Wife's Bitter Revenge Against Neglectful CEO Husband-Chapter 177: A Different Kind of Horror

The gag in Dot’s mouth was stained red. Her makeup was streaked, and the rage in her eyes from earlier was replaced with pain and desperation. I tried to feel sorry for the woman, but it was hard. She was vicious. She cursed us all out. She threatened our children and children’s children. She begged to die at one point.

She didn’t explain her actions.

It was dark outside. Alec’s staff had left hours ago. I was tired. So was everyone else. It would be nice to store Dot in a reflection room for a few hours while we rested and devised a new strategy to end the attack against King and the rest of us.

"Have Joshua picked up," I said quietly.

"Sampson can bring him. He’s coming this way anyway," Jake said.

Sampson was a torture specialist. If Jake was calling in Sampson, he was tired of messing around with Dot. He was ready to end this. I couldn’t blame him. In fact, I gave him credit for his patience. He’d at least waited for the building to empty before calling the horror machine and his pouch of special tools.

I didn’t want to see this. Witnessing the interrogation up to this point had been bad enough. Sampson’s work was the stuff of nightmares.

"I’m going to check on King. I need to stretch my legs," I said.

"I’ll call if something changes," Alec promised.

The outer office was quiet, kind of like the calm after the storm. It felt weird to my ears. This day had been hectic by anyone’s standards. Not to mention, it made me uneasy knowing Dot was going through hell behind closed doors as Jake did whatever it took to make her talk. I hated that, whether the woman deserved it or not. I hoped the results were worth the pain she would suffer.

I stood outside King’s room and watched him through the observation window at the door. He was pacing like a madman, words that I couldn’t hear poured into the empty room. And this was with him loaded down with sedatives. Agitation was a state of being now for the stoic man that I once married. I wish I could give him peace.

Arms closed around me, and Alec’s aftershave filled my senses. I would have known it was him just by the way his palm pressed against my abdomen. A small scar dotted his thumb, but the scent was the confirmation of the already instinctual response my body had to his proximity.

I was so lucky to have run into Alec so many months ago. He was my rock, and ex-wife or not, I felt the need to be King’s rock for the time being. I didn’t have to love the man to show him this amount of compassion and support. I like to think I would have done it for anyone.

As if hearing my thoughts about him, King froze and stared at me from the other side of the door. He looked lost, alone, angry, hurt. Right now, he needed me more than Alec.

I patted Alec’s hand where it rested on my stomach. "Let me do this, Alec," I whispered.

"You don’t have to. He’s not your problem anymore," Alec said.

"I know. I want to."

"I’ll go in with you."

"Not this time, Alec."

"Then I’ll wait right here."

Alec let me go, and I turned and laid a gentle kiss on his lips before entering the room.

"Teela, you’re here," King said.

I nodded. "How are you doing?"

"They won’t let me out of here. I wanted to find you, but Ben says I have to stay. Teela, can’t I stay with you? Wouldn’t that be as safe as staying here?"

"No, King, it wouldn’t. The meds Dr. Pacer prescribed for you aren’t legal, and they’ve caused some problems for you. You know that, right? The doctor has told you, right?"

"Yeah, but I feel fine. Well, not fine, but as soon as I take another dose, I’ll be fine. I always feel better after a pill. Like I can solve anything."

"Come here, let’s talk. I sat on the edge of his bed and patted the spot next to him."

King shook his head and proceeded to pace again. "I’m better on my feet."

"Come on. For just a couple of minutes. I need to talk to you."

"About getting out of here?"

"No, but it’s important."

After a couple of false starts, King managed to sit. He grabbed my hand and cradled it in a desperate grip that bordered on painful. It didn’t matter. It couldn’t be more painful than what Dot was going through upstairs, or the addiction the man beside me was experiencing.

"King, do you remember a couple of sisters from your school years. One was an angel, and the other ended up in a juvenile detention center?"

He cocked his head in thought as he blinked through his memories, trying to recall the information I wanted. He scratched the back of his head and gave me a blank look.

King slowly shook his head. "Doesn’t ring a bell."

"Well, one of those sisters is Dr. Pacer. King, she misdiagnosed you intentionally. She wants to hurt you, but we aren’t really sure why. Can’t you think about it? See if there are any answers buried in your memory?"

"It would help if I had a picture of the girls, maybe."

I nodded. "That’s a good idea. I’ll see what Stiff can come up with."

"Can you stay with me until he gets back to you? I really miss you, Teela. I know I wasn’t a good husband, Teela, but I want to make it up to you."

"You don’t need to do that, King. Right now, just focus on getting better. Your company needs you. Ben and Min are going crazy trying to do the job that you do so fluidly."

"But you’ll stay for now?" King pleaded with wide eyes and child-like wonder.

I nodded. "I can stay for a little while, but you need to let go of my hand, okay? Your grip is a little painful.

King looked down where his large hand engulfed mine, as if only then realizing he was pumping strength into his grip. Slowly, he loosened his grip until his hand was gently patting mine.

The softness lasted only a few minutes, but King was back to pacing while he listed off all the things he needed to be doing rather than resting in a hospital room. The items ranged from important stuff like contract negotiations and investment strategies to brushing his teeth and making sure his suit was pressed for the next board meeting. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

I didn’t have the heart to tell him he wouldn’t be attending any board meetings for a long time. The man had been sculpted into the role of CEO from the time he was an adolescent, but a cruel mother who used heartless means to make sure her lessons took. I understood how hard it must be for him to be pulled out of the only world where he ever felt in control and plunged into the role of addict. But he could survive this. He survived the reflection room so many times with his sanity intact. He could survive the drugs. I would help him. We all would.

When the doctor and nurse came in, I left the room and allowed them to monitor his condition and adjust his medication. I hoped they would give him something to sleep. He looked like he needed it. Or did sleep just lock him in a dark place with as many of his obsessive thoughts as he had now? I hoped not.

Alec was sitting on the floor with his long legs stretched out before him, his back against the wall. He looked up as I walked out. "How is he?"

"The same, I guess."

"Do you want to stay? I can have a visitor’s cot set up in his room."

"You’d do that for me?"

Alec shrugged. "I trust you. He’s important to you. It’s my duty to support you."

A smile kissed at the corner of my lips. I held out a hand to help Alec stand. "Are you going to sleep on the cot with me?"

"If you’ll let me. If not, I’ll be out here."

"That is what I thought." I sighed. "I have a better idea. Let’s check in with the doctor, then head back upstairs. If Dot is still holding out, let’s get out of here for a little while. There’s not much more we can do tonight. The hack attacks have died down, so Stiff doesn’t even need me."

Alec’s face brightened. "That’s my girl. I like it."

The doctor had nothing new to report beyond the fact that they were giving King a sedative to sleep. He agreed with my assessment. As much as King needed the drugs to survive, he needed sleep and soon.