I have described my father, a covert narcissist, as living in hell on earth. As he has no connection to his soul and the inability to truly connect to another human being, I think your thought on hell and mine are vibrationally in sync.

It sounds like your stepdad in subconsciously seeking connection may have suffered from some workaholism, which I'm sure you know. I only say it to connect the dots to the rest of this comment. In trying to dig down to the root cause of addictions, I determined they are alignment disorders. Lack of connection to self and soul and others and acting out of alignment with true purpose, so people seek false connection through substances or process addictions. https://medium.com/illumination/drilling-down-to-the-root-cause-of-addiction-7c57c5a3fd6c

When I went to rehab in 2012, I didn't then realize I sought connection. I sought counseling there with a member of the spiritual staff, who was not aligned with any organized religion (I have referred to her in my essays as Mystical Meredith). In our 20 minute chat in which I asked her about god and souls she introduced me to the concept of the soul contract. "At the end of our conversation I was crying. I thought at the time it was the emotion of having a quest for understanding realized. I believe now it was something a bit different….In Delray I would wake before dawn and go running barefoot on the beach with the moon, Venus and Orion keeping me company, feeling connected to the universe. Realization of connection to the universe — that is why I cried with Meredith." https://medium.com/recovery-cultures/drilling-further-down-into-the-root-cause-of-addiction-d8fe84143905