“No getting up, Mari-girl. Understand me?” Dan ordered.
Mari just nodded, still sucking. Before they left the room, each of them kissed her lightly on the forehead.
*****
Mari walked around the house, saying goodbye to her home. When she’d first discovered the lump in her breast all she’d wanted to do was tell her men, let them hold her, comfort her. But then she’d realized she couldn’t. She couldn’t do that to them. She couldn’t put Jake and Dan through this—not again.
She knew how their mother’s illness had affected them.
They’d been absolutely devastated. Dan hadn’t smiled for a year, amazing for a man who was such a fun-loving guy and Jake had nearly killed himself, working long hours at their construction company. It was only through time and a lot of love and patience that their pain had started to ease.
She didn’t want
to see them like that again.
Mari intended to fight her illness with every ounce of fight she had in her. But she knew she had to do it on her own. Not that her husbands would ever abandon her. Oh no, quite the opposite, they’d drop everything to help her.
And that was another problem.
Their business was just taking off. They needed to spend every moment growing, expanding. While they were by no means poor, the more time they invested the better for their reputation for their future.
They deserved to be successful. They didn’t need to be worrying over her.
She walked out of the house, pulling her suitcase behind her. Sniffling, she had to hold back her tears. The last thing she needed was to be blinded with tears while driving. Wouldn’t an accident be the icing on the cake?
She’d left the guys a note, telling them where she would leave the car. How much she loved them. How she hoped they’d move on, find someone else as she didn’t expect them to wait for her to return.
Mari had an appointment in a few days with a cancer specialist. She swallowed heavily, feeling the fear rest heavily in her tummy. Doing this alone was a daunting thought.
Luckily, her friend, Annabelle, had an apartment in the city she hardly used. Mari could stay there. She had some money saved, money that she’d made from her jewelry sales. Hopefully she could continue to do that, selling her jewelry online to keep her income up.
Mari drove to the next town over, knowing she couldn’t catch the train from Raven. Everyone knew everyone else and gossip flowed rich and strong.
She parked up at the train station, went in and bought a ticket to three cities, each in different directions. Then she walked to the bus station three blocks over and bought a ticket to her true destination.
Already exhausted, her spirits plummeting even further, Mari gave in to tears as she left her home, her loves, her life. For good.
*****
Jake took another sip of scotch and stared broodingly into the fireplace as Dan paced.
“Damn it, where is she?” Dan raged. “It’s been five days. We’ve searched everywhere. Where the hell could she have gone?”
Jake swirled his drink. “She left us, it’s clear she’s not coming back. Move on.”
“Move on!” Dan yelled. “This is our wife, Jake, not some floozy we’d been fucking. Our delicate, beautiful wife who we promised to love and protect and—”
“Punish,” Jake interrupted drolly. “Obviously we didn’t do enough of that or she’d never dare to walk away.”
“Like you care,” Dan accused angrily, his fear wearing away at his temper. He couldn’t imagine life without Mari. “All you do is sit there and drink.”
Jake threw his glass at the open fireplace, the sound of smashing glass making Dan jump.
“I care,” Jake snarled. “Oh, I care so much that when I get hold of that little brat I’m going to spank her twice a day for a year. I’m going to ensure that she never even dreams of leaving us again.”
“Do you think that’s why she left? She didn’t want a domestic discipline relationship anymore?” Dan asked.
Surely she would have discussed that with them. They would have tried to compromise. But the DD part of their relationship wasn’t something they’d consciously gone looking for; it had just developed with their relationship with Mari. They’d been together four years now, why would she suddenly decide she didn’t want them anymore?