Page 129 of Ruined Vows

I shake my head. “It’s too late for that now.”

His eyebrows drop, furrowing. “Because of him.” He almost sounds angry, which isn’t fair at all, considering how many women he’s slept with since we got engaged. But obviously what’s fair for him isn’t fair for me. There’s not even any point in arguing about that anymore.

“It’s too late for that now because I don’t want what you want. I wantoutof our families and the lifestyles they lead, and you wantin. There’s nothing that could make me stay and marry you.”

When I see the hurt hit his face, I quickly suck down more coffee, then finish saying what needs to be said. “I’m sorry, Drew. But this is the end.”

It feels so good to say those words and mean them.

“What about your inheritance?” Drew asks, acid lacing his tone. “You think your mother will give it to you now?”

I blink slowly at him. I’ve seen this side of him before, but so rarely I could convince myself it wasn’t there. It’s ugly.

“I dunno. But there are more important things than money.” My mouth feels sticky. Too much chocolate in my drink.

Drew laughs, and not in a nice way. “That’s cute. Did your jarhead boy toy tell you that?”

Not jarhead. That’s the Marines, not the Army. Isaak corrected me on it the other day. Why am I still here?

“I’m done,” I mumble.

I try to hand back my coffee to him, but he won’t take it. And suddenly, it’s so heavy, I can’t hold it. It tumbles to the ground, splattering all over the sidewalk.

I stare for a few confused moments, my body suddenly heavy, too. And then I slump down.

I’m barely conscious when I feel Drew catch me before I crash to the sidewalk. What did he— He’s tugging me over to a nearby car and shuffling me in the back seat.

He’s taking me!

But the panic scream in my chest doesn’t make it out of my mouth before everything goes dark.

FIFTY

ISAAK

I wakeup feeling better than I have in… well, I can’t remember the last time when I felt this good. I sit up in bed and stretch.

“Kira?” I call, yawning, arms still over my head. “Babe, you in the bathroom?”

No response.

That little witch is probably waiting to jump out and scare the shit outta me. I laugh, feeling ten thousand pounds lighter than when we signed into this hotel. I can’t believe that the ’shrooms actually worked.

But fuck, if I don’t feel better. Like everything I understood in that deep place that felt almost like the womb of the world, I still understand. It still feels… deeply with me. I was never into spiritual shit, but it feels something like that.

“Kira? You taking a bath in here?” I walk into the bathroom, but she’s not there.

Maybe she went down to grab some breakfast from one of the restaurants in the hotel? Or to grab takeout?

But I frown when I see her phone on the table.

Kira wouldn’t go down to breakfast without her phone. That thing’s generally attached to her at the hip.

A bad feeling suddenly hits me low in my gut.

Something’s wrong.

Suddenly, I can barely breathe, and I’m so sure something’s gone really, really wrong. I remember everything else I learned on my journey when I was at the height of euphoria. The strings and how perilously we’re all held together. Just specks of dust, one consequence away from being blown back into the cosmos.

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