Betrayed by My Trash Husband, Surrender Myself to the Devil-Chapter 38: A Repulsive Stepbrother (I)
Ray POV
And then there were her cheeks, flushed a delicate shade of cherry red, and her blue eyes shimmering under the dim light. The sight of her stirred something dangerous within me. I had no choice but to turn away, forcing myself to breathe, to steady the storm raging inside my chest.
Because in that moment, I was dazed, with my mind teetering on the edge of losing control.
An irresistible urge tempted me to abandon all reason, to follow the trail of my kisses lower, to explore every inch of her warmth... just to see whether the sensation would become even more intoxicating down there.
This was why I loathed Claudia’s existence, but also couldn’t let her go. She was like a bad addictive drug for me, because everything she did would shake me to the core and make me do things I wouldn’t normally do.
I couldn’t let go of this mutual hatred between us. The more I tried to leave her at the back of my mind, the louder her insults from ten years ago sounded in my head.
In fact, I could still recall every single word she said about me when she suddenly broke up with me.
"You are a heartless bastard, do you know that?"
"You never loved me, did you? To you I’m just a toy to pass your time."
"Did you have fun playing with my heart, Ray Gatlin? Oh, you must be laughing and sneering while I’m acting like a clown just to get your attention."
"Ugh, I really can’t stand you. A man with no heart like you deserves to die alone and in agony!"
I promptly closed my eyes as those words continued to echo in my head. It was a reality check for me to make sure that I wouldn’t fall for the same trick.
She never loved me genuinely, or else why would she say all those hurtful things when I hadn’t done anything wrong to her?
My body temperature cooled down, and my heartbeat slowly steadied as I kept recalling Claudia’s cruel words. Once those buds of hatred spawned inside my heart once more, I regained control of my body, mind, and heart.
This was the "default" setting within me. I liked everything within my expectations and within my control, and the only way for me to keep myself in check was to remember Claudia’s hatred toward me.
Or else, I’d lose myself in a foolish fantasy of us sitting by the window of our beach house, like it was a sappy romance straight out of the 90s.
"We’re here, Sir."
Troy’s voice snapped me out of my daze. I looked at the window and saw my stepbrother’s car parked in a VIP spot reserved only for those in high positions, such as me and a few specific investors and directors.
And Miles was none of those. His business was tiny compared to Gatlin Gold, and he was completely at my mercy, because the project he was handling right now was entirely funded by me.
But that didn’t stop him from parking in one of these spots, because just like his mother, Miles had always thought of himself as a big shot despite his mediocre capability as a businessman and his lack of technical skills.
However, such a man was also a perfect yes-man for me—a good lap dog who thought he owned the world, while in fact he was just a filthy tiny dog who liked to pee everywhere to "mark" his territory.
As I walked to the VIP elevator in Gatlin Gold’s office, my second secretary, Amira, rushed in to fill me in on my schedule for today. She was a replacement for Jane, because Jane was taking care of Claudia right now.
"Sir, we have two meetings today. One is with your stepbrother, Miles Hoffman, and the other is a continuation of your discussion yesterday with Thomas Page," Amira said.
"Hm. How about my schedule in the psychiatry practice?"
"There is no client for now, Sir. But a federal agency contacted me yesterday about your letter declaring Claudia Hoffman mentally sane. They are wondering if it might be a misjudgment in your evaluation."
I scoffed audibly as I entered the elevator.
"I make no mistakes. She is mentally sane. These detectives and officers just want to have an easier job by making an arrest on Claudia, because she’s a prime suspect."
"Then what reply should I give them, Sir?" Amira asked as she stood behind me.
"Tell them to wait for one of the girls to wake up, then they can continue with their investigation. Or else, I’ll file a complaint to their higher-ups that they are crossing the line by not taking my assessment seriously," I replied calmly as the elevator made a ding. "With my position as the head of forensic psychiatry in the California Law Bureau, I am more than willing to put them in their place if they dare to override my evaluation of Claudia."
What I said wasn’t wrong at all. I didn’t make a misjudgment on my part, because Claudia was mentally sane despite her erratic behavior sometimes.
She was just a very emotional person who reacted first before thinking of the consequences.
She yelled, snapped, screamed, and cursed without holding back whenever she felt even a slight injustice, and she was pretty much an open book. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎
Maybe that was the reason why she decided to chase after me when we were in university. She didn’t think about all the baggage behind my background.
Had she been more careful, she would have known there was a reason why many people were scared of me back then.
I pushed open the door to enter the meeting room and saw Miles sitting in the chair I usually used during meetings, with his hands behind his head and his legs raised high on the table.
Miles was enjoying his time before he saw me. Then he scrambled to get up from that chair and stood right next to it.
"O-oh, you’re here, brother. I thought it’d take you a while, so I was taking my time."
