Wife's Bitter Revenge Against Neglectful CEO Husband-Chapter 32: Dust Cloud

King and Jake were in the middle of a stare-down when King’s phone rang. When he didn’t pick up, Min’s phone rang. Min answered his.

After what was very much a one-sided conversation, Min stepped forward. He said something next to King’s ear. King took the phone and listened, his face betraying nothing about the call.

King spoke to me from over Jake’s shoulder. "I don’t have time to deal with you right now Mom’s had a stroke."

I doubted it. This felt more like a tactic Anya cooked up to draw King home. Right now, I didn’t care as long as King let us go without a fight. I didn’t want to see anyone hurt.

"You can take your friends and go. I have other priorities. But, Teela, make the therapy appointment tomorrow. You missed today."

"Whose fault was that?"

Min handed my phone to Jake, and then King and Min left with the musclemen who had been holding Bea. Jake didn’t hand the phone to me right away, but that was okay because I had my hands full with Bea, who rushed to me and threw her arms around me.

"Teela, I’m so sorry. They sneaked up on me. I tried to fight them, but they were too strong. We are so taking taekwondo classes ASAP."

"I know, right? But I’m the one who’s sorry. You got hurt because of me." I caressed the side of her face where the bruise darkened as we spoke. Seeing her injured hurt more than my own pain.

"Do you need a doctor? She should see a doctor, right guys?" I looked to Jake and Father DiMarco for confirmation.

Jake looked Bea over. "Are you hurt anywhere else? Is your vision blurred? Headache?"

"I swear, I’m fine. I’ve been hurt worse snowboarding."

Jake said, "If Bea says she’s fine, she’s fine. We should go."

We exited the building into the blinding daylight. Jake led us from the building to a bus stop.

"What about Bea’s car?" I asked.

"We can’t take it for the same reason we can’t take this phone, " he said, holding up my phone.

"Why?" I asked.

"You tell me, Night Shadows."

His use of my hacker handle brought me back to my senses.

"Trackers."

Jake nodded. He tossed the phone in the next trash can we passed.

Three bus changes and two hired cars later, Jake had Father Di Marco, Bea, and me get out at the diner where he first took me. It was nowhere near the church, but that was the point.

We were to stay there for an hour while Jake took the car to the far side of the city. Jake would find his way home from there.

After the hour, Bea called a friend from work who took us to the hotel I’d used when I first escaped. While we waited, we scrounged through the hotel’s lost and found items to alter our appearance. We stayed there until sunset before making our way home, each of us leaving at staggered times and taking a different route home.

I, for one, was exhausted. As soon as the door closed behind us, I collapsed on one of the dilapidated pews. Dust blossomed around me as this was one of the areas Father DiMarco hadn’t got around to making homey yet.

"I’m never moving from this spot again."

Father DiMarco waved away the dust cloud that had billowed up. "We’ll dust around you. No worries."

Bea said, "Pee, pee, pee," as she danced her way through the sanctuary.

As soon as she disappeared down the hall, Stiff stormed out. He encased me in a hug. He smelled of cedar and vanilla. I made a mental note to find out what brand of cologne he wore. I may want to bathe in it later.

"Oh, honey, are you okay?"

"I’m fine. Just tired. Why are you here?"

"After you left last night, we decided I would move in as well. Surprise."

Father DiMarco snorted. "He begged."

"Hey, it wasn’t fair to leave me out. Besides, I can help. Jake and I are working on a security system."

He pointed to cameras around the sanctuary that had not been there before.

"Plus, I’ll pay rent, which will help pay for renovations. It’s a win-win situation for everyone."

"Stiff, I’ve seen your car. Are you sure you’ll be comfortable here? I don’t mind cooking, but there aren’t any maids."

"You’re one to talk, Mrs. Richest-Man-in-the-City."

"My life wasn’t like that."

Stiff smoothed my hair. "I know. Just giving you a hard time."

Father DiMarco asked, "Have you heard from Jake?"

Stiff said, "Not yet. Don’t worry. He’ll be fine."

"Hey, I warmed some soup. It’s canned, but it’s warm and filling."

Father DiMarco rubbed his hands together. "Sounds good. I’ll serve it up while you two chat. Don’t take too long, though. I don’t want it to get cold."

"These should be leftover Italian loaf from dinner last night," I added. Had it only been last night? So much had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

As Father DiMarco left us alone, Stiff put his arms around my shoulders. I relaxed into the crook of his arm. I barely knew this man in person, and yet snuggling with him felt like home. I liked it.

"Teela, King has put a feeler out for a top hacker to keep tabs on you and to strengthen his company’s network security."

"It is what I would do."

"Yeah, well, it means you must be more careful."

"Or we could pick up the contract."

"Huh?"

"I mean, if we worked for King, then we would have total control over the outcome. And when the time comes, we would be in a position to take him down."

He had to go down.

King had put me in harm’s way one time too many—more than one. He had no right to marry me under false pretenses. He cheated on me, and he broke my trust by siding with his family over me too many times, to the point of putting my health at risk.

He needed to learn that my life and happiness mattered.

"I love you."

"Huh? What?"

I sat up and stared at Stiff. "Where did that come from?"

"I told you that I was intrigued by you. It shouldn’t be a total surprise."

"Stiff, no. Just no. I’m married. My life is in shambles, and while I trust you with my life, just no. Not now. If you really care about me. No. I can’t even fathom it right now."

I took off toward the living quarters and my room. My brain could not possibly cope with a love confession right now. It wasn’t fair for Stiff to blurt it out like that.

As I passed through the dining room, Father DiMarco called out, "Soup’s ready."

I waved him off.

Bea was headed back from the bathroom. I waved her off, too, and kept going.

"What’s wrong with Teela?" Bea asked

Father DiMarco said, "Search me."

And then I was in my room with the door closed. I leaned against it, thankful to have left the world behind before something else happened.

My resolve lasted long enough for me to kick off my shoes and spot my laptop. I wondered if Stiff sent me the specs of the King job. I was curious about what the job was worth to him, which might reflect what I was worth to him.

So, I logged on to take a look. Stiff left me three jobs to look at. The first was marked as quick and lucrative.

I skimmed the details. Short and sweet. A real estate agent felt one of her employees was stealing contacts and selling them to a competitor. She wanted proof.

I could complete this gig before breakfast. I messaged Stiff to lock it down. The profits would go to equipment, like a new phone, and Father DiMarco. I had to pull my weight in our new family. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The second job was a long-term debugging project. Debugging was Bea’s specialty. It might be a good addition to her company.

I saved King for last intentionally. It was one of those situations where I wanted to know, but I really didn’t want to know.

I took a cleansing breath and opened the file. The contract was divided into two parts. The network security services would pay high seven figures. The majority of that was allocated toward system upgrades with a healthy monthly residual for monitoring and tracking attacks back to the source. Bonuses would be paid for successful prosecutions, counterattacks, and other factors.

The contract paid mid-six figures to track me. King wanted everything from my online presence and bank account monitoring to tracking who I connected with online and footage from multiple sources about where I was going and who I saw.

My freedom had a price tag now. It didn’t make me feel any better.

The most surprising bit was that King made it clear that Night Shadows was his first choice to take the contract.

"Motherfucker." I muttered before immediately chiding myself of cursing in a church.

Someone tapped at my door.