The Dead Dog, Gabe's Cruelty

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After six years with my billionaire boyfriend, Gabe Vance, he finally agreed to marry me.

But at our wedding, he ignored my protests and added my uninvited cousin, Sherry Sterling, on Snapchat.

From then on, they turned our home into a non-stop party zone every single night. Eventually, the party moved right into our bed.

Gabe wouldn't even let me leave the room. He forced me to stay and wait on them hand and foot.

I had to watch their bodies tangle together and then clean up the mess they left behind.

Sherry, the woman who had once destroyed my entire family, laughed with wicked triumph.

"I told you a loser like you didn't deserve to marry into old money," she sneered.

"But I guess I should thank you. Your husband belongs to me now."

I looked at the limp body of my little dog, the only family I had left, after Gabe's cruelty took its life.

I cried until I started laughing.

Gabe, after this, we're finally even.

"Quinn, get over here and help her get dressed."

I didn't move. I didn't even look at him.

The next second, a massive force slammed me onto the floor. My back hit the cold marble, and tears of agony instantly blurred my vision.

Gabe looked down at me, his face twisted in a look of pure disgust.

"Stop faking it. Have you forgotten how to be a decent wife? I work my ass off to provide for you. You're not here to just sit around."

"Sherry's not feeling well. Get her clothes on, now."

Work his ass off?

Gabe was shirtless, his firm chest covered in fresh red scratch marks. He had definitely been working, but it wasn't at the office.

He reached down and hauled me up by my arm. Ignoring my cry of pain, he threw me toward Sherry Sterling.

He saw the massive bruise forming on my back, but his eyes held nothing but annoyance.

I felt a bitter laugh bubble up in my throat as tears fell uncontrollably.

"Gabe, you can humiliate me all you want. Just please, don't make me serve Sherry."

The words were so pathetic they made me hate myself.

"Gabe, honey, don't be hard on Quinn. I'll just leave. I don't want to come between you two," Sherry said, her eyes downcast.

She looked like the picture of a victim.

Gabe's heart clearly broke for her. He pulled her into his arms, whispering sweet things while looking at me with a hatred I couldn't understand.

"Quinn, your parents' death had nothing to do with Sherry. Stop acting like a rabid dog, snapping at everyone."

"It was just their bad luck. They were the ones stupid enough to get trapped in that fire!"

I snapped my head up, staring at the man in front of me in pure disbelief.

This was my husband.

The man I had loved for ten years was dragging my dead parents through the mud for another woman.

My heart, which I thought was already numb, shattered all over again.

"Gabe! You know damn well Sherry started that fire!"

I screamed, my mind fracturing. I swung my hand, aiming right for Sherry's smug face.

SLAPD

The sound of the hit echoed through the bedroom.

I fell back onto the floor, clutching my stinging cheek. I looked up into Gabe's icy, murderous eyes.

"Quinn, you've gone too far."

I stared at him, trying to find a single trace of the boy who once loved me.

I found nothing.

Only Sherry, hiding behind Gabe's back, was looking at me like I was a stray dogDdisgusted and mocking.

Bark!

A sharp bark broke the heavy silence.

Shadow, my small dog, lunged forward like a streak of black lightning. He sank his teeth into Sherry's calf and refused to let go.

Gabe didn't hesitate. He delivered a brutal kick right into Shadow's ribs.

"Sherry!"

He saw the deep wound on her leg, and his eyes turned blood-red with rage.

"If anything happens to her, I'll make sure you pay for it with your life!"

He scooped Sherry up in his arms and stormed out, slamming the door behind them.

I didn't care about Gabe's anger anymore. I scrambled on my hands and knees toward Shadow, checking his injuries.

The sound of the door slamming made me flinch violently.

I never thought Gabe and I would end up like this.

The pain in my chest was so sharp I had to bite my tongue to keep from screaming.

It was so pathetic. My husband wanted me dead for the sake of an outsider.

We met back in middle school because of a cruel prank.

Gabe was the poor kid, skinny and introverted, always getting bullied by the varsity guys.

After I found them dumping trash on him in the boys' bathroom, I finally stepped in to protect him.

He thanked me with his head down, and our lives became intertwined from that moment on.

When I was fourteen, tragedy struck.

My cousin accidentally set our house on fire. My parents and grandparents were all swallowed by the flames.

I became an orphan overnight.

It was Gabe who pulled me out of the river when I tried to end it all.

"Quinn, from now on, your life belongs to me. You live for me."

It sounded possessive, even then. But it was exactly what my broken soul needed. It made me feel like someone finally loved me.

I was startled awake by the sound of high-pitched screaming.

The moment I opened my bedroom door, I felt the blood drain from my face.

My ears began to ring.

"No!"

"Who gave you permission to touch him!"

I screamed, charging forward without a second thought.

Shadow was lying in a pool of blood. His legs were mangled, and only the faint rise and fall of his chest showed he was still alive.

Sherry laughed even louder when she saw my face. She timed it perfectly, kicking me hard in the knee.

I lost my balance and crashed to the floor.

Sherry's friends swarmed me, pinning me down against the hardwood.

"Oh, my sweet little cousin. You're still such a loser."

She giggled, picking up Shadow's bloody, broken body and shaking him in front of me.

"Please, I'm begging you. Give him back. I'll do anything!"

Shadow was the only living thing besides me that had survived that fire.

I couldn't lose him.

"Fine. Give me ten head-butts on the floor, and I'll give you this flea-bitten mutt."

I looked at Sherry's arrogant face. Dignity didn't matter anymore.

When I finally looked up, my forehead was smeared with blood.

Sherry's grin widened. "Quinn, you really look like a dog right now."

"But did you really think I'd let him go?"

With those words, she raised Shadow high and slammed him onto the floor with everything she had.

"No!"

I fought with every ounce of strength to break free, but I was too late.

Warm, metallic blood sprayed across my face.

My sanity snapped in that instant.

I grabbed a paring knife from the side table and lunged at Sherry like a wild animal.

All I wanted was for her to pay with her life.

That was the scene Gabe walked into.

THUD!

I felt like a bird with broken wings, flying backward through the air.

My body slammed into the furniture with a sickening crunch.

"Gabe"

Sherry started sobbing, her eyes welling up with fake tears.

"I just wanted to make things right with her I didn't expect her to set her dog on me"

"I didn't mean to hurt the dog I'm so sorry. I was just so scared."

"Yeah, Gabe, Sherry wanted us to throw a party for your wife today to surprise her. We didn't think thank God you got here in time!"

Sherry's friends chimed in perfectly.

She spun her lies through her sobs, turning the truth upside down in seconds.

Gabe kissed the top of her head tenderly before walking toward me as I lay crumpled on the floor.

"Stop playing dead, Quinn."

His voice was flat, devoid of any emotion.

I tried to open my eyes. I wanted to see the man I had loved for ten years as he said those cold, heartless words.

But the blood from my forehead blurred everything. I couldn't see his face at all.

Suddenly, the world spun. Gabe hauled me up by my collar.

But before he could do anything else, my body went limp like a rag doll.

Before I blacked out, I thought I saw a flash of panic in Gabe's eyes.

I must have been dreaming.

By the third time Gabe tried to hand me a bowl of soup, I pushed it away. He finally lost his temper.

"Quinn, how much longer are you going to keep this up!"

"Your dog attacked a human first. It's his own fault he's dead."

"I told you years ago that vicious animals shouldn't be kept around. I let you keep him this long out of respect for you. Don't push your luck!"

I snapped my head toward him. If I had any strength left, I would have ripped him apart.

He knew exactly how much Shadow meant to me.

There was a time when Gabe would spend his last dollar on the most expensive dog food for Shadow.

I used to tell him we didn't need the fancy stuff, that he should look after himself first.

But Gabe would look at me so seriously. "Shadow is your family, so he's mine too. He deserves the best."

"Besides, if we ever fight, I'll need to bribe him to take my side."

Then he'd kiss Shadow's head, and the dog would wag his tail like a propeller.

Our tiny, unheated apartment felt warmer than any mansion because of that love.

When did everything change?

Since I didn't say anything, Gabe assumed I was reflecting on my mistakes. He issued a command like it was a reward.

"Fine. When you're discharged tomorrow, apologize to Sherry, and we'll call it even."

He said it so casually, as if he were doing me a huge favor.

Sherry's parents died when she was young, and my parents raised her like their own daughter.

And yet, just because of a stupid dance costume, she accidentally burned my whole family alive.

She was the killer, but she escaped justice because she was under sixteen.

And Gabe? Gabe knew the whole truth.

On our wedding day, he brought her home and told me:

"Quinn, you didn't actually think I loved you, did you?"

"I remember exactly how you threw my last meal on the ground and stepped on it. I'll never love you as long as I live."

The March sun was shining on me, but I was shivering with cold.

When we were sixteen, Gabe had saved up every penny to buy me a nice steak dinner.

I saw the hope in his eyes, but I forced myself to knock the plate out of his hands.

I did it because Sherry was standing right behind him, shaking a vial of poison she had meant for that food.

We were just homeless kids. I couldn't win a fight against someone as cruel as her back then.

Gabe stayed away from me for a long time after that.

I tried to explain, but he never listened.

I clutched my chest. The heart that once beat for him was finally, officially dead.

"Apologize to a murderer? In your dreams."

"Quinn!"

Gabe stood up abruptly. He raised his hand high, but when he saw how pale and sickly I looked, he couldn't bring himself to strike.

He dropped his hand in frustration. "Your parents are dead, so what? Does that mean Sherry doesn't get to live her life!"

"Why do you have to keep bringing up the past? Nobody owes you anything!"

I watched Gabe's ugly, distorted face with total calm.

I didn't even feel angry anymore.

When I spoke, my voice was steadier than it had ever been.

"Gabe, I want a divorce."