Wife's Bitter Revenge Against Neglectful CEO Husband-Chapter 57: The Plan Comes Together

I wasn’t sure what the plan was until I passed the message to Lettie through the maid. Then it hit me how to hurt her the most.

Now, I had to get the guys to agree—all of the guys, including King and Ben. Especially King and Ben.

To do that, I would have to convince the Heavenly brothers of some hard truths and hope they were as innocent as I thought.

Well, maybe not all the truth needed to be revealed right now. Just enough to gain their buy-in.

King’s penthouse condominium was minimalistic when it came to décor, but that didn’t deter from its elegance.

Jake sent his men to check the building’s security while the rest of us settled in the living room. King kept me close to him to Stiff’s obvious consternation.

The housekeeper made and served coffee before King dismissed her for the day.

I let King hold my hand for the time being. After experiencing the reflection room twice now, I understood better than anyone else that King needed connection as a human being. It had nothing to do with romantic feelings.

At least, that was how I saw it.

I asked, "King, are you up to a serious discussion, or would you rather wait? You too, Ben. This involves all of us."

The men agreed, which put me on the spot because my plan was coalescing on the fly. Maybe the best option was to talk about ancient history and work our way forward to the future.

"Min, have you ever shared your story with King?"

"No."

"Would you mind?"

In broad strokes, Min shared his story. His attention was focused on King as if he spoke to him alone. As he spoke about the fire, Ben put an arm around Min’s shoulders, but when Lettie entered the picture, Ben pulled away, splitting his attention between Min’s story and King’s reaction.

It made perfect sense to me that the younger brother looked to his older sibling for a way to process the harsh reality.

Pain marred King’s face. "Why didn’t you tell me this before?"

Min said, "When we reunited, you were still a kid. You weren’t strong enough to do anything about it, so what was the point of hurting you?"

"And yet you told Teela."

"Teela is stronger than you think."

"No offense, but how? She has no authority and no resources. Her only skills are as a housewife."

My spine stiffened. I fought back the urge to correct him. I wasn’t ready to show him my hand yet. I needed his cooperation first.

King continued, "She couldn’t even protect herself from a second kidnapping."

I raised my hand, "Hello, I’m right here."

Stiff didn’t share my reticence. "And yet she saved your sorry ass."

King said, "And I’m grateful, but my rescue had more to do with Jake than Teela."

Jake said, "You don’t give your wife half the credit she deserves. Do you honestly think Min, Stiff, and I would follow just anyone? Not to mention the others."

King said, "The others?"

I said, "Don’t worry about the others. Worry about yourself."

King said, "Do you mean that crazy Bea and the disgraced priest?"

King, watch how you talk about my friends."

"You’re right. Sorry. I just don’t get it."

Stiff snapped, "Maybe you’d get it if you got your head out of your ass and paid attention."

"Fine, I don’t want to argue. So, Mom committed a crime over twenty years ago. Maybe more than one. While horrific, what does this have to do with today?"

I said, "What if the crimes didn’t stop twenty years ago, King?"

King shook his head. "Mom is a harsh woman, but she has an impeccable reputation."

"But is that because she has impeccable ethics or because she’s good at covering up her transgressions?"

"I don’t see it."

You don’t see me either, dumbass. I thought it. I didn’t say it. Oh boy, how bad I wanted to say it.

"King, look at everything she’s done to me. Look at what she did to Ben and you in the last twenty-four hours."

King said, "Ben, what happened to you?"

Ben shrugged. "Nothing new. Same thing she’s done since I was a baby."

"She drugged you?"

Ben nodded. "But King, before she did, Mom and Daniel admitted to kidnapping Teela, and King, there are other reflection rooms."

"Shit."

I gave him a couple of minutes to absorb what he heard. I knew he was fighting his nature to remain loyal to his mom. It was a lot to take in.

Eventually, King asked Ben, "What do you think?"

"I trust Teela and Min more than I do Mom."

King asked me, "Let’s say I believe you. Why are you telling me this now?"

"There’s more to the story, King. There are kids involved. When Jake rescued me last night, he also rescued more than a dozen kids that Daniel had been holding captive. And Jake there, he has two boys who we’ve traced back to this operation. We know of at least three other facilities that are possibly involved.

"King, your mom and Daniel are destroying a lot of lives. It’s got to stop. We’ve got to stop them."

"I can’t file charges against my own mother, Teela."

"I’m not asking you to, but I do need your cooperation."

"What do you have in mind?"

"First, don’t get in our way. We have enough resources to put together a good case against your mom without you, but I’d rather not fight you and your mom. We will if we have to, but if you and Ben aren’t involved, I’d rather keep you out of it."

"Okay, I can give you that for now."

"No, King. I need your promise to stay out of it permanently, or I’ll have to shut you down."

King arched an eyebrow. "You think you’re powerful enough to shut Heavenly Enterprises down, really? What, are you backed by the mob or something?"

"I don’t need the mob, King, but trust me when I say you really don’t want to cross me."

"Care to prove it?"

"If I have to."

Min said, "King, trust me when I say Teela is a force of nature. If she turns against you, even if she doesn’t win, the losses won’t be worth it."

Ben added. "She’s your wife, King. What has she ever done to hurt you? Then look at what Mom’s done to all of us, what she’s doing to those kids. Man, just agree. You trusted her enough to marry her. Can’t you give her this?"

King said, "I don’t like it."

I said, "Of course you don’t. It takes the control out of your hands. Other than your mother, you never give up control."

King nodded. "Okay, you have my word, but Teela, if you make me regret it, I’ll never let you go."

I grunted. "Like the Heavenly family let me go before. I’ll take my chances."

"You said that was first. What is second?"

"Before we left the estate, I left a message with the maid for your mother. I told her I’d taken two of her sons. You and Ben are mine now. Of all the ways to piss off your mom, taking her sons tops the list, and I want her pissed off. I want her so focused on me that she ignores the important stuff."

"Like?"

"Like us pulling together a rock-solid case against her and Daniel. Like finding Jake’s kids and getting them out."

"Alright. That makes sense. What do you need from us?"

I smiled, "I need your cooperation. Be my kept men."

Ben’s face reddened. "I know what that sounds like, but what exactly does it mean?"

Stiff said, "Yeah, I’d kind of like to know that too."

"It means I want to move in here with King. By all outside appearances, King and I will be a happy couple. I want both Ben and King to be surrounded by security guards who are controlled by us.

"Ben, you and Min should move in here as well. It will be easier to keep us all safe if we stay together."

Stiff said, "I don’t like it."

"Stiff, this isn’t for real. It is a show to keep Lettie’s attention. As soon as she’s arrested, I keep my promise to you and file for a divorce."

King said, "Wait, why does he care?"

Stiff said, "Because you’re an asshole, and I don’t like the way you treat the woman I love."

King said, "Fuck you, Stiff."

Stiff jumped to his feet. Jake and Min stopped him before he was able to attack King, but it wasn’t easy.

Jake said, "I’m taking Stiff for a walk."

King said, "Yeah, well, when he starts walking, he can keep walking until he’s totally out of Teela’s life."

Stiff said, "You’ll be long gone before long, King, just you wait and see. And here’s the kicker. Before you go, I’m going to make sure you know exactly what a terrific woman you lost. No more bullshit of treating her like a second-class citizen. You can’t recognize a good thing even when it’s right under your nose."

Jake kept urging Stiff across the floor and out the door. "I’ll be back after I put Stiff on a cab."

The room fell quiet as King took a minute to cool down.

"You okay?" I asked.

"What do you see in that guy?" King asked.

"Funny. He’s asked me the same thing about you."