Chapter 41
FORTY-ONE
SUMMER
The mansion feels empty when we return. It reminds me of a story my mom told me when I was little about an old lady who complained her house was too small.
Then she filled it with animals during the winter, and when spring returned, she let the animals out and finally realized how big the house was all over again.
“I have some calls to make out back.” Mase gestures toward the patio. I’m not sure why he always insists on making calls outside, but I do understand why he wouldn’t want to be in his father’s office. “Why don’t you go pick a movie, and I’ll be in shortly.”
A movie sounds good. It’ll also give me the perfect opportunity to wrap my lips around him. He smirks down at me as if reading my mind.
“Okay. Don’t be long.” I rise up on my tiptoes and place a tender kiss on his lips, then just as his tongue seeks entrance, I draw back with a smirk of my own.
“Fuck, Summer.” He adjusts his cock, and I turn, smiling as I head out of the kitchen.
When I step into the foyer, my smile falls and a chill sweeps over me. I glance back over my shoulder, then take a detour toward Jeff’s old office.
The thick wooden door creaks when I push it open, and I try battling the memories threatening to invade me like a horror show.
“Here she is. The bride to be.” Jeff’s sinister smile encompasses his face, and I hate it, hate him.
Nerves dance in my stomach; I hate being in here.
“Hugh told me you wanted to see me.” I greet my stepfather and avoid looking at the other man in the room, knowing no good will come of acknowledging him.
I already have nightmares about Jeff’s intentions, and despite being thirteen now, they still haunt me every day since they celebrated our engagement two years ago.
“You’re going to make such a perfect bride, Summer,” the man says, his high-pitched voice full of wonder, giving away his excitement.
“Why can’t we do this as soon as she turns sixteen?
” he asks Jeff. I jolt at his suggestion, and my blood rushes, causing me to feel dizzy, so I snap my hand out to grip onto the wooden desk.
“We’d have to go to court, and I already have the authorities watching me since her mother’s death.” My eyes fall closed as I try not to cry. I’m vulnerable and alone, so freaking alone, and I wish for nothing more than someone to rescue me.
They speak as if I’m not here at all. As if I’m completely unaware of their participation in my mother’s demise.
She might not have been loving, nor a parent to grieve over, but she was mine.
She was all I had in this cruel world, and they took her from me.
I open my eyes, with no more confidence than when I closed them.
“This way, it’s done the right way.” He taps his finger on the desk.
“She might not agree at eighteen,” the man counters back.
Jeff’s hand lashes out and grips my neck so hard my throat locks up and I begin to panic. Even the whimper I emit seems weak, powerless. He shakes me, and my entire body sways under his demand. “She will. Won’t you?”
I try to nod. My lips are frozen, and my vision turns hazy.
“She’s yours the moment she turns eighteen.” He throws me to the floor like a ragdoll, and my hand moves to my throat. It stings, but his words sting more. “Then you can do with her what the hell you want.” He talks about me as if I’m disposable, replaceable. Nothing.
Their loud chuckles bounce off the office walls, and my stomach rolls as they discuss their next meeting.
Little do they know, they’ve released something inside me, something terrifying.
As I watch and listen to them discuss all the ways they’re going to fuck someone until they can’t breathe anymore, I remain motionless on the floor, not just taking in their words and twisting them to create my own thoughts.
A plan forms in my young mind; I just need to be the right age to execute it.
My body trembles as I move through the office, searching for my old phone.
I try Jeff’s desk drawers first, but they only have blank papers and pens inside, all traces of his misdeeds erased.
Then I try over by his bar but come up empty.
With my heart galloping in my chest, I scan the room until my focus comes to a standstill at a photo sitting proudly by itself.
I amble forward, an immense amount of guilt consuming me at the sonogram photo that’s housed in a gold frame, taking pride of place on a lone shelf.
Our babies. My hand automatically moves toward my stomach, and I inch closer.
The moment I reach out to touch the perfect little beans in the photo, my focus is diverted to the phone jutting out from behind the photo frame.
“Thank God.” My shoulders drop in relief, and I rush toward the door while powering the phone up. The quicker I get this over with, the better. I’m just about to pull the door wide open, but the sound of voices stops me in my tracks, and I close it enough to be able to peek through the gap.
“Look, you can stay in my old room,” Mase says, and I glimpse through the small gap to witness him brush a hand through his hair. “You can find your way there, right?”
“I remember where it is. We used to fuck in there before you asked me to marry you,” a woman’s sultry voice purrs, and my breath hitches as I cling onto the wood to remain rooted in place.
Asked him to marry her? This is his ex-wife.
My gut twists and sickness rushes up my throat as insecurity grips me in its tight grasp.
“You could join me. For old times’ sake.”
Don’t do anything. Don’t do anything, I chant to myself while silently pleading with Mase to send her away.
My heart breaks a little as the woman steps forward, blocking my view of Mase’s face, but her hand slides over his chest and down his leg toward his groin. I close my eyes, trying and failing to banish the image burned into my mind.
Finally springing to life, my phone beeps, and I close the door on instinct, worried the sound might have cut through their conversation.
As I switch my attention to my phone, an ominous feeling takes over me, and my blood turns to ice.
UNKNOWN: Tomorrow at noon.
UNKNOWN: Or I release the video to the police.
I can’t let this destroy Mase, even if he’s about to destroy me.