At home, Charlie looked out the living room window. He saw Carol pull up in her car and get out of it. Charlie walked toward the door.

He heard the sound of keys as Carol unlocked the door. She opened it and entered the apartment. She closed the door and looked at Charlie. She angrily walked past him without saying a word. She set her purse down on a chair and she turned to face her husband.

“Look,” she said, “I know I may have been a little distant, but that doesn't give you the right to give me an ultimatum to be home by 5:30 or find another husband. If there's a problem we can fix it Charlie, but that's not the way to do it.”

“Tell me, Carol, do you think we have a problem?”

“Well obviously you think we do or we wouldn't be having this conversation.”

“Let's see – how about a wife that cheats on her husband, and goes to sex parties and takes men and women for lovers – does that sound like it would be a problem? For the husband, anyway. The wife might not think it's a problem.”

“Charlie, I told you this morning that I would never cheat on you. I don't know where you got the idea from that I would cheat on you, but I've been true to you since before we were married.”

“Really? Why don't we start with Ralph? You remember Ralph, don't you? He's the guy you spent an hour with after you left home this morning.”

“You followed me? How dare you!”

“Isn't that rich?” said Charlie, slowly walking towards his wife. “You cheat on me, but you're outraged because I followed you. You arrogant bitch.”

Charlie grabbed Carol by the throat. Carol grabbed his arm with both hands but her strength was no match for his. He held her neck, but he didn’t choke her. Charlie pulled out his knife and held it up for her to see.

“I should kill you like I killed your friend Ralph.”

“What?”

“After you left him this morning Ralph and I had a little chat. He was an ass, though, so I slaughtered him. Whether I slaughter you or not remains to be seen. You seem to think I'm stupid. Let's see what you think when I'm done with you tonight.”

Still holding her by her neck, Charlie forced Carol down the hall to their bedroom. He shoved Carol onto the bed, then moved next to her, holding up the knife. Carol stared fearfully at Charlie, whose face clearly showed that he'd kill her if she gave him a reason to.

“Would you like to scream now? Hank tried screaming, and got a broken neck for it.”

Looking from the knife to Charlie's face, Carol shook her head.

“Charlie, I don't know what you think you know, but –”

“I found your other email account, the one you used for your lovers. I read all of the emails, the ones you sent and the ones you received. Ralph and Hank are dead because they're arrogant assholes. Michael and Lucy are still alive because they confessed and were sorry. If you tell me one more lie, I swear I'll gut you alive. I can't believe I married such a lying sack of shit. Tell me one more lie, just one, and I'll make the world a better place by taking you out of it.”

Carol started crying. “I – I –”

“You're so used to lying that when you're forced to tell the truth you don't know what to say. You want to lie so badly right now, don't you?”

Carol sobbed and nodded her head.

“I can't believe I wanted to have children with you. You have no honor. You lie to get what you want, and you screw anything that moves. You don't deserve a life as a human being. You should have been a bug or a rodent.”

“Are you going to kill me?”

“If you scream, I'll kill you. If you try to run, I'll kill you. If you lie to me, I'll kill you.”

“I didn't mean to hurt you. I didn't think you would find out.”

“Because you thought you were the smart one and I was stupid.”

“I –”

“Don't lie.”

“Yes.”

“How about now? Do you think I'm stupid now?”

“No.”

“How many were there? How many people did you screw behind my back?”

“I don't know. I didn't count them.”

“But too many to remember.”

“I – yes.”

“More than twenty?”

“Yes.”

“More than fifty?”

“Yes.”

“More than a hundred?”

“Probably, yes. There were a lot of people at a lot of parties. It was just for fun. It didn't mean anything.”

“We were going to have a family! I risked my life for this country, and I thought you were waiting for me. I thought you were a great woman, and that you were going to be the mother of my children. But it turns out that you're just a worm. You aren't worthy to be the mother of my children.”

“I didn't mean to hurt you. I really didn't.”

“But you did hurt me! You ended the life that I thought I had! The dream of a loving wife and happy kids! You've destroyed that. I thought you were a good woman, but you're not. How will I ever know if any woman I see can be trusted? You may not have meant to hurt me, but you could hardly have hurt me more. I can't tell you how badly I want to hurt you now.”

“I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry.”

“You're sorry you got caught. I'm sure of that.”

“I'm sorry I hurt you. I never meant to hurt you.”

“Maybe. I don't know, but maybe. But I don't have time for any more talk. I have a flight to catch. Do you want to live, or would you like me to put you out of your misery?”

“I want to live.”

Charlie put the knife back into its scabbard, took a bottle from the nightstand and opened the bottle. He poured several pills into his hand. He handed the pills to Carol.

“What are these?” she asked.

“Sleeping pills. I can't have you waking up until I'm safely out of this country.”

Carol took the pills, then reached for a glass of water on the nightstand. She drank the water, then put the glass back down.

“How long before they start to work?”

“I don't know, but I don't have time to wait.”

Charlie backhanded Carol in the face, knocking her unconscious. She moved a little, and he hit her again. He nudged her, but she was out cold. He slowly pulled the knife out once more.

“Now for your punishment,” he said, moving the knife toward her face.

Outside of a hotel on the Venezuelan coast, Charlie was sitting on a chaise lounge near a swimming pool. The chaise was in a row of similar chairs, none of which were occupied. Carmen walked up to where Charlie was sitting. Carmen was a prostitute who found her customers among the Europeans who vacationed or did business in Venezuela.

“Estás esperando a alguien?” she asked.

“I don't speak Spanish,” Charlie replied.

“Americano?”

“I was.”

“Ah. No much Americans en Venezuela.”

“No?”

Carmen gestured to the seat next to Charlie. “I sit here, okay?”

“Whatever.” Charlie shrugged and closed his eyes.

Carmen sat down. “I Carmen. You hab name?”

Charlie shook his head without opening his eyes.

“You marry? You wife here?”

Charlie replied without opening his eyes. “I was married, but not anymore. I served her her divorce notice yesterday, but she probably won't read it until later today.”

Carmen took a bottle of suntan lotion from her bag. She began rubbing suntan oil on her body, occasionally making sounds to get Charlie's attention, but he didn't open his eyes. She held the bottle of lotion to him and pointed to her back.

“Please? You help?”

Charlie opened his eyes. He saw what she wanted, then he closed his eyes again. “No thanks.”

Carmen put the cap back on the bottle and looked at Charlie to consider her next move. She began rubbing his shoulder. “You tired, baby? I help you.”

Charlie gently grabbed her arm and stopped her. “I'm not looking for company. Try someone else. I've had a long week and I just want to sit here and rest. Understand?”

Carmen began rubbing Charlie's leg with her free hand. “I help you, baby. No more tired.”

Charlie stopped her. “Don't make me mad. I want to be alone. Go now.”

“Okay. I go.”

Carmen didn't show any anger. For all she knew Charlie might be a customer that night or the next day. She picked up her bag and left. Charlie leaned back in the lounge chair and closed his eyes.

Carol woke up, groggy. She looked at the clock. It was 4:13. She looked at the window. The curtains of the room were closed, but there was daylight behind them. It had to be after noon. She saw the bottle of pills on the nightstand, and slowly remembered what had happened to her. She reached for the phone and called her mother.

“Mom, Charlie attacked me. He made me take sleeping pills...I - I was cheating on him and he found out...No, I –

She touched her face, which was sore. She felt the gauze. She became frightened.

“He did something to my face! He hurt my face! Mom, come over. Come over now! I need you!”

Carol dropped the phone and she stumbled out of bed as fast as she could, but she was still weak. She tripped, then she got up and continued toward the bathroom.

The light in the bathroom was already on. On the counter by the sink she saw a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, an empty box that had had gauze in it, and the remainder of a roll of bandage tape.

She looked at her face in the mirror, and saw the pieces of gauze taped to her face.

“Oh my god! Oh my god!”

Carol slowly removed the gauze from her forehead, and she saw the word “SLUT” carved into her skin.

“No!”

Carol leaned over the sink and started crying. After a minute she straightened up and looked back at the mirror. She removed the bandage from her right cheek, and the word “SLUT” was also carved there. She sobbed some more as she removed the bandage on her left cheek, revealing the same word.

“No!!!!!”

The phone call was still active. Carol’s mother heard her daughter’s cries.
She called 9-1-1, then drove as quickly as she could to Carol’s home. She arrived just after the ambulance, and rode with Carol to the hospital.

The wounds were deep. Even after several surgeries over the next three months, Carol had to learn the expert application of cosmetics to hide the scars.

It was a traumatic experience, but she had many friends to comfort her, including Lucy, who the police located after Carol had told them her story at the hospital.

The police never caught her husband, and she never heard from him again.