Page 109 of The Bad Husband

Henrietta would love to live in my head now and see what’s going on.

Lila is a good woman, had decent parents, and has no one right now.

Unfortunately, her father tied her to Henrietta, which only proves that he knew nothing about his second wife.

Had she known who Henrietta really was, he would’ve kept his daughter away from her and never left his wife any money, which wouldn’t have worked for me.

Lila likes to believe that her life would be easier with an insecure man. She’d have more control.

I’m not an insecure man, and her life, for sure, wouldn’t be easier with me.

If anything, it would be more complicated, risky, and dangerous.

The prospect of many things going wrong would hover over our heads.

She’d have to get used to it.

She doesn’t have Henrietta's poise.

She lost it just now because she said the wrong words in the kitchen.

Imagine her being picked up by the feds. Or worse, being set up by them. She’d spill out things they wouldn’t even dream of hearing.

Henrietta had always been my best choice in that regard. She has a past.

She’s used to navigating a world of crime.

She knows how to get out of a sticky situation.

Maybe that particularity made me spare her life more than anything else did.

Knowing her, I realized I couldn’t let her go free before she inherited her money.

Despite our agreement, she could’ve simply walked on me and married someone else.

Someone dumb enough to fight for her.

Our marriage should’ve come with penitence and repentance on her part.

It was supposed to punish her.

It wasn’t meant to rekindle anything, or to make her compare herself to Lila.

If I grow fond of Lila, I might need to set her free and not make her into someone that she’s not.

And when it comes to me?

Once Henrietta is gone, there will be other women like her. Someone who understands this life and doesn’t throw me under the bus at the first flicker of fear.

19

DAMON

I kick back, drink in hand, legs open, cock growing hard at the thought of what I’d like to do to her next.

Right now, she’s swimming.

A trickle of moonlight glows in the background, and the water ripples from her smooth, rhythmic moves when a loud noise booms in the house.