Page 43 of Traitorous Lies
The first smile in days finally settled on Monique’s lips as Cinderella came wriggling out of her specially designed crate that lived in the small sectioned-off backyard of the property. Since she’d been away, some of her staff had been tending to her favorite little creature in the whole world, and yesterday she’d gotten back too early in the morning to say hi.
Now it was evening again, and finally her little baby was waking up and ready to play.
Which was exactly what she needed.
She needed to do something to stop herself from thinking about the whole mess France had been. Maybe if she could stop thinking about it, she could finally ease the knot of emptiness clawing at her insides.
It was no way to live, but she didn't know how to make it stop.
When she thought about it now, it all sounded so stupid and fanciful, like she was Cinderella and she’d gone to the ball, met Prince Charming, and instantly fallen in love. Logically, she knew it didn't happen like that, not really, or at least not very often. Why would she think that she would be lucky enough to find a prince and fall in love in a matter of days?
Not really inlovebut there were feelings, strong feelings, and the whole time they’d been wandering that forest in France, trying to find their way out, she’d thought they were going to get a real chance to explore them if they lived.
Well, they lived, and now all she wanted to do was forget.
Because she was no Cinderella and Jax was no Prince Charming.
He was nothing but another liar who didn't really see her. All he saw when he looked at her was her last name and what he could get out of it.
Now granted, his reasons for wanting to use her were definitely unique, not like any of the other men who had used her, but in the end the result was the same.
She was nothing, not a real person, just a tool.
Just something to be used and discarded.
And that was exactly how she felt, all wrung out and empty, unsure of her place again. Something she’d worked so hard to overcome so many times before.
“You know what hurts the most?” she asked Cinderella as the hedgehog excitedly scrambled into her lap and then scurried up her arm to her shoulder, the little creature’s favorite spot to snuggle.
It was silly to talk to an animal about her problems, but who else did she have?
It wasn't like her grandparents cared that she’d gotten her feelings hurt. If anything, they’d be annoyed that she’d left the Halloween gala with anyone who wasn't a billionaire. After all, they never gave up hope that she would finally do what they wanted and agree to marry an eligible—by which they meant man approved by them—bachelor and fulfill what they believed was her legacy.
While she was friendly with the people who worked with her at the rescue, she genuinely liked them and spending time with them, they weren't really friends. Certainly not people she could talk to.
So her options were to talk to no one or talk to Cinderella.
The little hedgehog was for sure better than nothing.
“It’s the fact that he didn't see me. I thought … I thought that he did. I thought that my last name didn't matter to him. In fact, I got the feeling that he liked me in spite of my last name, and that was so refreshing. I'm so tired of being nothing but the Kerr princess. I'm not that woman, and all I want is for someone to finally seeme. Is that really so crazy?”
Her hedgie nuzzled into her neck, and she smiled and lifted a hand to stroke Cinderella’s quills. Nudging the little one into her palm, she shifted Cinderella off her shoulder, touched a soft kiss to her little head, and then set her down on the grass and grabbed a small ball, rolling it and watching with another smile as Cinderella scampered off after it. Well as much as a hedgehog could scamper.
“I think that’s something I have to stop hoping for. The facts are, my family is well known and has way too much money, that’s always going to be all someone sees when they look at me. It’s stupid to keep thinking differently. I'm not Cinderella, I'm just a regular old girl with a family name she doesn’t want, and nothing is ever going to change that. There is no Prince Charming in my future. Well, at least not a human one,” she said with a giggle that only sounded a little forced to her own ears.
Her little fox was there with her at the rescue. She hadn't introduced him to Cinderella yet, but she intended to because she wasn't going to rehabilitate and release the fox, she was going to keep him. The thought of not having him close led her to almost a panic attack.
Unexplainable though it was, she needed that animal.
So since he was staying, she was going to give him a name to match with Cinderella, and she’d settled on Prince Charming.
That definitely had nothing to do with the man she’d wondered if he could be the real-life answer to her fairytale dreams.
Jax was no prince, and she didn't mean that in regard to his level of wealth.
Those were things she’d never cared about. Of course, she wasn't naïve and knew that having money alleviated a lot of problems, but it also created a whole set of new ones. Especially when you were the shygirl at your expensive and exclusive private school who wasn't into makeup and clothes. Even as a kid, she’d known the only reason the other girls didn't bully her was because her family was wealthier than their own, and they wanted to keep her as an in.
“I’m so sick of being used,” she shouted into the quiet evening, startling Cinderella, who came hurrying back over to her and nudged her hand for pets. It had taken her a long time to earn the trust of the orphaned baby, but now the little creature was so empathetic, a true friend, her little baby.
