"I thought it was, too, until I met Baz."
Benny's lips curl up into a cruel smile. I cower inside. It's the same look he gave me right before he was going to do something terrible to me.
"Stevie." He hums my name like it's a hymn.
"Don't do that." I back away.
"Don't do what?"
"You know what." I accuse.
"Show my affection for you?"
"You don't have affection for me. You tried to kill me, and my husband, and my infant daughter. You're the fucking Devil."
"The devil who made you, little fox." He catches my face in his hands, and I squeeze my eyes shut. "We're connected whether you want to believe it or not. You may be married to my son, but your heart will always, on some level, be bonded to me."
"No," I reject his claim, my pulse striking my neck like a whip.
"Yes. You can deny it all you want. But it's the truth."
It's not the truth. I don't want it to be the truth. But a small part of it may be true. A very small part of it. As much as I love Baz, and I do love Baz, Benny is lined within me. I opened so much of myself up to him, he strolled right inside my soul and took up residence like it was a rent-controlled apartment. "Baz will never truly make you happy. He's weak. A defect," he rasps seductively in my ear. "Kill him and take your rightful place next to me."
Never.
"Get your fucking hands off my wife." My eyes fly open at the sound of Baz's voice. I break free from Benny and step away.
"Baz, what the fuck are you doing here?" He's holding up a gun.
"I found your ring on the nightstand. Gianni told me where you were."
"Rat." I mumble under my breath.
"Just can't trust a mobster." Benny thoroughly enjoys the scene that's unfolding. "Isn't this fun? One big happy family together at last." His smile is disturbing.
Baz scoffs. "The words happy and family never applied to you."
"You always were such a sensitive child."
"I'm not a child anymore."
"Maybe not in body," Benny all but dismisses Baz like he's smoke. "But your head is still all jacked up. Riddled with insecurities and inane thoughts. You probably don't even know what to do with a woman like Stevie. She only married you because you knocked her up and probably feels sorry for you."
"Benny!" I stomp forward. "Don't be an asshole!"
"C'mon, foxy, you know me. I'm not an asshole. I'm just brutally honest."
"You're an asshole," Baz bites. The gun slightly shaking in his hand. Benny is getting in his head.
"You really believe she loves you? You?" Benny asks snidely. "She's stealth and grace and power and you're . . . you."
"Of course, she loves me." Baz is all confidence.
"Oh, really?" Benny challenges. "Why don't you tell him what you said to me the last time we were together?"
"Benny-"
"What? I just want him to know exactly how you feel about me."
"Felt about you," I correct him. "And I'm questioning how real those feelings even were."
"Oh, they were real, little fox."
"Stop calling her that."
Benny relishes in Baz's torment. It's disgusting. "I remember those words so vividly," he reminisces. "'Benny'," he quotes. "She was riding my cock while she was saying this, of course." Baz visually cringes, as do I.
"Benny, shut the fuck up!"
"Are you ashamed, little fox? Ashamed that you professed your undying loyalty to me? Screamed you loved me while you came? Did she ever say those things to you, Baz? Have you ever even made her come?" He tilts his head, his stare dark, like an anaconda eyeing its prey.
Now he's just hitting below the belt.
"I make her come just fine. And no, she never pledged her undying loyalty, but she did tell me that if you and I were both standing in front of her, she'd pick me. She'd always pick me."
My heart swells with pride. "I would. I will. I do," I announce.
Benny lights me on fire with his corrupt green eyes. I see what he sees. Traitor.
Maybe I am. For Baz, I will always be. I would be anything he needs me to be.
Benny sneers. "Damaged goods." If I didn't know any better, I'd think he's actually jealous. He's most definitely pissed off.
"You knew that when you found me," I remind him.
Benny laughs like it's some kind of private joke. "I wanted you damaged. I made you that way."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" I interrogate.
"C'mon, Stevie, think about it. I'm surprised you never realized it before. There just happened to be a cop sitting outside the alleyway I dragged you out of? Don't you think that was just a little coincidental?"