Escalation

Elaine Hargrove thought she was buying her freedom.After years trapped in a controlling marriage, she hires a professional killer to make her husband disappear. The murder goes exactly as planned.Then the phone rings.The killer has recorded everything. Every meeting. Every payment. Every word. And now he has a new assignment.Kill a complete stranger... or watch the evidence land on a detective's desk.But this isn't blackmail. It's something far worse.Someone is proving that ordinary people don't become monsters all at once. They become them one decision at a time.As Detective Sarah Cole hunts a brilliant killer whose crimes never end with a single victim, Elaine discovers that escaping prison may require sacrificing the last piece of herself she has left.Escalation is a relentless psychological thriller about guilt, manipulation, and the terrifying ease with which a single compromise can destroy a human soul.