In My Neighbor's Bed

Ch. 37: Do It

The sea of people blurred past me without faces or features. Silhouettes in a darkened room. The ringing in my ears was still present and ever-growing. With each step, I started to find it more and more difficult to make sense of where I was going.

Then finally, I saw it. The faintly lit silhouette of the bathroom just ahead in the distance. I took what felt like my first breath since leaving the table and hurried in its direction.

Until a hand suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me back forcefully. Somehow, I already knew who it was before I even looked.

Phil. The smile plastered on his face with a strength I never even knew he was capable of, and a grip on my arm to match. He leaned in close, speaking through gritted teeth. The pure rage screaming in his eyes.

"Hello there, Darling. Where do you think you're going?"

If his goal was to scare me, then he had horribly misjudged his position in this little fiasco. If anything, he was the one who should have been terrified. And I was more than happy to remind him of that fact.

I put on a smile of my own, speaking in a calm, gentle voice. "To the bathroom, Dearest. Exactly where I said I was going. However, if you insist on keeping me here, then I suppose we could always take a stroll to the nearest divorce attorney instead."

That put the fear of God into him. And put it in fast. His eyes widened and he immediately dropped my arm. He whipped his head around quickly to make sure no one had heard me speak the oh-so-forbidden word "divorce."

When he was sure nobody had heard he stepped closer to me. He tried to keep up the tough "I'm in charge" act, but his eyes betrayed him. He was scared right now. Very, very scared.

"Maggie, Dear, what do you think you're doing? You of all people should understand that that's simply not an option. Not in your position, at least. In case you've forgotten, I have legal documents assuring that all my assets would remain in my name should anything... unfortunate happen to our marriage.

"The house, the car, all the accounts I have open with various organizations. Like, the Wilson Facility, for example," he not-so-subtly hinted. "It's a real shame to think about what might happen if any of these things were to, oh, I don't know, suddenly disappear."

This was it. His big play. His ace in the hole. His barely veiled threat to cut off the cash and effectively end Eli's life by doing so. The only threat that he still knew was effective against me when anything big went wrong in our fucked-up, business arrangement of a marriage.

Unfortunately for him, there was one thing he had forgotten: Tonight, he had broken the rule.

Feet firmly planted, arms crossed in a sign of unwavering determination, I looked him dead in the eyes as I leaned in close and said, "Then do it."

If it were possible for a human to short-circuit, then I think Phil would have been the first. It was like something had fizzled inside his brain. The same smug smile was frozen on his lips, but his eyes were blank. Like the black screen you see on a computer right before it reboots itself.

Finally, he blinked very slowly, his brain still clearly lagging from the sudden reboot. "What?"

"Do it," I repeated, shrugging. "You'll cut off the accounts and take back your assets? Fine. Do it."

Now the panic was sinking in. I could see him fumbling around internally, searching for some kind of rhyme or reason to the words I'd just spoken to him.

"B-but... What about Eli?!" He asked, dumbfounded. "What about his treatments?! Remember?"

"Oh, I remember alright," I assured him. "And I also remember explicitly telling you were never to use my brother as some kind of bragging right."