Royal Chase

My heart caught. “Thank you, Daddy.” I kissed my father on the cheek. He finally got it. He finally understood.

And I knew that had been thanks to Dante.

All I wanted to do right then was call him. Make this right. But I didn’t even know where he was. If they had already filmed the finale, he could be on his way back to Monterra. I could call Kat to track him down.

But if he hadn’t cheated on me and he wasn’t guilty, why wasn’t he here? Why hadn’t he come after me?

With a sinking sensation, I wondered if maybe he had left me here because of what I had done. Because I hadn’t trusted in him or in our love. That I hadn’t waited to find a reasonable explanation for what was happening. He kept trying to prove that I could trust him, but I had shown him that he couldn’t trust me. Maybe he didn’t want to be with me anymore.

I couldn’t blame him for that, even if it destroyed me.

Dinner was a blur. I smiled and nodded, unaware of what was happening around me. I was suddenly ravenous, though. After not eating for two days straight, I gobbled up everything they put in front of me. They brought dessert out, a gorgeous chocolate mousse, and as I went to take a bite, Sterling took the plate away from me.

“Don’t you think you’ve had enough?”

I nearly stabbed his hand with my fork. That’d teach him not to get between a woman and her chocolate. I snatched my plate back and shot him a dirty look. I ate every single last bite, and then asked my mother if I could have the rest of hers. Sterling excused himself, as everyone sat around the table, still talking.

I had to get that DVD. I had to see with my own eyes what a moron I’d been. As guests started drifting away, I snuck over to the study.

Someone had closed the doors. I heard voices. I put my ear to the crack to listen.

It was Sterling and his father. “I don’t know if I can do this, Dad. I don’t love her.”

“What’s love got to do with it? This is a merger. After the wedding tomorrow, her father’s going to sign the contract. Beauchamp Oil will be our newest and biggest client.”

“It doesn’t seem right.”

“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”

I pushed open the doors, and both men just stared at me. “You’re marrying me for my father’s company? I think I would have preferred to catch you in here with Ellis.” This seemed worse, somehow. That I hadn’t ever mattered to him at all. I was just a means to an end. He hadn’t loved me. I had at least thought I’d loved him, even though I had been wrong.

“Ellis?” His voice sounded strangled.

“You’re together.” I didn’t need him to confirm it.

“We were.” His eyes darted to his father. “Until . . .”

“Until your daddy promised you that you could make partner if you brought Beauchamp Oil in as a client.” I crossed my arms and stared them both down. I guess the jerk apple didn’t fall far from the jerk tree.

His father looked furious. “Now look, Lemon, don’t go getting . . .”

“Quiet, please, Mr. Brown. Sterling and I are having a discussion about ending our engagement.”

“I’m sorry, Lemon,” Sterling said. “I never meant to hurt you.”

“No, you just meant to use me and cheat on me. Because that’s so much better.” I let out a sigh. I didn’t need to be taking my anger out on the idiot patsy. “It doesn’t matter. You never had the power to hurt me. I never really loved you, either. I only did this because . . .”

The reasons were too many to explain to someone who mattered so little.

“I never should have said yes,” I finished. “This will hurt my parents, so I hope you’re at least enough of a man and a gentleman to apologize to them.”

There was no ring to return. It was probably symbolic or a manifestation of both of our subconscious minds that we had never bothered to get it. Because we had both known this wouldn’t work.

I left to find my mother and father first. I didn’t want them to hear about the cancelled wedding from Sterling. I could imagine how disappointed they would be. I would just add the guilt to the emotional pyre burning inside me. They were saying good-night to their dear friends Eunice and Charles, so I waited until they were finished. With a trembling voice, I asked them to come with me into the parlor, and I closed the doors behind us.