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“She’s nothing compared to me,” Claire said. “I don’t know why you don’t leave her already.”
Vince’s blood pressure went through the roof. He clenched his teeth to keep himself from screaming. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Claire, let alone speak to her. He just grabbed his suitcase and stormed out of the hotel room.
Standing outside was Paige, holding what little belongings she had with her.
“Go get Dino!” Vince shouted at her. “Tell him to meet us downstairs in the lobby. We’re leaving!”
Paige scurried off down the hall, heading to Dino’s room. Vince wasn’t going to stand around and wait. He stormed down the hall, in the opposite direction, heading for the elevators. Behind him, he heard Claire crying as she tried to keep pace with him. Her pathetic whimpers of “Daddy, Daddy, please wait, Daddy” filled his head with an all-consuming rage. She just didn’t get it. She was immature and idiotic. Vince loved his wife more than anything else in the entire world. If he had to, he would die for her. How could a teenager possibly understand love and devotion like that? She couldn’t. She wasn’t mature enough, hadn’t lived enough of life to realize what love really was.
Vince knew that he would be wasting his time trying to explain this to her, so he just ignored her cries. What was the point in giving her attention? It would just spur this behavior on. He rushed down to the front desk and began to check out.
By the time the hotel rooms were paid for, Paige and Dino came bustling into the lobby.
As soon as Vince saw them, he made for the front door. He wasn’t wasting any time and he didn’t care if they had to run to catch up with him. He was getting out of Thailand as fast as he could.
The limo waited outside. It was always there, ready to be used, thanks to his company. He opened the trunk and shoved his case inside. He left it open as he piled into the back, waiting for everyone else to put their cases away.
It took a couple of minutes for them to get into the limo with him. Vince sat up by the front window, making it easy for him to talk to the driver and distance himself from the others. “The airport,” Vince said, “quickly.”
The tension in the air was palpable. Vince just wanted nothing to do with any of them, keeping his face turned away from them all as he stared out of the window.
Claire crawled up next to him, cuddling up to his arm. No matter how many times he threw her hands off, she still kept clawing her way back. Farther down the limo, he could see Dino trying to shove his hands down Paige’s shorts. Vince covered his eyes with his fingers as he sighed heavily.
He didn’t want to be here, surrounded with these people. He just wanted to hold his wife in his arms and tell her everything was going to be okay.
Out the corner of his eye, he saw Paige shove Dino away. Claire’s whole body stiffened beside him. She wrapped her arms around Vince’s and clutched onto him tightly. Paige stared at Claire as she moved her body, reaching out toward Vince with her foot, aiming right for his crotch.
Before Vince could stop her, Claire lashed out at her friend. She slapped at her shin and screeched like a banshee, “Don’t touch him!”
The words echoed around the heavily padded limo. Vince cringed, trying to detach himself from her body, but she refused to be removed.
Paige leaned forward in her seat and planted both of her hands on Vince’s thighs. She arched her shoulders back, making her cleavage more pronounced. Claire lunged forward and shoved her friend savagely.
“Just stop it!” Vince boomed.
Claire and Paige looked to him, shocked.
Vince could feel his body shaking with rage. “Get the fuck off me,” Vince snapped at Claire. “I don’t even want to look at you, let alone be near you.” He removed his arms from her grasp and pushed her away, her body sliding along the leather. Her expression was filled with pain but he didn’t care. “You too.” Vince jerked his chin at Paige. “Leave me the fuck alone, you whore.”
Paige leaned back into the seat and folded her arms across her chest.
“I’m not in the mood to deal with any of you,” Vince growled.
Finally, there was silence.
Vince closed his eyes and enjoyed it while it lasted. He knew those fucking teenagers would start up again. They would argue over him and begin their petty, pathetic game. He wanted no part in it.
As he sat there, he wondered if Lorelei was all right. She looked physically fine, although they had changed her hair. There were no bruises or marks on her body and it had all been on display, so that was a minor relief. But something about that image made his stomach churn. Seeing his wife standing naked in the middle of a weird, dimly-lit room wasn’t comfortable viewing, but there was something else …
Vince pulled out his phone and pulled up the video, paying careful attention to his wife’s face. There was something wrong, horribly wrong. She didn’t look like herself. It was her physically. She was all there and everything was in the correct place. But, at the same time, it wasn’t her. The woman behind the eyes was distant and vague. That wasn’t his wife any more.
Vince felt a lump form in his throat. The guilt took over. This was all his fault. He should have been there for her. He should have protected her. If it wasn’t for him, she wouldn’t have been put in that situation.
He closed the video on his phone and started to go through the hundreds of texts Kate had sent him. Not only did she give him the names of the people who did this to his wife, but she gave him an address, too. He quickly searched for it and was instantly shown a still shot—a beige-pink building that looked an awful lot like a pussy. The front doors were placed in the center, with wide flowing arches on either side.
“That’s a vagina,” Claire said.
Vince sighed and looked at her. “Seems so.”
