THE DEVIL NEXT TO ME

EP 3

Just as his hand reached for my panties, his body suddenly went limp. Before he could make another move, he slumped forward and collapsed against me.

I lay perfectly still, listening to his uneven breathing. My own chest rose and fell rapidly as I waited, giving him a few more moments just to make sure.

when he didn't make any further move, only the deep, heavy snores of a man who had completely passed out.

A relieved sigh escaped my lips. "God!" I breathed.

Carefully, I pushed his weight off me and sat up, brushing the damp strands of hair clinging to my face behind my ear.

"If I hadn't come prepared with a backup plan," I muttered under my breath, "I'd have given in to him, let him fuck me again and still have gone back to marry that witch."

I climbed off the bed and walked straight to the hidden camera. One press of a button, and the recording stopped.

Picking up the whiskey bottle from the table, I headed into the bathroom and emptied the remaining liquor down the sink before tossing the bottle into the trash.

What did that arrogant jerk think? That I'd let him use me again and then happily watch him marry her the next morning?

Not a chance. With the video, Henry's perfect little future rested in my hands.

Well, anyone could curse at me right now, call me all sorts of names. But guess what? I don’t care and I never will.

If anything, the thought of what was waiting for Valerie and her new man in few hours filled me with satisfaction.

She deserved every second of it.

She had created this version of me. She betrayed me countless times, tearing my heart to pieces. She was supposed to be my mother, the closest person next to my heart, the closest living human I had left, my best friend. But instead, she turned out to be the exact opposite. The devil next to me.

I still don't know how she managed it, but she had an unbelievable talent for stealing every man I'd ever loved.

Every single one and she never felt an ounce of shame.

She’s young and sexy, just a few years older than me, actually. That very god-damned day I caught her bouncing on Henry's cock was the day I stopped believing in love altogether.

Henry was my boyfriend—my ex, actually. From the beginning of our relationship, I'd done everything I could to keep him away from my home—more specifically, away from Valerie.

But he hated it. We fought over it constantly.

He claimed I didn’t love him enough to let him meet my family or know where I lived. He believed I was hiding something from him and he wasn't wrong about it. He had every right to think I was hiding something from him.

“Victoria... are you married?” Henry once asked after another heated argument on that same topic.

"What?" I laughed in disbelief. "Henry, no." The no came out stretched. "How could you say that to me?"

“Then tell me, what're you hiding so bad?" He paused before asking quietly, " Do you have a child?"

"Henry...,"

He didn't let me finish. He stepped closer and gently took both my hands in his. "Tell me, Victoria, whatever it is, I promise I can handle it.”

Looking into his eyes, I saw nothing but sincerity and for the first time, I almost told him everything.

But how could I admit something so humiliating? How could I tell the man I loved that I was terrified my own stepmother would steal him from me?

It sounded insane.

So instead, I invited him over for dinner.

He was thrilled. But me? I was terrified.

Throughout dinner, Valerie couldn't take her eyes off him. She dominated every conversation, interrupted me whenever I spoke, and laughed at everything he said. She was excessively nice to him.

Henry didn't notice a thing. Instead, he smiled, happy that my stepmother seemed to like him.

At one point, a small stain of sauce remained at the corner of his mouth. Before I could even reach for a napkin, Valerie leaned across the table and wiped it away herself.

Something inside me tightened.

After Henry left that evening, I confronted her to stay away from him.

“Don’t worry, he’s not my type.” She waved it off but that didn’t put me at ease. Those were the exact words she always said. They were never her type or too young until they ended up in her bed.

"I don't care," I snapped. "Just don't let me catch you anywhere near Henry." I warned.

She stared at me with those infuriating eyes of hers before walking away leisurely like she hasn't been guity of such act.

That was Valerie. We were strangers living under the same roof. We’d never had a pleasant conversation, and I doubted that would ever happen. If hatred had a face, it would have looked exactly like the crazy woman living under the same roof with me.

After that dinner, I planned to move out and live on my own. I figured if Henry never came back to the house, nothing could happen. But I was wrong.

Henry and I lasted just three more months after the visit to my home before our little fantasy ended.

I came home late one evening after closing my boutique. The house was unusually quiet, so I didn’t suspect anything unusual.

But while passing by Valerie’s room on my way to mine, I heard loud, high-pitched muffled sounds coming from her room. The door was slightly open like someone left it that way on purpose.

The last time I heard those kinds of sounds coming from her room was the afternoon I broke up with Hardin, some ex of mine.

I covered my ears and walked past. I wasn't about to peek, but then... my eyes wandered that way, then, almost by accident, it drifted toward the gap in the doorway.

I caught the briefest glimpse of a very familiar figure and I froze. My hands dropped from my ears.

For a moment, I stood still, torn between barging in to confirm what I thought I saw or just walking away.

What if I was wrong? What if I was overthinking? I didn’t want to make a fool of myself by invading her privacy.

The moaning continued, louder now and more intense but I remain rooted to the floor.

A part of me was already moving toward the door, but another part whispered, Henry only visited once. It can’t be him.

Just as I convinced myself it wasn’t what I was thinking and was just about leaving, his voice came through, unmistakably.

“Come on Val... Yeah! Harder, baby, harder!”

That voice struck me like lightning. My heart slammed against my chest and sending a loud thump echoing in my ears.

i didn't realize before running to the door and flung it open.

And behold, there they were, both completely naked. Valerie on top of my Henry, riding him skin to skin, her breasts bouncing before his face.