Page 58 of Stepson

No. "Yes," I lie.

"And when this is behind us, I'm going to take you on a vacation. Just the two of us. What do you say?"

"Sounds nice," I lie again as my eyes drift over to Maggie.

She watches us intently as her hands freeze in the dough. Fear etches across her face, and it only makes me more nervous.

"Aren't you going to be late?"

Marcus snorts. "I'm the boss, sweetheart. I can be as late as I want to be. Are you trying to kick me out?"

"Not at all. I just know how important your work is."

"Are you implying that I don't think you're important?"

What the fuck? I tense in his embrace and wish he'd let go of me. There is no way I’m going to struggle free in fear I'd upset him.

He chuckles. "I'm only joking. I'll see you both tonight." He kisses the back of my head and finally releases me.

His footsteps echo into the hallway before he stops and comes back, making my heart thunder once again.

"And I mean it, Maggie." He points at her. "Bentley doesn't leave this house. She doesn't even go outside. I'll be watching."

I gulp as his gaze moves to mine before he turns and actually leaves this time. The front door slams shut behind him as I let out a breath and slump back down on the stool. That man exhausts me, and the day for leaving him can't come soon enough, but I can't do that without taking him down first.

My eyes move to Maggie before they fall to the clock on the wall just behind her. It’s just after 8 am, and my nerves are already shot.

Slipping from the stool, I go upstairs and into my bedroom to take my shower. Gabe will be here soon and butterflies fill my stomach at the thought.

But before I can make it to my bedroom, I notice Marcus’s secret office door is cracked open and my curiosity takes over my fear. I creep up to the door and press my hand against it, gently pushing it open. I’ve only been in this room once before but I didn’t get a chance to really look around because Marcus was scolding me as if I were a small child. That was three years ago, and I haven’t been back here since. He always has it locked.

The desk in the center of the room is enormous and made of the darkest mahogany wood. It’s gorgeous, matching the dark mahogany walls around it. A laptop sits on the desk along with several strung out documents. The back wall is a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf filled to the brim.

The single window in the room lets in just enough light to point out the dark red carpet, but my eyes land on the chandelier above. Reaching in, I flip on the lights and let my eyes cast over the rest of the room. There doesn’t seem to be anything off about this room, so why is it always locked?

My feet carry me to the desk where I begin to sort through the papers laid out before me. I don’t understand most of them and toss them back down. There has to be something in this room that I’m not seeing.

And then my eyes move to the opposite wall where another floor-to-ceiling bookshelf sits. It isn’t the bookshelf itself that’s suspicious, but the items on a specific shelf. I round the desk and walk to the picture frame perched on its shelf.

A photo of Marcus with a woman and two young boys stare back at me. Studying their faces, I know right away that the youngest boy is Gabe; there’s no denying it. The woman must be Marcus’s first wife and Gabe’s mother, but who is the other little boy?

My eyes scan over the other picture frames on the shelf when I recognize the same little boys. Gabe had a brother? Since when?

“Maggie, where is my wife?”

Marcus’s voice echoes up the stairs and into the office, freezing the blood in my body. Holy shit! I put the picture back down and lunge for the office door. I slip into the hallway right before Marcus comes up the stairs. He eyes me suspiciously before his gaze turns to his office door.

“What are you doing up here, Bentley?”

I point toward my bedroom. “I came up to take a shower. Did you forget something?” I try to play it as cool as my nerves will let me.

He looks at his office door. “Did you go in there?”

“In where?”

He chuckles, stepping up to his office door before he peers inside and then shuts it before he locks it up tight. Damn it.

“My office is off-limits, you know that.”

---