Page 75 of Stepson

I hold my breath and stay as quiet as I can. If Marcus comes out here, I'll be caught red-handed with no exit strategy, but luck will have it when they go back to screwing. Her moans fill thehallway, and I book it back downstairs to the kitchen before I run down the basement stairs.

Once I’m outside, I take a deep breath of the cold night air and try to collect myself. Maggie is safe, I have the second lock box, and now it’s time to return to my man.

The taxi driver looks a bit perturbed when I return, but says nothing. He drives away from the mansion and heads back to the highway and eventually the motel out of town.

I don’t say a word to Maggie during the trip and only hold her hand, knowing she won’t want to speak in front of a complete stranger anyway. But when the motel sign comes into view, I squeeze her hand and hold my breath. The lights are on in our room and two strange vehicles are parked at our door.

Without a word, we get out of the taxi, say goodbye to the driver, and go to the door. I tighten my grip on the handle and wait several moments before I crack it open, hearing Gabe’s stressed voice boom through the room.

“She was literally just here! Where the hell would she—”

He stops mid-sentence when the lawyer Kurt and a beautiful older woman stare at me. Spinning around, Gabe’s eyes meet mine as pure relief sweeps over his features.

“Bentley!” He runs to me, grabbing my arms. “Where the hell did you go?!” But he doesn’t need me to answer when he looks down at the metal box in my arms.

“I did what needed to be done.” I hand the box to the lawyer before I stare into Gabe’s gaze. “I couldn’t let Marcus win again, Gabe,” I whisper.

He lets out a small sob before he crushes me to his chest, kissing my head and forehead over and over. I wrap my arms tightly around his waist and try to keep it together. My adrenaline is finally leveling out and my emotions are starting to take over, but I don’t want to let go in a room full of people.

“Maggie,” Gabe whispers as he slowly releases me but never actually lets me go, “what happened to you?”

She waves him off. “I’ll be fine now thanks to Bentley.” Then she walks up to the woman I’ve never met before and embraces her as if they were old friends. “Stephanie.”

Stephanie? Who the hell is Stephanie?

This Stephanie woman cries as she holds Maggie in her arms, then her eyes find mine.

“This is my mother,” Gabe states.

I whip my gaze to his, swallowing. This isn’t how I expected to meet his mother, but there really isn’t anything I can do about it now, is there?

She smiles at me. “Are you ready to take down your husband?”

Chapter thirty-nine

Gabe

Waking up to find Bentley had gone missing was my worst nightmare. I called my mother right away only to find out she had come here to assist in the investigation, and she came over right away. The lawyer wasn’t far behind, and when Bentley showed back up with that precious metal box in her arms, I knew I owed her my life.

It was so stupid for her to go back there by herself, but I know she did it for good reason. Kurt made it seem like our case against Marcus was a dead end without further proof, but I never thought she’d go so far as to sneak back into the mansion alone. Looking at Maggie’s face, though, makes me realize she did the right thing. If Bentley hadn’t shown up when she did, who knows what else that monster would have done to poor Maggie.

I haven’t let go of Bentley since she stepped back into our motel room, and I’m not about to let her go yet. Having her near me makes me feel better; feeling her skin against mine confirms that she’s where she’s meant to be. Now we just need to crack into that box and pray it’s enough to take down my asshole father.

“So, why wasn’t the first box enough?” My mother asks from the bathroom where she tends to Maggie’s wounds.

Kurt looks in her direction and sighs. “It would have been a start for a case, but it wasn’t enough for me to have him arrested. We need more proof, Stephanie.” Then Kurt turns to Bentley and I where we sit on the end of the bed and he sits at the round motel table. “Are you ready to see what’s in here?”

I’m more than ready. If he hadn’t stopped me, I would have torn into the thing already. Besides making Bentley mine, there is nothing else in the world I want more, but I’m going a bit crazy.

Finally letting go of Bentley’s hand, I stand up and pace as Kurt attempts to get into the box and fails. My gaze falls on my mom’s as she looks at me with worry etched on her features. Why is she worried? Is there something in the box I haven’t heard about yet? The look on her face confirms that.

“Damn, this sucker isn’t budging,” Kurt grunts as he tries to break into the box.

My nerves get the best of me, and I march straight up to the table, grab the lock box, and tear into it with my bare hands. The crack of the metal echoes through the room before I set it back down. Kurt smirks at me as he shakes his head and leans forward to peer inside.

There is much more in the second box than there was in the first box. It’s filled with tons of papers and documents that look official, but then I read the top of one of the papers and getconfused. It’s a death certificate, but I don’t know who it belongs to.

I grab the paper before Kurt can and scan it. I don’t recognize the name at all.

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