Page 3 of His Kingdom

“I was supposed to get married today. Right now, I should be at the reception dinner my father paid a small fortune for. Instead, I’m hiding because I can’t face the truth.”

“Well, you’re not very good at hiding, sweetheart. I found you.”

“Boss, whiskey and water.” The drink girl comes up and sets the glasses down in front of me.

“Thank you.” I hand her a hundred, and she walks away. I push the water towards Charlotte and hold up my own glass. “I am sorry for what you’re feeling. But there’s always another side to the coin, sweetheart. By finding them before you signed up for life, you dodged a bullet. You could have spent the next ten years not knowing the person you were married to. Now, you get to start over. Find happiness. Find someone who deserves you.”

“Boss? Why did she call youboss?” Charlotte questions.

“I own this place.” I wave a hand around the bar.

“The bar? That’s cool. Must be exciting work.”

“The casino. What do you do?” I ask, and Charlotte laughs.

“Iwasa personal assistant. I quit my job. Two weeks ago. Owen wanted to start a family right away. He wanted me to be at home.”

“Owen sounds like a tool,” I grunt.

Charlotte’s eyes water. She’s fighting hard not to cry. “You really own this whole casino? Does that mean you can, like, grant me access to the roof pool even though it’s shut?”

“You wanna go swimming? I can make that happen.”

“I want to drown in the water instead of the hurt,” she whispers, and I can only hope she doesn’t mean literally.

I quickly down the rest of my whiskey, push to my feet, and hold out my hand. “Come on, I’ll take you swimming, but I’m not letting you drown. In waterorhurt.”

ChapterTwo

Twenty-four hours earlier

No matter what I do, I’m going to hurt someone. If I go one way, I hurt my fiancé, my family, and friends who supported us throughout our relationship. Those who followed our journey to get here. If I go the other, I hurt myself.

I’ve weighed both sides of the situation. If I hurt my fiancé, he’ll likely move on. He’ll find happiness with someone else. He’s not a bad guy. He’s just not the guy for me. On the other hand, I could go through with this, marry Owen, and spend the rest of my life dying a little on the inside each day.

I don’t know when it happened, if it was instant or something that grew over time. How I fell out of love with my fiancé, or maybe I wasn’t ever really in love with him in the first place. I’ve been with Owen for two years. Six months ago, he proposed in front of everyone. I said yes, because in the moment, I thought it was everything I’d ever wanted. Now, the night before I’m supposed to walk down the aisle, I’m not so sure.

I’ve made up my mind. I decided to chooseme.If that makes me the most selfish asshole on the planet, then so be it. But with each step I take, I’m doubting my choice. Maybe I just need to see him. My mind will clear itself up if we just sit down and have a conversation, work it out together. I can do that. We can do that.

When I reach his hotel room, I swipe the entrance card against the panel and push the door open. As soon as I step inside the suite, I hear the noise. The unmistakable noise of sex. My heart drops, but my feet… they keep moving towards the bedroom.

Until I’m standing on the threshold, staring in horror as I watch my fiancé fuck my sister. I don’t know how long I stand here. They don’t even notice that I’m watching. Without thinking, I pick up my phone and hit record. No one is going to believe me if I don’t have proof.

After obtaining a decent amount of footage, I walk out of the room. Out of the hotel. I don’t know where I’m going, but I find myself in my car and then I’m at the airport.

I need to be alone. I need to go somewhere no one will find me.

Staring up at the board of flights, I read through the list of cities. Las Vegas. I’ve never been there, but if what all the movies say is true, no one will find me. Also, it’s the last place my family will think to look for me.

I walk up to the counter and plaster on my best smile. It’s not this poor woman’s fault that I’m having a shitty day. “Hi, is there any chance I can get on that Vegas flight?” I ask her.

“Let me have a look,” she says, tapping away at her keyboard.

“Thank you. I really appreciate it,” I tell her.

She looks up and offers me a smile. “We have a seat. Economy okay?”

“More than okay. Thank you so much.” I sigh in relief as I hand her my credit card and ID.

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