Chapter 5
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Nothing Stolen
Power cut to one unit. Neighbors still have theirs. The electrical closet forced open, hinges removed. Drill holes in the walls. Nothing stolen. The intrusion itself was the point.
San Francisco
10 chapters
All chapters tagged with San Francisco
Act I
Chapter 6
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The Illness
Something is wrong with Steve. Conflicting diagnoses. Tara moves in to take care of him. The symptoms don't match any single explanation. Neither does her attentiveness.
Chapter 10
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The Builder
He leaves New York. Gets a driver. Returns to work. Ring is growing — Kleiner money, Ukraine team producing, Amazon watching. Jamie wants more than Steve can give. Prism gets caught in the middle. He meets a woman named Aunt K at a ranch that used to belong to the painter of cottages. For a while, life is normal. Then two catastrophes collide.
Act II
Chapter 13
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The Painter of Cottages
Aunt K comes back. A ranch that belonged to the painter of cottages. Light on the hills. Then Amazon buys Ring, Jamie deletes the options, and Steve files a fourteen-count complaint. Aunt K helps him win.
Chapter 16
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Terms
Weeks of phone calls from San Francisco to New York. Tara blames her parents. Tara promises cooperation. Tara asks about finances. Then she asks for a private jet.
Chapter 17
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The Jet
A private jet carries Evie from Teterboro to San Francisco. Steve waits at the other end. What he cannot see — what is happening simultaneously in text threads with Jesse, Matan, and Walsh Sr. — is that Tara has planned the exit before the arrival.
Act III
Chapter 18
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Save This, I've Got Him
A three-level townhouse in North Beach. A nanny. A grandmother. For weeks it feels almost ordinary. Then Tara takes a knife sharpener to Steve's iPhone. Nine marks that look like bullet holes. She photographs a bruise on her thigh and texts her boyfriend. Save this. I've got him.
Chapter 19
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The Leaning Tower
Steve moves into a sinking building and goes to the police. The building absorbs its lean internally. So does the investigation.
Chapter 20
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The Niacin Flush
A wine-and-art event. Two women who walk past the table too many times. Fifteen minutes later, his skin turns red and his body heats up. Tara records the entire episode. He recognizes the feeling from exercise supplements: niacin.
Act VIII
Chapter 44
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What Twelve People Saw
The civil battery case reaches trial in San Francisco Superior Court. A different courtroom. Twelve neutral citizens. The jury hears Steve's account of the nanny's disclosure, Tara's answers, and the documentary evidence.