Page 52 of Stepson

"I know how angry Marcus can get, but he does love you. He's terrible at showing it, but—"

"This isn't love, Maggie," I snap. "That man is incapable of love."

She casts her eyes down before she grabs my hands. "I know about you and Gabe."

My eyes shoot up to hers as I study them. What does she know other than our secret affair going on?

"I want to show you something but not while Mr. Price is around." She looks over her shoulder toward the door. "When you're truly alone, come find me in the pantry."

"What the hell are you doing in here?!" Marcus's voice booms. "This is a private matter, Maggie!"

She lets go of my hands as if I’ve burned her before she tucks tail and runs from my bedroom. Even though Marcus is back, all I can think about is meeting her in the pantry. I need to know what she knows.

"What the hell did you tell her?"

I shake my head. "Nothing. Honestly!"

He storms toward me, grabbing my chin again as he forces me to look up into his angered gaze. I gulp as my fear tightens my chest. I’ve only seen Marcus this angry a handful of times and it never ends pretty.

"Did you tell her how my son fucked my wife in my own home?!" He shouts.

I flinch as more tears stream down my face, but he continues to hold my chin steady.

"No," I whisper.

"Did you like it?"

My bottom lip trembles as my fear nearly takes my sanity over. I know if I tell him the truth, he'll do something to harm me.

"No," I lie before a sob tears from my lips.

"Tell me, Bentley, did he fuck you as good as he did all those years ago?"

Realization slaps me in the face like a bucket of ice-cold water. Marcus knows Gabe and I go back that far? How? Did that have anything to do with Marcus coming to hit on me shortly after? I have so many questions now, but there is no way I’m asking him anything.

He chuckles. "You didn't think I knew, did you? That my son fucked your brains out the night I reported him and got him arrested. You probably think he came back here for you, don't you?" He laughs again, gripping my chin harder when I try to pull away. "You're nothing but a hot piece of ass to him. Just remember whose wife you are, Bentley."

He finally releases my chin before he goes to make his exit, but he stops at the doorway and turns to me.

"You will share my bed with me tonight, and you'll forget that my criminal son even exists."

Leaving, he slams the door behind him as another sob tears from my throat. There has to be a way out of this marriage. How did Gabe’s mother get away all those years ago unscathed?

Chapter twenty-seven

Gabe

“She’s the same woman, Mom,” I tell her as I recall the first night I met Bentley seven years ago. “If I hadn’t been arrested all those years ago, I would have gone after her and made a life with her. Then I get arrested and spend seven years behind bars! I was put there by my own father! And then I’m released only to find the woman of my dreams is married to him.”

I run a hand over my face and blow out a breath as I sit back on the shitty couch in my new apartment. The only thing I want to do is go get Bentley, but I don’t dare while my father is home.

“Oh, Gabriel.” She sighs. “Your father has always been a jackass, and I’m so sorry there wasn’t anything I could do for you back then.”

“Mom, I don’t blame you for not being able to help me. Marcus would have chewed you up and spit you out. You weren’t in the right state of mind to fight that monster. I just… I don’t know what the fuck to do. What do I do, Mom?” She’s the only person in this world who knows how to fight against Marcus and get away with it.

“You go get your girl,” she states matter-of-factly.

I snort. “Right. Let me just march back into his mansion and steal his wife. Yeah, that will go over so well for me. You and I both know that I’d be back behind bars that same night.”

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