Don’t fall in love with two men, it’s messy and complicated and not worth it. Two men loving you sounds great in theory, until it happens to you and ends up complicating your life. Choosing between the two will be the hardest thing you’ll ever have to do, until it isn’t.
Having one last fling is never a good idea, it will always end up ripping apart your life. I know you think it will be different for you, that things won’t go bad for you, you will have permission from your future spouse. Let me tell you, I had permission, I had a chance to back out and change my mind, tell him it was only a joke, instead I chose to fall back into the arms of his best friend. That one choice changed my life forever, tearing my life apart weeks before we knew the consequences of our actions. My name is Veronica Jones Rys, I am the Queen of Cordonia, and this is my story.
Veronica sat on the edge of the tub staring in dismay at the thin white stick that was silently mocking her, PREGNANT written in bold letters visible on the small screen. That word should make her impossibly happy, she’s married, he’s always wanted a family, but things aren’t that simple. A lone tear sipped down her cheek, this can’t be happening, not now! They were just married, but that wasn’t the problem, not really. No she had been stupid, an idiot really, asking for a fling days before her wedding. And now here she was weeks later, facing the consequences of going through it. God! She should have told him she was joking, that all she needed, wanted was him! She should have gone to bed alone! She smacked her palm into her face, squeezing her eyes shut as tight as they would go. What was she going to do? He’d be thrilled until he wasn’t, until he remembered what happened, could have happened—he never asked, days before their wedding. How could she be so stupid? Everything was going to come out now! She knew she had no one to blame but herself for getting herself into this god awful mess.
She twisted the rings on her left hand, the added weight of the new band seemed to be cutting off circulation—but it wasn’t, no that was in her mind. How was she going to break the news to her new husband that while she was pregnant it could very well be that his best friend was the father? Idiot!His heart would shatter, and it was all her doing. Why did she have to ask for that stupid fling? Damnit! She married the love of her life, but did she? Why did she ask for a fling if he was the only man who held her heart?
What should have been the happiest moment in their lives was now tainted by the unknown. I should have gone to bed! How could she have done something so stupid, so wrong? But it didn’t feel wrong, it felt so—right. Shit! She should have known something would have gone wrong, it always did when it came to their love story, nothing ever came easily to them. She never should asked, she should have said anything else, like she wanted to dance on a bar. She should have gotten closure, not caused herself a bigger mess! Fuck! What have I done?! She knew she needed to tell him, now, she couldn’t let him believe for a second it was his, if he found out later it’d make things a million times worse. But how do you tell your husband that you slept with his best friend and the baby might be his?
Tears stung at her eyes, burning as they fell. She didn’t have the right to cry, all of this was her doing, she allowed this to happen. The moment she let the other man in her heart, led him on—she wrecked everything. Her love, her relationship with the man she loved. But was he the one? Why?!
She couldn’t stop yelling at herself, questioning everything she had done from the moment she met them both. She came here for one man, the man she felt an instant spark with, but she let them both into her heart. She never should have let him get that close, she should have have told him she came here for Liam, she never should have led him on. She never should have let him think there was a chance, she never should have flirted and kissed him over the engagement tour. What a fucking mess! She never should have slept with him at the homecoming ball. What the hell was I thinking?!Liam was gonna be heartbroken, she was going to destroy him, destroy them, destroy his friendship with Drake. Everything was a mess and she was the one to blame, the one caught in the middle. Her entire life was about to implode around her and who knew if she would be standing when the dust cleared.
Veronica wiped her tears as she stood up, she walked over to the sink, she rested her hands on the marble edge of the countertop. She looked in the the mirror, her face puffy from crying. She turned on the tap, leaning over she splashed cold water on her face. She stood back up, reaching to grab a towel to dry her face. The face of a selfish woman stared back at her, her eyes still puffy, but the tears were gone. She smoothed down her dress, she couldn’t wait, she needed to tell him, tonight.
Veronica’s feet carried her to his study, she walked the path blindly, barely seeing anything she past. The only thing that concerned her was telling her husband, telling Liam—everything. She blinked her eyes as she stood in front of his study, in amazement how she found herself there so quickly. She would have thought that time would have moved slower as she walked to the death of her marriage, but if anything it sped up.
Veronica raised her hand to knock on the study door, pausing to collect herself, once she walked through those doors her marriage as she knew it would end. Her heart broke, not for herself, but for her husband—for Liam. He didn’t know it, but his biggest hopes and worst fears stood outside the door waiting to blow up the life he thought he was building with the woman he loved. She finally allowed her fist to fall against the wooden door, she knocked and waited with the breath caught in her throat for his answer.
“Come in.” Was the muffled reply.
She twisted the knob and pushed, pulling in one last shaky breath trying to ready herself for the conversation that was to come once she entered the room. She stepped inside and felt both relief and dread course through her veins as she saw he was alone. She closed the door behind her, thinking about locking it, but wasn’t sure his reaction, if he wanted to leave she didn’t want to hinder his escape.
“What did I do to deserve this pleasant surprise my love?” Liam asked smiling when he saw his queen.
Veronica’s heart took a nosedive into the pit of her stomach at his words, he didn’t do anything to deserve this. She slowly walked over to his desk, trying and failing to mask her nervous fear of what she had to tell him.
Concern etched across his face when he took in her appearance, sadness and fear written across her beautiful features, her eyes puffy as if she had been crying, “what’s wrong my love?” He asked, the concern in his tone shattering her heart into a million pieces.
She sat into the seat across from his desk, smoothing out her dress, trying to find the courage she needed to break her husband’s heart. She wrung her hands in her lap, looking up at her husband’s face, her blue eyes meeting his, she took a deep breath, “there’s something I need to tell you.” She said, her voice shaking as her stomach twisted in knots.
“Oh?” He asked, leaning back in his chair, fear flitting across his eyes for the briefest of seconds.
“I should probably start from the beginning,” she started taking one last deep breath, Liam nodded slowly, clasping his hands in front of him on his lap. “I’ll spare you the details, but Drake and I developed feelings for each other during the social season. It started with the moments in between, a commoner helping another commoner get away from the courtly drama.” She continued, rushing through the words, as if that could lessen the sting from the meaning behind them.
Pain and heartache flashed across Liam’s face so quickly that she would have missed it if she blinked, before his stony kingly demeanor set in. Veronica felt her heart clench in pain knowing she was the one causing her husband such pain he felt unable of showing.
“We grew closer during the engagement tour, I leaned on him a lot and I helped him deal with his feelings about finding Savannah. We probably got too close, I think he started to think I would choose him over you, but it’s you I love. We kissed several times throughout the engagement tour, but that’s it—” she said her voice starting to crack, “—until the night of the homecoming ball, we—we had sex.”
Veronica swore she could pinpoint the exact second she shattered her husband’s heart, tears started to well up in his eyes, but he stayed silent knowing there must be more if she was just now telling him—telling him that she cheated.
Veronica chewed on her lip, mulling over the idea of how to tell him worst part of the truth. She knit her brows together and exhaled quickly, heart racing and in her throat she looked to him. The words stumbled from her mouth like clumsy children, “I have to tell you something. I—, it’s– it’s gonna hurt you and—I regret it but—”
“What could possibly be worse than you cheated on me with Drake—my best friend?” Liam questioned, his voice breaking as his heart did.
“Vegas—I asked about one last fling, I said I’d think about it—,” Veronica said blinking back tears, hating that she had to tell him any of this, “I—I slept with Drake again—but we got so caught up and the fact that we were trying slipped my mind, we forgot protection.” Tears streamed down her cheeks, her vision blurry from the tears yet to fall. “I’m—I’m pregnant and now I don’t know if it yours or his.” She whispered, looking down at her hands through tear filled eyes.
“What?” He croaked, just when he thought his heart couldn’t hurt or break anymore she proved him wrong.
Veronica looked back up at him, biting her lip nervously, “I’m pregnant and with the timing it might be his or yours.” She repeated her voice breaking knowing that she broke them, she was the only one to blame for his pain.
She watched as Liam fell completely apart at her words, his kingly façade completely shattered as he came apart at the seams. What should be a joyous occasion was tainted with the unknown, tears fell down him cheeks freely as he let out a choked sob. She didn’t know what to say or do, she knew nothing she said would be of comfort for him, in a matter of a few minutes she made their entire foundation of their marriage come falling down around them, she didn’t know who they would be once they pulled themselves from the rubble caused by her lies. She didn’t know if there was a way to fix their marriage or if they would want to, could he forgive her, trust her again? If she could so easily make those decisions, mistakes, was he even what she wanted anymore? Those questions and more would have to wait for tomorrow as they mourned what could have been.
