Chapter 5: Mrs. Kingston
650 Words
The flashes blinded me.
Questions came from every direction.
“Mrs. Kingston!”
“Look here!”
“When did you start dating?”
“Is this an arranged marriage?”
“Are you pregnant?”
My head spun.
How had they found us?
This courthouse was supposed to be private.
Lucien’s arm tightened around my waist.
“Don’t answer.”
His voice remained calm.
“But keep smiling.”
“I don’t know how.”
“You’ll learn.”
Another burst of camera flashes erupted.
Someone shoved a microphone toward my face.
“Mrs. Kingston, did you know Mr. Kingston ended his engagement only three months ago?”
I froze.
His engagement?
I looked up at Lucien.
His expression didn’t change.
He simply guided me toward a waiting black SUV.
“Lucien!”
A reporter shouted above the chaos.
“Did you marry Miss Lawson because of your grandmother’s will?”
He stopped walking.
Just for a second.
The reporters noticed.
Every camera swung toward him.
“So it’s true?”
Lucien turned slowly.
His face was impossible to read.
“My private life isn’t open for discussion.”
“But your shareholders disagree!”
Another reporter stepped forward.
“They deserve to know whether this marriage is about love…”
He glanced at me.
“…or money.”
The crowd fell silent.
Everyone waited.
Lucien looked at me.
Then, without warning…
He lifted my hand.
Interlocked our fingers.
And said clearly enough for every microphone to catch:
“I married Sienna because she’s the only woman I’ve ever wanted as my wife.”
My breath caught.
The reporters erupted.
“What?”
“Since when?”
“How long have you been together?”
“Did you keep the relationship secret?”
Lucien ignored every question.
He opened the SUV door.
“Get in.”
I slid inside.
The door shut behind me.
The noise outside became muffled.
Lucien climbed in beside me.
Only when the car pulled away did I finally find my voice.
“You lied.”
“I did.”
“You’ve never wanted to marry me.”
“No.”
He looked out the window.
“I’ve wanted to marry you for much longer than you think.”
I stared at him.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means exactly what I said.”
“Lucien.”
He finally looked back at me.
His eyes held something I’d never seen before.
Not coldness.
Not confidence.
Something closer to regret.
“I know this is difficult.”
“Difficult?”
I laughed in disbelief.
“I married a man whose ex-fiancée apparently exists, whose shareholders are furious, whose grandmother might have forced this marriage, and who keeps talking like we’ve met before.”
He didn’t interrupt.
“I know absolutely nothing about you!”
The car fell silent.
Finally…
He spoke.
“Ask me one question.”
I blinked.
“One?”
“I’ll answer it truthfully.”
I didn’t even have to think.
“Why me?”
His jaw tightened.
For a moment, I thought he’d refuse again.
Instead…
He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket.
Not for his phone.
Not for another contract.
For his wallet.
He removed something carefully.
A photograph.
Old.
Its edges were worn.
He handed it to me.
I frowned.
It showed a little girl.
About eight years old.
Standing beside a woman beneath a huge oak tree.
The little girl’s face…
My heart stopped.
It was me.
I looked up so quickly my neck hurt.
My voice barely worked.
“…Where did you get this?”
Lucien held my gaze.
“I’ve carried it for eighteen years.”
The air left my lungs.
Eighteen years?
That was impossible.
I’d never met him.
Had I?
Then he quietly shattered everything I thought I knew.
“You weren’t supposed to forget me, Sienna.”
- Writer
