Page 1 of Escaping the King
1
Stefan
“Ican, ah, stay on the couch if you want to take the bed,” my brother offered begrudgingly.
This was his peace offering.
Giselle.
In her bed.
Completely exhausted from the day of travel.
The kids had been—well, they’d been a handful.Not one of them behaved.Instead, they acted like cranky little shits the entire time.I helped out where I could.At least juggling babies kept us from killing each other.
The only relationship on that plane that wasn’t strained in some way was Eve and Giselle’s.They were still tight.
But as for the rest of us—if it were up to me, they could all fuck off.
I loved Eve.That would never change.
But even she didn’t go to bat for me.No one did.
Nick tried his best to stay neutral.Which meant he didn’t take my side either.
Everyone thought it was perfectly fucking fine for Carlo to impregnate the woman of my dreams.
My woman.
And it was not.
Giselle had promised me—she’d fucking promised me we’d start a family together.And she’d promised me before she’d discussed family planning with Carlo.
But, just like every goddamn thing in the world—Carlo got his way.
He’d been fucking her day after day.Night after night.
Bareback.
The probability that she was already knocked up was likely high.
She already had one kid.That proved it was possible.And with Carlo fucking her every chance he got—if Giselle wasn’t already pregnant, it wouldn’t be long before she was.
And that ate at my fucking heart like nothing else in the world ever had.A constant pain shot through my chest.To the point that I sometimes wondered if I was having a coronary.
And part of me—a large part of me—wouldn’t give a fuck.
That might be the only way I could get some kind of relief from this pain.
I’d tried the bottle.And I’d keep trying it.Every time I saw the bottom of one, I knew that wasn’t the answer.It numbed the ache inside of me.Something I had to do.
That was why I had an old sitcom on TV while I downed my fifth glass of whiskey.Sleep hadn’t come yet, so I might have to go for a sixth tonight.
“Oh, I love this episode,” I heard Sophia say from behind me.I spun my head around to see her.
Fuck.
What the hell was she wearing?
