Page 70 of King of Kings

“If you’re not ready to talk, I understand. You’ve been through a lot tonight,” he says sincerely.

“I appreciate that, but you deserve to know about my past. I shouldn’t have kept it from you for this long,” I tell him.

I glance around the driveway, and I’m thankful that I don’t see anyone else home.

“Where is everyone?” I ask.

“Kane and Kai have been staying with Ivy and Noelle a lot. Kinsley told me she was staying at J’s tonight; they have a big test to study for.”

I study his face. Knox is lonely, but he’d never admit it. It breaks my heart to think about him staying in this house by himself.

“I’m glad you asked me to stay over,” I say as he grabs my hand, leading me inside.

I sit my stuff down in the entryway and follow him into the kitchen. Taking a seat at the table, I watch him move around.

“How does Alfredo sound?” he asks, pulling pans from the cabinets.

“It sounds amazing,” I say.

If you didn’t know Knox, you’d never expect him to be such an amazing cook. He moves around a kitchen like he was made to be here.

Almost an hour later, he slides me a plate and joins me at the table. Everything looks and smells amazing.

“It still blows my mind that you’re such an amazing cook,” I admit.

“I feel like I should be offended that so many people find it surprising that I know my way around the kitchen.” He laughs.

I watch him pour us both a glass of wine, and there’s a knot in my stomach as I think about how this could have been my life if I would have just opened up to him from the start.

“Before you say anything, I just want you to know that I had no right to be so angry with you about not opening up to me. Our relationship has always been complicated. We went from hating each other, to sleeping together, to trying to date. I can’t blame you for being hesitant about opening up when I’ve always been so hot and cold with you,” he says between drinks.

His confession shocks the hell out of me.

“I still should have told you… at least some of it. You had a right to know I was still married,” I say, watching him flinch when I talk about being married.

“So how did it happen?” he asks, referring to my marriage.

“My parents came to me. They needed help after we moved to Chicago. The kind of help that a family like the Scotts could provide. They asked me to get to know Bradley, give him a chance. I wanted to do what I could to help them out, so I agreed.” I lean back in my seat; this is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.

“They arranged a marriage?” he asks, shocked.

“No, not entirely. They asked me to get to know him. I let it go as far as it did. He wasn’t bad at first. I wasn’t in love with him or anything, but I wanted to do what I could for my family. After we had been dating for a while, I tried to make myself fall in love, but it never happened. I tried telling myself it was love, but I knew deep down that it wasn’t,” I admit.

“It sounds a lot like an arranged marriage,” he points out.

“I can see why you would think that, but they wouldn’t have ever asked me to do that,” I say.

“They didn’t have to,” he adds.

“You’re right. They knew I would do whatever I could for them.” I sigh before continuing on. “I felt an enormous feeling of dread on our wedding day. I knew deep down it wasn’t the right decision, but I went on with it anyway. Everyone looked so happy.”

“Everyone but you,” he says.

“Everyone but me,” I agree. “The marriage was fine at first. He was hardly home. I spent most of my time alone. He wouldn’t let me work, which was a huge blow to my self-esteem. I knew he was out with other women, and I didn’t care,” I say.

“I’m so sorry, Sophie,” Knox says, putting his hand over mine.

“Don’t do that. Don’t feel sorry for me,” I tell him. “He came home drunk one night, and that was the first time he put his hands on me. I knew then and there that I had to get out. I started putting a plan into place, but it still took me six months to get everything together so I could leave.” I put my hand up to my mouth, trying to keep from breaking down.

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