Page 80 of All That Glitters

Doesn’t matter, I think breathlessly. None of it matters. Only escape. Only getting myself as far away from Marcus as possible. How would anyone expect me to look at the man who broke my heart and make it out of there unscathed?

I throw open the dresser drawers and start tossing some of my favorite shirts into the suitcase without bothering to fold them. Pants follow, then underwear, tank tops and a couple of different pairs of shoes. I fill one suitcase and then another, until all three are stuffed, the zippers straining.

I’ve got to get the car from the bottom of the driveway, and my chest tightens with each passing second.

Don’t let him come home. Not yet. Don’t let him find me.

I park in front of the door and lug the suitcases out one by one until the trunk is packed and I’m ready to go. A couple bags of snacks follow, just in case I don’t feel like going out for a while.

Now, where did Dad leave the keys?

They’ve got to be in the office…unless the lawyer has them, which I doubt. If I have to break the cottage door to get inside, I’ll do it, as long as I’m long gone by the time Marcus gets back.

I don’t want to see his face.

I can’t see his face.

I hiccup over a sob, determined not to cry again. I’m not a fucking child, and it’s time for me to stop acting like it, giving into this horrible gut-wrenching feeling inside of me. I fill the rest of the suitcase, not that I’ll need much, and head out to the car with the keys in hand.

I don’t want anything to do with him, his life. None of it. I can’t handle it if things will always be this chaotic.

Not after everything. And if I can make it work at the bungalow, then I’ll never come back.

THIRTY

Empire is gone by the time I make it back to the house.

Not that I expected her to wait for me. If the roles were reversed, and I was the one finding out about the dissolution of the guardianship, I’d be livid. More than likely, any anger on her part is a mask for more grief, more betrayal, the only thing I’m good for.

It’s odd not to see her car in the driveway. There’s nothing but the slight push of wind through the foliage when I get out and stand. Too quiet. My thoughts are obnoxiously loud in comparison.

The key slides into the lock easily, but the door swings open on silent hinges, unlocked. The rest of the interior is a yawning and shadowed cave instead of the home it had started to become.

She’s not there. I can feel it.

And those texts are going to stay unanswered, because there is no way on God’s green Earth she’ll want to talk to me now, not if she has completely taken off without a word.

Too late.

I’d gotten back too late.

“Empire?” My voice echoes back to me, hollow and tired.

I press my hand to my chest against a physical ache and finally step inside the house, closing the door behind me. It’s for the best, I reason. The more distance we have between us, the better it will be for everyone involved, no matter how it makes me feel.

She’s much safer without me.

No matter how badly my fingers itch to grab my phone and text her one more time. Call her. Beg her to come back and let me explain.

I hadn’t meant to sign the papers. In fact, I thought about using the contract as an excuse so many times, just to force her to stay with me. Then, I signed the papers out of spite. I might not have filed them, but my signature was bold and legal, and now she knows it.

She just doesn’t know my reasons.

I scrape a hand down the side of my face before slapping myself hard, once on each cheek. Honestly, there would be no way to salvage any romantic attachments once I go in deeper with Stanic and his crew.

The things I’ll have to do, what I’ll have to live through…

Better this way.I have to let her go.

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