Wife's Bitter Revenge Against Neglectful CEO Husband-Chapter 26: Jake

I had no idea how to get out of this mess. I looked around for answers, but the few other pedestrians in the area were focused on their own path. Of course, there were no cops in sight.

Maybe if I’d taken taekwondo lessons instead of getting married, I would have felt differently. But at present, I felt totally screwed. Even if these guys allowed me to call Stiff or, lord forbid, King, I’d likely be dead or worse before they arrived.

"Please, guys, just take the debit card. I’ll give you the passcode."

Sammy said, "Nothing keeping us from doing both, girl."

"Or, you can leave her alone for free," the third man said as he towered over Sammy.

"Aw, Jake, we’re just having a little fun with her. It’s been a slow day. We’re bored."

"Go be bored somewhere else."

"You keep all the good pickings, Jake," the first guy complained. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"Move it," Jake growled.

The two guys scampered off, leaving me alone with Jake and one hellacious tension headache.

"Are you okay?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, I guess. Thanks."

"They’re not bad guys. Just down on their luck and frustrated."

"Me too."

"Seems like everyone has troubles these days."

"Yeah, I guess you’re right."

I reached into my backpack for my phone. My hands started shaking as the adrenaline wore off, and the true danger I’d just faced hit home. I didn’t necessarily believe Jake when he said those men were good people. Sammy would have taken me across the street. He would have attacked me, and I wasn’t strong enough to fight him off. And unlike the situations with King, my laptop and hacking abilities wouldn’t compensate for physical strength.

I freed the phone from the bag but nearly dropped it as I flipped it around in my hand. Jake reached out to help.

"No!" I snapped, pulling back.

Jake held up his hands in surrender and stepped back as well. "Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. If you want my help, I’m here. Otherwise, if you are okay with it, I’ll walk you to your destination to make sure you aren’t assaulted again."

"I don’t have any cash," I muttered as I finally unlocked my phone and debated what to do with it.

My original thought was to map the closest bus stop, but now, being stuck in a box with a bunch of strangers sounded terrifying. I could contact Bea or Stiff, but I was supposedly an adult and self-sufficient, and the danger had passed. I glanced at Jake and made a judgment call. Yeah, the danger had passed. Jake didn’t seem the type.

I wasn’t sure if Father DiMarco had a car. I assumed he did, but this didn’t seem the time to find out.

"Listen, there is a diner on the next block. Let me walk you there. I’ll buy you a cup of coffee and give you a chance to collect yourself. Whatever decisions you’re struggling with will be easier after a coffee."

"I don’t know."

"There are usually cops hanging around. You can report the old guys if you really want to. You’ll feel safer there than on the street."

Jake made a lot of sense. I nodded and followed him to the diner. He held the door open for me and found us an empty booth.

The diner was decorated in 50s décor, and I didn’t think it was meant to be trendy. This place appeared to have been built and decorated in the 50s and never updated. It had a small dining room with worn red and white booths lining the windows. More customers could sit at the counter. All the counter seats and most of the booths were full. The smell of fried foods and coffee filled the air.

I was relieved when I spotted a duo of uniformed policemen sitting at the counter, giving their order to a woman in a curly red wig and a pink waitress uniform. I relaxed by degrees.

Jake stared into his coffee cup like a fortune teller reading tea leaves. "I can listen if you want."

"About?"

"About whatever has you frustrated and running through the streets like the cops are chasing you."

"You saw that?"

"Hard to miss."

"There’s nothing you can do to help, but thanks."

"Sometimes talking about what’s troubling you helps. You know, ease the mind."

I snorted. "My husband’s taken care of that."

At Jake’s quizzical expression, I expounded. "He arranged for couple’s therapy. Only he sent his secretary to attend the session on his behalf. Did I mention she is his mistress?"

"Wow, damn."

"Um. What about you? What has you walking around in duct-taped shoes?"

"Oh, you saw that."

"Hard to miss."

"Long story."

"I have a full cup of coffee."

"Alright. Not sure where to start."

"Anywhere. You can fill in the holes as you go."

Jake nodded. "A year ago, I was married to the love of my life. She had two little kids that I treated like my own. I thought we were happy. At the time, I was a career military man, so it was expected that I would be deployed, but we survived deployment before during our engagement, so it didn’t feel like a big deal. She lived in military housing and had a strong support system in the community, so that was good. Only this time, it wasn’t.

"I wasn’t gone a month before my buddies started reporting some weird activity. She had some guy visiting the house all the time. When I asked her about it, she said it wasn’t important. I was just a buddy from work, only all of a sudden, the bank balance started dropping, and I wasn’t seeing any deposits from her job.

"Again, I thought I had a good relationship with Eve, so I did what I always did when something came up—I talked to her about it. She told me she was feeling trapped. She’d set up an account in her name. We discussed what bills would be paid out of each account. If that is what she needed to feel secure, I was secure enough in my marriage to give it to her.

"But then the neighbors started reporting she wasn’t leaving to work. Her car was in the driveway all day, but more concerning, no one had seen the kids for days. Eve said she was working from home through a new telework program. The kids were visiting her mom. That set off warning bells as she’d told me stories about her mom. They weren’t pretty. And I couldn’t recall one time since meeting Eve that I’d met her mom, and yet now the kids were staying with this strange woman.

"I started filling out the paperwork necessary to return stateside early, but nothing is instant in the military. It didn’t help that I had no concrete evidence of something wrong. I ended up filing for retirement to get back to my wife so I could assess the situation myself.

"I loved that woman and those kids more than my career, more than life itself. It was driving me crazy to be so far away and hear such diversified versions of what was going on with my family.

"I’d begun doubting Eve’s version before the kids disappeared, but when debt collectors started contacting my mom, I knew—I just knew—I had to get back or lose everything.

"I decided not to let Eve know when I was coming back. Instead, I showed up at the house and let myself in. Eve always kept a neat house, so I was surprised when I saw how trashed the living room was. Beer bottles, empty food containers, and dirty dishes were everywhere. The mail stacked up on the side table was so high that it had spilled onto the floor. Gnats buzzed around in droves.

"And then I saw the drug paraphernalia. I died inside."

Jake pulled a napkin from the dispenser and wiped his eyes and nose. He took a drink of the coffee before continuing.

"It was a good thing I didn’t come home with a gun because I found her naked in bed with some long-haired guy. I’ll never forget it. Both of them looked and smelled like they hadn’t taken a shower in days. Their hair was knotted, but the worst part was the guy’s eyes were wide open and he still had a needle in a vein in his arm.

"I knew that look. I’d seen dead guys before. Eve was wrapped around a dead body, stoned out of her mind and moaning as she tried to arouse him.

"I ran from the room to puke, then went to find the boys. They were missing, so I called 9-1-1. The paramedics and police arrived and took Eve away.

"I spent what felt like hours answering questions before I followed Eve to the hospital. I could have spent days. It wouldn’t have mattered. She’d gone from a normal, happy, healthy woman into a comatose, drug addicted skin bag in a matter of weeks, and there was nothing I could do about it.

"Can you imagine how many drugs it took to pull a perfectly healthy woman down to that condition so quickly?"

"What about the boys?"