At a mutual friends wedding Mari met Michael. Her first impression of Michael was that he was the most fascinating man she had ever met. She instantly fell for him and his charm.
Michael was also taken aback by Mari. He told her she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. She was exquisite. From that point on, there was no separating them.
A few months later they were sitting on the couch, watching TV. Michael asked "Want to go out?" Mari thought he was talking about dinner. She didn't realize until they boarded a plane a half hour later that by "out" he meant to the Caribbean for 2 weeks and he meant right now. She protested saying she had no clothes with her. He dropped down and held her hand as he proposed. He told her not to worry about the clothes, he'd buy her a new wardrobe. She laughed and said absolutely yes, she would marry him as he placed a ring on her finger. They got married while their friends and family watched and agreed they looked like a dream couple and were made for each other.
Looks are often deceiving though. The first year, Michael and Mari did look like the dream couple all their
friends and family believed they were. That's certainly how it looked. Then little accidents (Mari would later call them temper tantrums) started to happen. He would get upset and then during the first incident he grabbed her arm and squeezed it while pulling her towards him. She had bruises on her
arm the next day. He apologized and she accepted and just wore long-sleeves until the bruising was gone. None of their friends or family suspected anything. They kept their facade of the perfect couple.
Then there was another incident a few weeks later, where Michael again, grabbed Mari's arm and then pushed her. She fell down and heard a pop and felt a sudden searing pain in her ankle. She couldn't stand up. That is when the verbal threats started. On the way to Urgent Care because it was after hours, he told her that she'd better tell everyone that she fell down the steps. If she blamed it on him, he would 'make her sorry'. She was scared. She had never been threatened like that, so she did as she was told. X-Rays showed she had a broken ankle. The doctor, Adrian Cross thought to himself that this situation was a bit suspicious. The patient had signs of previous bruising on her arms. Also, the way the ankle had broken was not consistent with a fall, but more of a break that would be suffered if someone was shaken violently. He had also noticed the quiet, almost pleading eyes of the patient. He lied, and told Michael that Mari was showing signs of dehydration. He had him go to the front desk and request electrolyte water. While he was gone, the doctor asked Mari if she needed to tell him anything while they were alone - she let a tear run down her face and looked down at the floor and told him no. He sighed, he had seen this before and he knew where it was headed. The Dr. Cross kept a quiet stare into her eyes as she looked up and asked her if she was sure. Mari nodded her head yes. He walked out. If she wasn't going to admit it, he couldn't help her and threw the file on the floor, picked up a plastic clip board and threw it at the wall. The clip board shattered and he couldn't help thinking that if it was in his job description, he'd be more than happy to beat on the husband for Mari as much as the husband had beaten on Mari. He moved on to the next patient - but could not shake look in Mari's eyes. Adrian was worried, he wasn't sure how much more Mari could take and the injuries seem to be getting progressively worse each time.
When they got home, Michael rationalized the whole situation was Mari's fault. If she hadn't been trying to upset him, he wouldn't have had to push her. She obviously wanted to get a reaction and it worked. He made her apologize to him for making him hurt her. She did, and kept quiet. She was scared and did not know what to do.
A couple weeks went by and everything was quiet. Michael purposely did not tell friends or family they had any issues and Mari had been threatened with a beating if she talked to any of them. Michael wanted everyone to continue believing that they were still the perfect couple in love. He didn't have any temper tantrums. She held empty hope this meant that there would be no more episodes. Maybe her breaking her ankle had scared him. Unfortunately she was wrong.
Michael came home ready to fight one random day. He had stopped at the bar and had one to many beers and worked himself up over a bunch of little things. He was mad that his shirt had a wrinkle, out of toothpaste, coffee not warm enough, all silly little things that Mari knew were just excuses to hit her. He walked over, and she braced herself as best she could for what she thought was going to be a slap across the face, but he kept his fist closed. This time, she drove herself to the Urgent Care, nose broken.
Going to the same Urgent Care was a mistake that saved her life. She told the admitting nurse she fell down the steps. Everything was fine until the Urgent Care Dr. Adrian Cross was the exact same doctor from her last trip here. He told her he wasn't buying the excuses anymore and that he was calling the authorities.
Michael was arrested that day and was held in prison, denied bail because of outstanding warrants, parole violations and Michael was, the judge felt, a flight risk. He had already done it once.
During the trial - many details about Michael came to light. He had been married 3 times before Mari. The first two times, he had been charged, but not convicted of domestic battery. Not convicted because the women involved were to afraid to testify. They showed pictures of his first two wives after the final beatings and they were gruesome. Nobody seemed to know anything about his third wife, except she had disappeared. They investigated and could not find sufficient evidence to link Michael to the disappearance. She looked next to her and Adrian took her hand. They were dating now. He told her to be strong and kissed her hand. With Mari's testimony and the doctors medical documentation, Michael was convicted and sentenced to jail for life with no possibility of parole. Mari and Adrian left the courtroom together, holding hands and not giving Michael a second look as he screamed for Mari to come back.