Page 52 of Forever King

I sit down behind my desk again and blow the air out of my lungs. “I can’t imagine why. We weren’t married very long. She broke up with me over the phone when I came back here to handle my father’s passing. Not that I blame her. We weren’t exactly the picture of a loving couple. I mean, she was cheating on me with some guy for months before we split.”

That seems to make Cynthia perk up. Jotting a note on the stack of papers, she smiles. “Let’s keep that in our pocket. It might help us. In the meantime, we need to fly to London to get this straightened out. As long as we do this tomorrow, she agrees and signs the papers so I can get them filed the next day, I’ve got a judge I know will fast-track this. But we have to do it tomorrow, or we risk running out of time.”

I hate the idea of telling Ava we need to push back the wedding, so if a trip to London is what I have to do to, so be it. I can’t let her down after we had to cancel our wedding the first time.

Dammit! If only I had gone through with all the stupid paperwork that first time, I would have known this Jillian issue existed. God, I’ve created a fucking mess, and I have no one but myself to blame.

Resigned to flying to London to get Jillian to agree to divorce me on her terms entirely, I sigh. “Fine. We’ll take the company plane. I can have us flying out late tonight and be there for start of business day tomorrow at nine. Sound good?”

“Sounds great! Teterboro, right?” Cynthia asks as she begins to pack up her briefcase.

“Yeah. I’ll call the pilot now. Say eleven o’clock? That way we’ll get there with a few minutes to spare so we can get our heads together before walking in. Tell them we’ll meet at nine at the King Industries headquarters there.”

She gives me a sly smile before heading toward my office door to leave. “Let’s hope she doesn’t have an issue with that too. She might not want to do it there because that could give you an advantage.”

“I can’t see how that would be since I’m willing to give her whatever dollar amount she wants, a house, and whatever the hell else she could demand. I’m not exactly the one holding the cards here.”

Looking back at me, she smiles. “Don’t worry. I tend to get a bit cranky on transatlantic flights, so they won’t be meeting with nice Cynthia. Maybe that will shake them up a bit. See you tonight at eleven!”

As I collapse back down onto my office chair, I try to remember why the hell I married Jillian in the first place. It wasn’t like it had anything to do with love. I went to London to try to forget I loved Ava. Not that moving away worked.

Then I remember. I married her to make my father happy. He thought she’d make a perfect wife, and her father agreed, so the two of them hatched a plan to get us together.

I look up at the ceiling and silently curse him out. If only he never told me I had to forget how I felt about Ava, none of this would be happening right now.

But who’s to blame—my father for forcing me to marry a woman I didn’t love or me for not taking care of this divorce all those years ago—doesn’t matter. All that matters is I get this handled so come two weekends from today Ava and I can finally stand before our family and friends and say I do.

Ava’s feedingElizabeth when I walk in the door, and all I feel is guilt for what I’m going to do. I should have handled this before now, and tomorrow, I have to fly across the Atlantic to fix it. Hopefully. I don’t know what I’m going to do if I can’t. The thought of disappointing the woman I love crushes me.

Her face lights up when she sees me. Sitting at the kitchen table with Elizabeth in her arms, she smiles.

“Hey, you! Look who’s up for dinner just in time to see you.”

She holds up my daughter, and I give her a kiss and then her mother. “Hey, little lady. Did you miss me?”

“We both did.”

“Where are the boys?” I ask as I swivel my head left and right to locate them in the kitchen or hallway.

“They’re with Eleanor and the nanny at the store. They should be back in less than an hour. Hang on. I have to change Elizabeth and then we can talk.”

She hurries out of the kitchen, so I follow her up the stairs until she runs into the baby’s nursery and I head toward our bedroom. I feel like such a fraud acting like today was any normal day at work when I spent most of my time fixating on how I’m going to get the woman I should have divorced years ago to sign papers so I can marry Ava in less than two weeks. I really fucked up royally this time, and I wouldn’t blame Ava if she can’t forgive me if I come back after tomorrow’s meeting without the ability to marry her.

Lost in thought and beating myself up for my mistakes, I don’t hear her walk into the room. She startles me when she taps me on the shoulder, and I spin around to see her standing there looking utterly confused.

“Is everything okay? Did you have a bad day at work?” Ava asks as she plops down on the bed.

“No, it was fine. Elizabeth okay?” I ask, quickly pivoting from my lie.

Ava nods and waves away my concern. “Oh, yeah. She’s a good baby. Once we get her to sleep through the night all the time, I’ll upgrade her to great. You look stressed, Matthias. I think you need a vacation. Maybe you went back to work too soon after paternity leave.”

I sigh, blowing the air out of my lungs while I slip out of my suit coat and prepare to lie yet again to her. “Unfortunately, not only don’t I get a vacation but I get to go on a business trip tomorrow. It’ll only be for one day, but I still wish I didn’t have to leave you and the kids at all.”

“Oh.”

The disappointment in her voice is unmistakable. I haven’t been on a trip away for work since before Elizabeth was born, and in truth, I’ve pretty much tried to ensure I don’t have to for anything regarding King Industries. The problem is this trip tomorrow isn’t business related.

“I’m sorry. I’ll get back as soon as I can. Maybe I’ll even work from home for the next few weeks.”