Stranded My Boyfriend Stole My Car and Left Me on the Highway

Two days before New Year's, my boyfriend and I were driving to his hometown to spend the holidays with his family.

We got into a fight over how much to give his sister as a gift. She was seventeen this year, and we'd originally agreed I'd buy her the latest iPhone.

But halfway there, Leo Sullivan suddenly changed his mind. "Forget the phone," he said. "Just give her seventeen thousand dollars instead. Think of it as a little something from her future sister-in-law, to celebrate her moving to the city."

I frowned and argued with him, but before I could get two words out, he hit the gas and pulled over on the highway, leaving me stranded on the shoulder. The cold cut right through me. I was shivering so hard my teeth chattered.

I called him countless times. Sent text after text. He didn't respond to a single one.

Half an hour later, I calmed down and dialed the highway patrol. "Hi, my car was stolen. I'm on the interstate heading toward his hometown."

I was thirty years old. Leo and I had been together for four years.

He was my second boyfriend, and being with him was the first time I'd ever truly wanted to settle down.

Things between us had always been good, so we'd decided to meet each other's parents over the holidays and lock down a wedding date.

Before the trip, I'd already bought gifts for his family: two bottles of premium whiskey, two cartons of high-end cigarettes, plus supplements like high-grade vitamins and health tonics.

To show my sincerity, I'd gone top-shelf on everything. It cost me a small fortune.

But I'd been happy to spend it.

I thought I'd covered all my bases. I hadn't counted on forgetting a gift for his sister.

Leo had explained, somewhat awkwardly, that his sister Libby Sullivan had bombed her SATs this year. Their parents planned to move her to the city so she could retake them next year.

I'd chosen my words carefully. "When I was your sister's age, the thing I wanted most in the world was a phone. For kids these days, a phone isn't just a toy; it's a study tool. How about I get her one?"

Leo had agreed. But then, out of nowhere, he'd changed his mind. He said his sister didn't want a phone anymore.

Better to just give her seventeen thousand dollars as a gift.

Thousand? I'd blinked. For a seventeen-year-old girl, that was an astronomical sum.

I stared at him. "Seventeen thousand dollars? Leo, you can't be serious."

"I'm dead serious. My sister spent all those years in the countryside, roughing it. We're doing well now. Shouldn't we help her out?"

He grabbed my hand. His eyes were soft, tender even, but something behind them felt calculating.

I frowned, making no effort to hide my irritation. "If you want to help her, you help her. She's not my sister. Why is this my problem?"

Leo's expression froze. He clearly hadn't expected me to refuse so flatly, without even a moment's hesitation.

If he'd asked me to pick up some small gifts to make a teenage girl smile, I'd have been all for it. But seventeen thousand dollars? Whoever handed that over was a fool, plain and simple.

He stared at me for a long moment, then let out an awkward laugh. "I was just testing you, that's all. Seeing if my future sister-in-law was willing to spend a little on my kid sister. If you don't want to, I won't push it."

That comment did not sit well with me.

Testing me? That wasn't a test. That was emotional blackmail.

I didn't respond. I turned and stared out the window.

Dark clouds churned across the sky. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and within minutes, rain came hammering down in sheets.

Cold mist seeped through a gap in the window that hadn't been sealed properly. I shuddered.

Neither of us said a word for the rest of the drive. The silence lasted all the way to the rest stop.

Leo parked the car and turned to me. "Nora Henson, I'm going to grab something to eat. You want anything?"

I shot him a cold glance. "I'm not hungry. I'm going to use the restroom."

The rain had started to ease up. It was still coming down, but not hard enough to need an umbrella, so I dashed straight into the rest stop.

When I came back out after washing my hands, Leo was already sitting in the car waiting for me.

I jogged toward it. The second my fingers touched the door handle, he floored the gas and tore out of the parking spot.

I stood there like an idiot, my hand still frozen in mid-air where the door had been, unable to move for a full two seconds.

By the time my brain caught up, the car was gone. Leo was gone.

My mind went blank. I fumbled for my phone and called him, but all I got was the cold, automated voice: "We're sorry, the number you are trying to reach is currently on another call..."

The drizzle kept falling, soft and relentless. My clothes were soaked through, and the cold cut into every inch of my skin like a blade.

I called Leo ten times. Every single call was rejected.

I tried texting him. He'd blocked me.

There was no point calling again. I understood that now.

Not unless I agreed to hand over that seventeen thousand dollars to his sister.

But why should I? I'd earned that money myself, every last cent. Why should I just give it away to her?

I hugged my knees on the steps outside the rest stop and sobbed.

People walking by stared at me with all kinds of looks, but I didn't care. I was too deep in my own misery to notice.

I didn't know how long I cried. It wasn't until my legs had gone completely numb from the cold that I stood up like a machine and made one final call.

Ten minutes later, the highway patrol arrived.

They helped me into the cruiser first, wrapped a warm blanket around my shoulders, and handed me a cup of hot water.

My whole body was frozen stiff. It took a while before I could even form words.

"I got into a fight with my boyfriend. No, wait. My ex-boyfriend. He kicked me out of the car and drove off in it. My car."

That Mercedes was a graduation gift from my parents.

After Leo and I got together, I saw how miserable his daily subway commute was, so I let him borrow it.

That was a year ago.

I could let go of the fact that he'd abandoned me on the highway. Fine. But my car? What right did he have to take my car?

The officers ran the plates and got ahold of Leo, telling him to bring the vehicle to the station immediately.

He told them he was already home and that he'd return the car after the holiday.

I almost laughed from the sheer audacity.

His hometown was still three hours away from here. There was no way he'd made it home that fast.

He had no intention of giving my car back.

The officers frowned. They called him again, warning him that if he didn't bring the car in immediately, there would be legal consequences.

Leo hung up on them. When they tried again, the phone was off.

I took a deep breath and forced myself to stay calm.

Leo Sullivan, you just wait.

This holiday is going to be hell for you.

In the end, I waited at the station with the officers until my parents arrived.

My mom pulled me into her arms the second she saw me. She took my ice-cold hands in hers, then touched my face, red and raw from the cold. Her eyes welled up instantly.

"My poor baby. You've never been treated like this a day in your life. How did a relationship do this to you?"

My nose stung, and tears slid down my cheeks.

When I'd first started dating Leo, my parents hadn't tried to stop me. They just told me that as long as I was happy, that was all that mattered.

They'd never interfered much in my love life. They let me make my own choices.

And now I'd gone and made a complete mess of things.

The second my dad heard what happened, he lost it. His face turned beet red, and he looked like he wanted to drag Leo out of wherever he was and beat him senseless.

"What kind of man does that? Son of a bitch. I'll make sure he doesn't have a single peaceful day this holiday. He thinks he can bully my daughter? I'll kill him. I swear to God, I'll kill him."

He grabbed his car keys before he'd even finished talking.

My mom saw him gearing up for war and yanked him back by the arm.

"What are you holding me back for? You're just going to let our baby girl, the one we raised like a princess, get pushed around like that?"

My mom shot him a look, then lowered her voice. "Will you calm down? There's only three of us. Combined, we're still outnumbered. We go home first, call up every aunt, uncle, and cousin we've got, and then we go. We're not walking into a fight we can't win."

That finally cooled my dad down. He looked at my mom with pure admiration in his eyes.

She really was his better half. When it mattered most, she was the one with the plan.

Our whole family rolled back home like an army on the march, and we laid out the entire story for the elders.

Every single one of them was furious.

Even my eighty-year-old grandparents, Burton Henson and Scarlett Henson, drove over from their place that very night.

"That little bastard thinks he can bully a Henson girl? He must have a death wish!" Burton slammed his fist on the table.

"Damn right. Let's go. Let's go to his house right now!" Scarlett was already reaching for her coat.

It took my mom's patient, gentle reasoning to finally talk the elders down.

They'd deal with Leo after New Year's Eve. No matter what, they weren't going to let some piece of trash ruin the holiday.

Ours was a big family, with more relatives than you could count, and every year the holidays were loud and lively. This year was no different. For convenience, the elders all gathered at our house.

The men took over the kitchen, cooking up a feast. The women played cards and caught up on gossip. I took the younger kids out to the yard, where we set off firecrackers and fireworks.

Pop after pop after pop, and then the sky lit up. Bursts of color bloomed overhead, reds and golds and silvers, each one blazing against the dark like a brief, brilliant star.

When the clock struck midnight, the yard erupted with voices. "Happy New Year!" Everyone hugged, laughed, wished each other well.

Even my phone screen lit up, buzzing with messages. Friends, old classmates, distant relatives, all sending their wishes. I replied to each one, smiling.

Then I saw it. A message from Leo.

"Done playing around? Where are you? Why haven't you come over yet? My family's all here waiting to meet you!"

My brows pinched together so hard they ached.

He'd abandoned me on the highway for hours. Left me stranded without a second thought. And now he had the nerve to text me like I was the one being difficult?

Before I could even respond, another message came through.

"I don't care where you are. You have one hour to get to my house. The elders are all waiting. Don't be rude."

My blood boiled.

One hour? Who did he think he was giving orders to?

And "the elders are waiting"? As if his family were some kind of royalty I should be honored to visit.

Then he sent a photo.

A group of men crowded around a table, cigarettes pinched between every set of fingers, the air so thick with smoke the image looked hazy. The table was littered with picked-over plates and empty bottles, and the floor around them was scattered with trash.

This was what he meant by "waiting for me"?

This was his idea of waiting?

I snapped a photo of our New Year's Eve dinner and sent it to him. "Sorry, I'm spending the holiday with my family. I don't have the privilege of eating your leftovers, so you'll have to finish them yourselves. Oh, and one more thingI'd suggest you return my car before this blows up into something none of you can handle."

The chat showed he was typing...

But his reply never came.

What I didn't expect was that the very next morning, Leo showed up at my house with both his parents in tow.

From the way they carried themselves, you'd think they were ready to tear the roof off.