The Service

Yvonne Seberg, a poised and idealistic woman in her mid-30s, lives a carefully curated life at the side of her husband Danny, the charismatic and politically powerful Mayor of San Francisco. But behind closed doors, Yvonne suffers horrific abuse. Danny’s growing political ambitions are matched only by his sadistic tendencies, and Yvonne lives in a nightmare where her every move is tightly controlled. Though she finds solace and meaning in her work helping the homeless, even this is undermined when Danny sells out her shelter to corporate developers, and an unhoused man she helped—Gene Harrison—commits suicide on the steps of City Hall in protest. Danny publicly slanders Gene’s name to avoid political blowback, a betrayal that snaps Yvonne’s last tether to her husband. In another city, Royce Rutland is a struggling art dealer in Miami trying to prove himself in a world dominated by his ruthless and high-powered wife, Aggie. Royce’s entire business hinges on a has-been artist named Arlo Finnegan. When Finnegan’s show flops and Royce is fired, he spirals. Aggie, who has just used a shadowy assassination service to eliminate a colleague blocking her rise to law firm partner, urges Royce to do the same to Finnegan before he can destroy Royce’s reputation with damaging gossip. Meanwhile, Yvonne’s desperation leads her to a clandestine therapy session with Dr. Karen Almont, who reveals the existence of an elusive murder-for-hire syndicate known only as “The Service.” This underground organization erases targets cleanly, leaving no trace and no connection to the client. Yvonne contacts The Service and is soon approached by a chipper but chilling representative named Soloni Laghari, who presents the terrifying precision and professionalism with which the group operates. All Yvonne has to do is give them a name. Unbeknownst to each other, Yvonne and Royce are enlisted as participants in a deeply twisted exchange: they must kill each other’s targets. Royce is assigned to eliminate Yvonne’s abuser, Mayor Danny Seberg, while Yvonne is ordered to murder Arlo Finnegan. Both clients are fitted with high-tech smartwatches that double as tracking devices and panic buttons, symbolizing their new chains. Yvonne travels to Florida, disguised with a wig and a new identity, and seduces Arlo under Soloni’s remote guidance. In a gruesome and gut-wrenching sequence, Yvonne stabs Arlo to death and is forced to carve the word “Phoenix” into his chest to fulfill the symbolic requirements of the kill. The trauma of this act devastates her, but she returns to San Francisco transformed. Royce, on the other hand, is drowning in fear and self-doubt. Aggie tightens the screws, pushing him to eliminate Danny to secure his career in the wake of Arlo’s death. When the signal finally comes through Royce’s watch to push the metaphorical button, he complies. Danny’s car is sabotaged and crashes into a river. A young woman—Danny’s mistress—is also killed, triggering a new scandal that completely rewrites Yvonne’s public image. With Danny gone and the affair exposed, Yvonne becomes a media darling. Her shelter is reinstated, and her humane work with the homeless is elevated to national prominence. She quickly ascends the political ladder and is eventually appointed mayor herself. Though haunted, she finds new power and purpose. Royce, meanwhile, reaps temporary success from the posthumous surge in Finnegan’s art sales—only to see it crumble when Arlo’s sister Carolyn exposes that she was the true artist all along. Royce is humiliated, ostracized, and left broke and alone. Yet the most chilling turn comes when both Yvonne and Royce learn they were each forced to kill someone as part of the other’s contract. Neither of them ever knew their actions were part of a deadly barter. The Service, acting like a morally indifferent god, manipulates people in crisis into becoming each other’s executioners, ensuring that no one gets their hands dirty alone. As the story closes, Yvonne continues her national outreach on homelessness, but spots another woman wearing the Service’s distinctive smartwatch in City Hall—realizing the organization is still active and possibly expanding. Royce, disgraced and exiled from the art world, continues to obsess over Yvonne, fascinated by how she rose from tragedy. Both characters are permanently marked, emotionally and physically, by the violence they committed and the bargains they struck.