Page 50 of Stepson

“For what purpose?”

“I’m going to charge it for you so that you can see something.” He holds his hand out and without thinking, I hand him my phone. He rolls his window down and chucks it out.

I spin and watch it crumble into a million pieces on the highway.

“Hey, what the fuck?!” I bark.

“You won’t be needing that anymore. I’m bringing you to your new apartment where I left you a new phone. You’d be wise to remember that Bentley ismywife and she’s off limits to you. Don’t think I don’t know what went on while I was gone on business.”

I laugh, shaking my head. “She sure didn’t act like she was married while you were—”

“Don’t push me, Gabe,” he growls. “Aren’t you the least bit curious what Bentley said to me that made me bail you out?”

I stay quiet, not sure if I want to hear this, but I know the prick is going to tell me anyway.

“She told me that she would never speak to you again if I bailed you out. She apologized for what happened and wants to save our marriage,” he pauses, looking over at me with a smirk as I feel my heart plummet to the bottom of my stomach. “You thought she was going to choose you, didn’t you? A criminal over a millionaire who can protect her?” He laughs.

My jaw clenches as I stare straight ahead. There isn’t a single part of me that believes his words. She had to have been coaxed into this. Our time meant something to both of us; I just know it. There is no way Bentley would openly offer this.

“I bet you don’t know that she told me everything that went on this week, huh? I wanted to keep your ass behind bars for putting your criminal hands on my beautiful wife. She’s a smart girl and knew that I’d bail you out if she came clean.”

“And you expect me to believe this shit? You know your own wife hates you, right?”

He laughs. “If my wife hated me so much, how come she shared my bed before I came to pick you up? Don’t flatter yourself, Gabe. You were nothing but a fun tumble between the sheets while her husband was away. If you meant anything to her, how come she isn’t here?”

“Probably because you blackmailed her,” I reply, completely ignoring his statement of how she shared his bed this morning. I don’t believe it for one second, but I won’t let him know that.

He pulls off the highway, and shortly down the road, he pulls into a huge apartment complex that has seen better days. I’m glad the car ride is over because I can’t stand to look at him anymore. I go to grab the handle to get out when Marcus grabs my arm, stopping me.

“If you come near my wife again, I’ll make sure you’re thrown back in prison where you belong and you’ll never see the light of day again.”

I grip the door handle so tightly I think I might break it as I turn to him and grin.

“Thanks for the ride, asshole.”

I get out of the truck and slam the door so hard the entire truck rocks. Turning to the apartment building, I stare up at my new home and shake my head. I don’t care where I lay my head, it’s better than prison and much better than staying under Marcus’s roof. I have no idea which apartment is mine, so I go to the building’s office and find a short, fat man sitting behind a desk with a box fan blowing on him.

He gives me a set of keys and leads me up three flights of stairs before he opens my apartment door. The place is smaller than I anticipated but it’s better than nothing. It’s an efficiency apartment with a tiny bathroom and one large window in the living room for the only natural light source. There is no way I’m staying here for long.

I thank the property manager before he leaves, and then I walk through the small kitchen and open living room that will serve as my bedroom as well. It looks as if Marcus bought the shittiest furniture he could find to furnish my place. An old plaid couch from the 1980s sits along one wall as a full-size mattress sits on the floor near the opposite wall.

That’s when I notice a prepaid phone sitting on the mattress. I tear it from its package, turn it on, and dial the only number I have memorized by heart. After a few rings, her voice answers and calms me instantly.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Mom.”

Chapter twenty-six

Bentley

As I sit at the kitchen island, my eyes burn from crying so much this morning. The one man I want to be with is gone and it’s all my fault. What would have happened if I told Marcus to shove our marriage up his ass before I walked out? I know what would have happened. I’d have been homeless, and Gabe would still be in jail.

I hate my husband more than anything in the world.

He knows how to play on my emotions, and he’s an expert at bullying someone with emotional and mental abuse. Is this how he gets his job? Did he bully someone into making him CEO? I wouldn’t put it past him.

Looking around this expensive kitchen and his multi-million dollar home makes me wonder how many people’s lives hedestroyed to have all of this. I knew he was a monster a year or so into our marriage, but I haven’t witnessed it for myself until now. He bullied me into choosing Gabe’s freedom over my own, and I let him because he fucking terrifies me.

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