her.
That mattered.
Katarina whispered, “Yes.”
Chase moved.
One step.
The officers reacted immediately.
“Sir, stay where you are.”
“She’s lying.”
Katarina flinched.
Chase pointed at her.
“She falls. She drinks. She’s clumsy.”
“I barely drink.”
“You see?”
He laughed.
“She’s defensive because she knows.”
Katarina looked at the officer.
“He unplugged my alarm this morning because I had an important meeting.”
Chase’s face changed.
“He twisted my ankle Saturday because I wouldn’t tell him who texted me.”
“Katarina.”
“He grabbed my arm last night.”
“Stop talking.”
One officer moved closer to Chase.
Katarina continued.
“He took my work badge.”
Now Chase went silent.
Joanna looked at her.
Katarina’s voice strengthened.
“He used it without permission.”
Chase’s eyes became cold.
“That’s not true.”
“You were inside Servino Holdings Saturday.”
The room shifted.
For the first time Chase looked frightened.
“How would you know?”
Katarina had not expected that response.
She saw Joanna realize it too.
Police separated them.
Chase was not immediately arrested for the older assaults because documentation and jurisdictional questions required investigation.
But the officers removed him from the apartment after Katarina requested emergency protection assistance.
Nathan arrived with a company investigator before nine.
He did not bring Vittorio.
Katarina noticed.
Nathan explained why.
“Vittorio thought his presence might make you feel pressured.”
Something inside her hurt in a way that was almost gentle.
Nathan spoke to police about unauthorized corporate access.
Security footage.
Credential misuse.
Potential fraud.
That part changed everything.
Chase was no longer simply a boyfriend in a domestic dispute.
He was connected to a multi-million-dollar corporate investigation.
At 9:46, detectives detained him for questioning related to unauthorized access and possible theft of company information.
Katarina watched him enter the elevator.
Before the doors closed, he looked directly at her.
Not angry.
Smiling.
That smile kept her awake later.
Joanna brought her to a hotel.
Not a Servino property.
Not one Vittorio owned.
A small place near Rittenhouse Square where Chase would not think to look.
Katarina sat on the bed staring at her phone.
She finally remembered the word.
Safe.
She typed it to Vittorio.
One second later, three dots appeared.
Then disappeared.
Then reappeared.
Finally:
Thank you.
Nothing more.
She stared at the message.
No questions.
No demand for details.
At midnight, Katarina tried sleeping.
At 12:17, someone slid an envelope beneath the hotel-room door.
Joanna saw it first.
Neither woman touched it.
Hotel security came upstairs.
Inside the envelope was a photograph.
Katarina leaving Servino Holdings that afternoon.
Taken from across the street.
On the back, six handwritten words:
HE CAN’T WATCH YOU ALL THE TIME.
Joanna whispered, “Chase is with police.”
Katarina’s blood turned cold.
If Chase had been detained for hours, he could not have delivered it.
Which meant he had never been acting alone.
Katarina called Nathan.
Five minutes later, Vittorio called her directly.
“I need you to listen carefully.”
His voice was colder than she had ever heard.
“The Stonebridge fraud is bigger than Chase.”
“How much bigger?”
“We found another set of transactions.”
“To whom?”
Vittorio paused.
“To someone inside Servino Holdings.”
Katarina sat straighter.
“Who?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Her eyes moved to the photograph.
Someone had known her hotel.
Someone had followed her.
Someone connected to Chase knew exactly where she was.
Vittorio continued.
“And, Katarina?”
“Yes?”
“The person receiving the money had access to your employee file.”
Her stomach dropped.
“What does that mean?”
“It means whoever helped Chase knows your home address, emergency contacts, payroll information…”
He stopped.
Katarina understood the rest.
“And where Joanna lives.”
Silence.
Joanna stared at her.
Then both women heard something outside.
May you like
A soft metallic click.
The hotel-room door handle slowly began to turn.
