Joker (Deathstalkers MC 2nd Generation #6)

Chapter 7

I know the exact sound his truck makes when it turns onto our street.

That low rumble, like something heavy dragging across pavement, settles in my chest long before the headlights ever cut through the front windows. I used to run to the door when I heard it. Back when that sound meant he was home. Back when home didn’t feel like something I had to survive.

Now it means I have seconds to decide which version of my husband is about to walk through that door.

I stand in the kitchen, one hand gripping the edge of the counter so hard my fingers ache, the other pressed flat against my stomach like I can keep the panic from climbing any higher.

It’s quiet.

Too quiet.

Lexi is in her room down the hall, humming softly to herself while she lines up her stuffed animals on the bed. She does that when she’s trying to be good. When she thinks being quiet makes things better.

God, I hate that she’s learned that.

I glance at the clock on the microwave.

Two hours. He’s been gone two hours.

That was supposed to be enough time. It has to be enough time.

My eyes flick to the cabinet above the fridge, to the back corner where I’ve been slipping bills into a small envelope for months. Five dollars here. Ten there. Whatever I could tuck away without him noticing. Without setting him off.

It isn’t much. It isn’t enough. But it’s something. And something is better than nothing when you’re trying to run.

I swallow hard and force myself to move.

I grab my purse from the hook by the door, my heart already racing like I’ve done something wrong just by touching it.

Everything I need is already inside. The envelope.

A spare set of keys I had made months ago when he thought I was out grocery shopping.

A burner phone I keep turned off and buried under tissues.

I didn’t plan this perfectly. I don’t have a perfect escape. But I can’t do this anymore.

I can’t wake up every day wondering if today is the day he finally snaps in a way I can’t talk him down from. I can’t keep pretending that the way he looks at me now is anything close to love.

It didn’t start like this.

We were stupid and fast and so sure of each other. He was charming. Confident. Protective in a way that made me feel safe instead of watched. We got married quicker than my dad wanted, quicker than anyone thought was smart, but I didn’t care. I thought I knew him.

I thought I was choosing a life.

Not a cage.

The changes were small at first. A comment here. A sharp tone there.

He didn’t like the way I dressed. Said it drew attention. Said other men looked too long. He didn’t like my friends. Said they didn’t respect our marriage. Said they were a bad influence. He didn’t like how often I called my dad. Said I needed to focus on us.

It was always framed like concern. Like love. Like he just wanted what was best for me. And then one day I looked around and realized there wasn’t anyone left but him.

No friends. No family. No one checking in. No one to notice how quiet I’d gotten.

He monitors my phone now. Every call. Every message. Every contact.

If I reach out, he knows. If I even think about reaching out, I hear his voice in my head telling me exactly what will happen if I do.

“They’ll get in our business, Raven. You want that? You want your daddy sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong? We’re married. We handle our own problems.”

Our problems. Like I’m part of this. Like I chose any of it.

My chest tightens and I force myself to breathe through it.

Not now.

I can’t break now.

I push away from the counter and walk down the hall to Lexi’s room.

She looks up the second I step inside, her big eyes bright, her little fingers stilling on the stuffed rabbit she’s been dragging everywhere lately. “Mommy?”

I crouch down in front of her, smoothing her hair back from her face, memorizing the softness of it like I haven’t done it a thousand times already.

“Hey, baby,” I say softly, forcing a smile that doesn’t quite reach my eyes. “How do you feel about a trip?”

Her face lights up instantly. “A trip?”

“Yeah,” I whisper, my voice steady even though everything inside me is shaking. “A little vacation. Just you and me.”

She claps her hands, bouncing on the bed. “Can we bring Bunny?”

I laugh under my breath, the sound fragile. “Of course we can bring Bunny.”

She launches herself at me and I catch her automatically, holding her tight for a second longer than usual. Breathing her in. Grounding myself in her warmth.

I’m doing this for her. I’m doing this so she never has to learn how to read a man’s mood just to stay safe.

“So we have to be really quiet, okay?” I murmur against her hair. “It’s like a game.”

“A game,” she repeats, serious now, like she’s been given an important job.

“That’s right.”

I pull back and help her slip on her shoes, my fingers clumsy as I tie them. Every second feels too loud. Too slow. We move back toward the front of the house together, her small hand wrapped around mine, her stuffed rabbit tucked under her arm.

I grab my purse. My keys. My heart is pounding so hard I can hear it in my ears.

This is it.

This is the moment.

I reach for the door handle and hesitate for half a breath, my mind flashing through every worst-case scenario in rapid succession.

What if he comes back early? What if he catches us halfway down the driveway?

What if—

No.

I can’t think like that.

I twist the handle and pull the door open. And everything inside me drops. He’s standing there. Right on the other side of the door. Close enough that I nearly run into him.

Cal.

His eyes are locked on mine, and there’s something in them that makes my blood go cold. Not anger. Not exactly. Something quieter. Something worse. Understanding.

He tilts his head slightly, taking in the purse on my shoulder, the keys in my hand, Lexi at my side. Then he smiles. It doesn’t reach his eyes. “Going somewhere?” he asks, his voice calm in a way that sets every nerve in my body on fire.

My throat goes dry. I can’t speak. I can’t even think.

His gaze flicks down to Lexi. “Hey, sweetheart,” he says, all easy charm now. “Why don’t you go put a movie on for Daddy? Something loud.”

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 myself up, 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…

We’re not getting out at all.