CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO #2
And fuck his mom, too, because… well, that bitch never liked me, and she was partly to blame for how he turned out; all that coddling.
Seth could never do wrong in her eyes. She praised him for every stupid little accomplishment, like waking up or breathing.
Then she had the audacity to demand I do the same if I was going to be a good wife to her baby boy.
She thought he was the best thing to be gifted to womankind.
She encouraged his temper tantrums and controlling behavior.
Never once noticing that she was raising a narcissistic psychopath.
So yeah, screw her.
Also, I had no idea why I was fixated on his mother at a time like this, but I was rolling with it, damn it. Thinking about Maria made me angry, and I needed anger if I was going to survive her psychotic son.
“Get up and stop faking it. I didn’t hit you that hard,” Seth gritted out.
Something about the condescending tone made me want to throw up, and as if my thoughts were one with my stomach, I started to heave.
That did it, and Seth released his grip on me, which in turn caused me to crumple to the floor yet again.
“I swear you to God, Melodie. You'd better not vomit on my shoes. These are limited edition,” he sneered from somewhere above me. A fact I completely ignored, by the way, and promptly gave him the middle finger. Which was just about the only thing that I could manage with the ringing in my head.
Damn it, did he burst my eardrum or something? Surely, I shouldn’t be this disoriented from a blow to the face.
However, the concern over my potential hearing loss took an immediate backseat when Seth grabbed me by the hair and started hauling me upright again.
I didn’t mean to. Really, I didn’t. But the scream that tore out of me from the pain of having my hair yanked so violently was loud and terrifying enough to wake the dead.
Seth rustled around inside his jacket, and seconds later, my kitchen knife—the one his mother gave us as a wedding gift, because of course it had to be that one—appeared in his hand.
Panic shot through me, and I stiffened in his tight hold.
“Seth, please… don’t do this,” I pleaded, my voice breaking.
“You embarrassed me, Mellie,” he spat, his tone disapproving. “Now I have to teach you a lesson. Bet he won’t enjoy fucking you so much when your face is all carved up.”
“No, please!”
“Yes, you have to learn. There are consequences for disrespecting your husband. We had rules, Mellie, and you broke them.”
“I didn’t, Seth… I didn’t.”
He scoffed, his expression nonchalant. “Sure you did.”
Just then, my phone started to ring, and Seth spun us both in the direction of the vibrating device on my desk.
Declan’s name dancing across the screen, and I felt a momentary flicker of relief that was quickly washed away by fear and the onset of a fucking panic attack. Because that call meant Declan was here, quite possibly outside in the parking lot, waiting for me to come to him.
The instant my mind caught on to the realization, panic started to set in. Declan would see this. He would witness this horrific abuse and would likely watch me die.
“Please, Seth,” I pleaded with the insanity that was my ex-husband. “Declan is outside. He’ll know something is wrong if I don’t go to him. You have to let me go.”
Seth’s grip on my hair tightened, and he yanked my head back so he could look into my eyes.
“Good, I want him to see this,” he sneered. “He took something from me. Now I’ll take something from him.”
“Seth… Declan didn’t take anything,” I tried to reason. “I didn’t know he was your boss when we started dating. I would have ended it if I’d known. You know that… You know me.”
He squinted, looking momentarily confused.
“Oh, you thought I meant you, that you were the thing he took from me?” He chuckled, low and menacing.
“No, Mellie. He took my job and damaged my reputation in the finance community. And forget getting another job. The fucker blacklisted me. No one will hire me now. All those connections that I worked so hard to maintain over the years, gone in just an instant. No one will return my phone calls!”
Oh, my fucking…
The nerve of this asshole. I swear to God, if I ever get out of this, I’m going to—
My phone rang again, cutting off my train of thought. Declan’s name appeared once more, and Seth lost his mind—well, more than he already had—and hurled my phone across the room, where it smashed into the wall next to the still half-opened door and promptly stopped ringing.
Fuck!
Declan was sure to come looking for me now.
“Please, Seth,” I begged, hating every second of it but knowing I didn’t have a choice. “Think about Lacey and the baby. They’ll need you. You can’t be there for them if you’re in jail or on the run.”
His grip on my hair tightened some more, and I winced at the stinging sensation on my scalp.
“That bitch!” Seth growled, and if I thought he was angry before, I was sorely mistaken. “If I ever see her again, I’m going to rip her from limb to limb.”
After my talk with Declan about the board’s unanimous decision to fire Seth, I asked what would happen to Lacey’s job if her boss were expelled.
Turned out, Lacey wasn’t actually employed by McKenna Enterprises.
Seth had hired her independently and was paying her out of his own pocket.
No wonder he wanted to put her on his health insurance after he found out she was pregnant.
It should have clicked then that something was off, but I was too angry at the time to think it through.
“She lied to me!” Seth roared. “That bitch was never pregnant. She had a cousin who worked at the hospital to forge documents to say she was a few weeks pregnant. I dropped everything and everyone to be there for her. And this is how she repaid me? And to make matters worse, ever since I got fired, she refuses to answer my calls. I even showed up at her apartment that was supposedly under construction, only to find that, not only was there no construction, but her neighbor informed me that she’d skipped town. ”
Inside, I was dying with laughter.
I could have told him that was going to happen. Heck, I sensed it from a mile away. Lacey was using him for his money and a place to stay. But as always, Seth was ruled by his average-as-fuck dick.
With my chest heaving, ear ringing, and still fighting the urge to vomit. I opened my mouth to tell him he got exactly what he deserved when footsteps thundering down the hall caught my attention, and I froze.
Declan.
No!