ATTICUS
I sat at the head of the round table, fingers drumming against the polished surface as I went through every security protocol and ceremonial traditions for the coronation.
But I couldn’t pay attention.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the way she looked at me, the hurt in her eyes, the words she spoke to me, the venom in them, the way she’d said it with such finality.
“You know, Atticus, you were wrong about one thing,” she had said. “Ben is a better man than you, and I don’t even have to kiss him… or f**k him to know that.”
The insult had been a knife to my ego, twisting deeper with every replay. I know the things I said hurt her, but I wanted her to feel a fraction of what I felt when I walked in on her and Ben.
I just didn’t expect the retaliation to be deep-cutting.
I c
