Page 10 of A Million Boss Kisses

“I said that but what the fuck that gotta do with a prenup?”

“We discussed one, you said you didn’t want my money,” I confidently gaslit her with my version of events.

“I fucked up trying to bleed you dry to make you come home. I see that now. I’ll put back whatever you spent from the joint account this year.

There is plenty of money in there, so it ain’t like you was hurting for funds. ”

“That’s not even the point. I have my own money, you know this. But I didn’t lay down and make these kids myself. I deserve help physically, mentally, and financially.”

“I know, and I’mma fix that shit. Let’s go to marriage counseling and work this shit out,” I pleaded.

Marissa took a deep breath, looking down at her hand where the empty ring finger stared back at us.

It had been so long since she wore her ring that there wasn’t a tan line in sight.

“Quinten, I’m done. If the kids I didn’t know about weren’t enough, this last year on my own was the nail in the coffin.

I had time to find myself and realized how much I lost myself in being Quinten Bentley’s wife, and the mother of two strong willed boys. There was no time for Marissa Marucci…”

“Bentley,” I gritted.

“Oh no, nigga. I said that right. Marissa Marucci. I can’t wait until this divorce is over so I can go back to my maiden name.”

“You don’t really want this divorce, Marissa.” I lamented, reaching for her hands. “You haven’t even told your uncle yet. We both know this shit ain’t real until you do that. Divorce has never been a thing in our lifestyle, and that’s why you haven’t told him. That stunt you pulled…”

“What stunt did I pull?” She cut me off, pulling her hands away from me and folding them across her chest.

“You filing for divorce! If word gets out that shit will have my neck on the line!”

“I don’t give a fuck about your neck. I care about my happiness.

You were doing you. Living a double life behind my back when you could’ve just kept it real.

If you wanted this marriage for the benefits that came along with marrying a Marucci while you still snuck around to see Vita, I could’ve respected that.

Instead, you made me fall in love with you.

Married me, had three kids with me, while doing all that foul shit behind my back.

We were friends before anything. Remember? ”

Swallowing hard, I took a deep breath because she was right.

“Just set me free,” she burst into a fit of tears.

I stepped forward to console Marissa, but she pushed me away and ran towards the stairs.

Following behind her, she was crying hysterically, and I couldn’t let her leave like this.

If she ran again, there was no telling if and when she would come back.

I knew where she was since the shit popped off at the family reunion.

Marissa stayed with Karina until we took the trip to Tampa to drop Quincy off at college.

Then, when we came back to Miami, she went back to a hotel without a word.

When Marissa was finally ready to get out of the hotel, she found a spot in Tampa.

I even knew that she loved to stay at the W the handful of times she came to Miami.

Space wasn’t a requirement; my father thought it was the best course of action though.

I listened because his marriage with my mother survived many years in this life, and I’d never seen them mad at each other for more than a week or two.

Clearly, his ways weren’t working on Marissa like they did my mom.

“Just leave me alone, Quinten. I need to be by myself,” Marissa stated as she went into the kitchen and turned the water on.

I watched as she splashed some water on her face, then patted it dry. My wife was beautiful and I loved her dearly. We got married too fucking young, and I wasn’t ready to stop being dumb. Now we were here.

“Okay, whatever you need,” I conceded.

“Thank you,” she offered with a faint smile before exiting the kitchen and starting for the front door.

I watched her leave, and as soon as she pulled off the block, the rear passenger door to my dad’s truck sitting idle in the driveway came open.

If he went through the hassle of getting out of the car with the oxygen and the chair, I’d never get rid of his ass, so I jogged over before his driver could help him back out.

“If you don’t get a handle on that bitch, we’ll have more problems than one.

Your wife filing for divorce makes you look weak.

And not just to your uncle and cousins. To all of the families!

” He spat from the rear passenger seat. Raising his voice sent him into a coughing fit and he quickly lifted his tissue to cover his mouth.

“Dad, listen. I’ve been this scapegoat for years around here.

I’m fucking tired. I want to retire and work on rebuilding my relationship with Quincy and Lil Q, plus try to connect with my other kids again.

Maybe if I’m coming from a genuine place, I’ll have a better outcome.

I gotta do better, I’m sure that’s the only way I can win my wife back. ”

“So, what you think we just hand this shit over to your cousins or Karmello?” he eyed me, his forehead overrun with wrinkles.

“I don’t think Karmello is a bad option. It’s better than Lil Q. That’s my son and I love him, but he will have this family embroiled in four wars before the end of the first quarter under his regime.”

“Even if he does, we would still have some semblance of control. The bottom line is we can’t lose control.

I don’t trust your uncle. He will cut us out!

Then you think Marissa is going to want you if you can’t afford the type of lifestyle she was born into?

You want to put this family in ruins during all of our later years?

Lil Q isn’t college material. He’s getting through high school with a private tutor for Christ sake.

What the fuck else will he do? My money is on this shit here,” he animatedly pointed both index fingers towards the ground.

His ranting sent him into a coughing fit while I digested everything he had to say. My phone rang in my pocket and I pulled it out to see it was my mother calling.

“It’s ma,” I announced before answering while he tried to get his coughing under control. “Hello.”

“Hey Quinten. Is your dad at your house? His location has him there, and he isn’t answering the phone,” she paused, but continued before I could respond. “Oh don’t answer that, I can hear him coughing in the background. Is everything alright?”

“He straight, just over here running his damn mouth.”

“Well, you know your father isn’t going to steer you wrong,” she bubbled.

“She ready?” he questioned between coughs.

“He wanna know if you ready, ma?”

“Yes, tell him to head this way and put his phone on ring, please. I love you.”

“I love you too, ma,” I replied and ended the call.

“She ready and she said make sure you can hear your phone ring. I’m sure she tried to call you.”

“I got her,” he nodded. “You better pull your head out of yo ass. I told yo stupid ass to make shit right with them boys. Especially Lil Q, we need him. Give this family another year or two and then you can retire and do whatever the fuck you want to do. I got Lil Q from there. Just get his foot through the door.”

I nodded although I was unsure of what direction I would go. The gesture must have convinced him though, because he backed out of my driveway and left me the fuck alone.