Wife's Bitter Revenge Against Neglectful CEO Husband-Chapter 129: Shelter From the Rain

"No, it didn’t last," Alec admitted.

"What happened?"

"Dad happened. You see, Dad has always had big plans. He didn’t see a career as a bus driver as the best way to finance his dreams, so as soon as Mom and Dad built up enough savings to buy a house, Dad invested it in his future.

He considered their savings as his seed money to buy a bigger and better future. He invested it into a loan sharking business.

Well, that sounded familiar.

"To his credit, his plan was working. He was careful who he lent money to, and he acted as his own enforcer. Only he quit his driving gig to devote all his time to the new business without telling Mom.

"I know you can’t tell it from looking at her, but Mom runs the family. Imagine her surprise when she discovered Dad’s paychecks had stopped arriving and the savings account was empty. She worked two jobs to help build the family savings while raising Angie, and it was gone without explanation.

"Mom went off on Dad and wouldn’t even listen when Dad tried to bring her up to speed. She met him at the door with his bags packed and the promise of divorce on its way."

"Where were you during all of this?" I asked.

"I was just a vague idea of a sperm and an egg getting up close and personal."

"Meaning your Mom was pregnant with you when she cut Eugene loose?"

Alec nodded. "She was so newly pregnant that I was born nine months later, almost to the day."

"And they never tried to reconcile?"

"Dad tried, but you don’t fuck with Mom’s money."

"Didn’t he pay her back?"

"Yes, he did, many times over until she found out his idea of skirting the law was to run over it with a bulldozer. She immediately gave him every penny over the amount Dad originally took from the savings.

"From the day she discovered Dad’s criminal activities, she fought to keep me away from him. Only Dad could afford better lawyers. The harder Mom worked to keep me away from Dad, the more legal pressure Dad put on Mom to the point Mom spent a night in jail for contempt of court."

"That must have made for a difficult childhood."

Alec shrugged. "For a while, I guess. Eventually, they worked it out. Mom didn’t like it, but Dad and the judge made it clear that if she didn’t learn to share, she would lose custody."

Outside, the rainfall tapered off to a level that might have been considered relaxing if it weren’t for the fact that I was holed up in a cave with an injured man and worried about how to get him back to the cabin.

Eying his foot, I didn’t think he would be able to walk on it for long, especially on uneven terrain. The path wasn’t wide enough to bring the SUV to him.

"Where is a helicopter when you really need one?" I muttered. Only I wasn’t sure a helicopter would be of much use in a wooded area, especially with the lightning storm.

"Teela, I can walk. Don’t worry."

"But I am worried. Even a minor injury can become big if you aren’t careful."

Alec smiled and shook his head.

"Why are you smiling?" I asked. "This is serious."

"I’m smiling because you care about what happens to me and because you are the very same person living up here alone without a phone for emergencies."

"I’ve not needed a phone since I’ve been here."

"Until now."

"Until now."

Alec pulled out his phone and tossed it to me. "Take it, but we can be back at the cabin before help arrives."

"I was so tempted to look through Alec’s phone. It had nothing to do with trust and everything to do with curiosity.

"Go through it, Tee. I have nothing to hide. It’s unlocked. Everything about me is open to you."

I handed the phone back to him. "No, everyone has a right to privacy."

Alec took back the phone and dug around in a different pocket. "Alright then. Take this instead."

Alec tossed me a square box. As soon as my fingers closed around the velvet box, I knew what it was, but I asked anyway.

"What is this?"

"Open it and find out."

"Alec, I’m not sure I’m ready for this," I said cautiously.

"Hold it for safekeeping. When you’re ready, you’ll have it."

"And if I’m never ready?"

"Sell it and buy yourself something nice."

Curiosity got the best of me. I opened the box. The oval-cut ruby stared back at me. It was the size of a quarter. That alone was enough to make my jaw drop, but it was the setting that I fell in love with. The same bleeding heart flowers in Alec’s tattoos were designed into the gold setting.

"Do you like it?"

All I could do without crying was nod.

Alec said, "I didn’t want to give you a diamond. Diamonds are too common, and you like my tats so much that I wanted to give you a part of me that you can keep with you always."

"It’s amazing, Alec. I’m overwhelmed."

"Overwhelmed enough to agree to marry me?"

"This isn’t exactly the ideal location for a proposal, Alec."

"Says the woman who declared her love on the top of a cliff just minutes before she had to be medevacked to an emergency room."

"That was different."

"How so?"

It was my turn to smile. "It was a pre-proposal with a homemade vine ring."

"Like this?" Alec pulled out a gold version of the ring I had created for him. "I had it dipped in gold. As soon as you put that ring on, I’ll put this one on and never take it off again."

"That is hardly fair."

"I think it is."

"I made the ring out of vines in like ten minutes. You must have spent a fortune on this one."

"Not really. I picked the ruby out of Dad’s collection, and my tattoo artist handled the design work."

"Your dad has a what? A pirate’s treasure chest of gems just sitting around?"

"Something like that."

"I’ve got to visit Eugene’s house."

"He would love to show you around his home. It is an eclectic mess of treasures that he has collected over the years. Dad likes you a lot. I’ve never seen him take as much of an interest in anyone I’ve dated as he has you."

I hated to admit it, but I liked Eugene, too. More disturbingly, I respected the man. He was a known criminal, and I’d spent way too much time praying that he and I would never end up on opposing sides of one of my love list projects.

"I worry a lot about what will happen if Eugene and I end up butting heads."

"I think about that too."

"What do we do?"

Alec said, "I like that you said we and not I."

I grinned. I liked it too.

"Tee, I don’t know. Maybe try to talk it out before you go to war? Because I honestly don’t want to see either of you hurt."

"So, in other words, we’ll play it one day at a time and pray a lot."

"You know, you could always give up the hacking gig and stay home. We could have a dozen babies and a duck pond and swings in the backyard." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"A dozen!"

"Two?"

Kids. I’d never really thought about kids as anything but an obligation to the Heavenly family. Well, I liked the Things, but to have my own Things with Alec? I wasn’t sure which was scarier—the thought of children or of stepping away from hacking again.

My work empowered it. It made me feel like a worthy person. King had beat into me so many times how little he valued me as a housewife, I didn’t think I could do it again.

"Alec, we’ve not really talked about kids and marriage stuff, you know?"

"We don’t have anything better to do. Let’s talk about it now."

"Alright." I took a deep breath and let it out. Might as well be direct with this. "I won’t ever be a full-time housewife again. It diminishes my feeling of worth. I was practically a slave at the Heavenly household, and I can’t tell you how many times King put me down as only a housewife. It wasn’t my idea in the first place. I did it for him. For the entire family, actually, only to be put down for my role. I can’t do it again. Besides, I enjoy what I do for a living. It can be very rewarding and challenging."

"I can live with that. It was just a thought to keep you from knocking heads with Dad, but Teela, being a housewife shouldn’t diminish you. Taking care of a family, especially when there are kids involved, is one of the most important jobs you can do. I deal with caregivers in my business all the time. Without qualified caregivers who take pride in their work, I wouldn’t be as successful as I am.

"King is an elitist who doesn’t know a good thing when he sees it. That’s not me."

"Thank you for saying that. I might change my mind when or if I have kids, but right now, I need my work, okay?"

"Yeah, it’s okay. I love watching your brain work when you get in the middle of a project. You do what works best for you. I’ll support whatever decision you make."