Page 29 of Stolen Fate

Jace

Six Years Ago

There wasa time in my life when I enjoyed doing what I did. That knowing I had been groomed to take on the role of CEO at Kingsley Reed Capital my whole life did not bore me out of my mind, but instead made my stomach flutter with excitement—where I woke up every morning, ready to seize the day.

Now everything seemed to be filled with mediocrity, and work had become not something I looked forward to, but something I used as an escape to get away from her.

I dreaded every time the phone rang, and I saw her name light up. The bitch simply would not let me go. She had her claws in me so tight, I wondered when I started to forget the pain was there.

I pressed ignore on the phone and leaned back against the seat. I should sleep. The flight was scheduled to land by five o’clock this morning and I had a meeting not too long after that, but I couldn’t get my mind to rest long enough for me to fall asleep.

The phone rang again, and once more, I pressed the ignore button, this time turning it off completely. I should have turned the damn thing off while I was waiting for my flight. Who the hell would call me at this time, anyhow, except for her? I was wholeheartedly convinced she didn’t need sleep.

I spent our first year as husband and wife sleeping with one eye open, so sure she would break and stab me in my sleep if I’d given her the chance.

An attractive, young flight attendant walked up to me with a cart of cheese and fruit. “Would you like a late-night snack, Mr. Reed?” she whispered. Probably because everyone in the first-class cabin was asleep already.

I shook my head. “I’m good, Mary Ann. Thank you.”

She shot me a charming smile, drawing my attention to her plump lips painted crimson red. There was a time in my life when I would have flirted with her. I would have crooked my finger and got her to take off her clothes for me in the spacious first-class bathroom. I would have muffled her mouth with my palm while she got off on the feeling of me moving roughly inside of her.

But I was married.

I wouldn’t cheat on my wife. Not because I loved her, but because I spent the past two years fucking anything that moved, trying to get back at her, only to realize she didn’t give a fuck. It wasn’t my heart or my body she was after, it was all the zeros in my bank account.

It was my name she wanted—the connections. It was about doing her family’s bidding, to entrench herself so deeply into my family that I couldn’t escape. And if my grandmother hadn’t made her sign a prenup before the marriage, she would have left me two years ago when she realized there was nothing holding me to her. Not anymore.

Her family used to be rich. Now all they had was their Irvine name and connections made generations ago. One of those connections happened to be made with my family.

Camila was probably blowing up my phone because this morning I had my lawyer send the divorce papers we’d drafted after our second year of marriage. After…

I shook away the thought.

It would do me good to think about him. I haven’t thought about it in years.

I should have sent the papers back then.

But I didn’t for him. Because she was his mom, and I couldn’t throw her out when she had nowhere else to go.

But two long years was enough, I didn’t want to honor my son this way. Not when all I wanted to do was escape her.

And I couldn’t bring myself to keep up the sham of a marriage anymore.

Just the thought of spending the rest of my life with Camila could drive me to commit a murder.

Namely, hers.

This was a better alternative.

I watched as Mary Ann went back to her seat, her eyes meeting mine briefly before looking away. The interest in them was unmistakable.

I broke eye contact and leaned my head back, resting my eyes while I waited for the plane to land.

* * *

There wassomething alluring about Boston.

I had only been here a handful of times, but I could definitely see myself living here, if only my grandmother would agree to move away from Richmond House, which she had shared with my late grandfather her whole life.

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