Chapter 41

Cora

“Ah, glad you both finally made it back!” Daisy squealed with mock-excitement we we stepped back into the dining room.

I was clutching my bag’s straps hard enough to turn my knuckles white as I sat back down, holding back some retort.

“You look... quaint,” Daisy said to me lightly, pouring wine into my glass. “So glad you could join us. I wanted this to feel like a family gathering.”

That word—family—curled in my gut like something rotten. I forced a strained, polite smile while glancing at Kingston, who looked tense in his seat across from me. I couldn’t help noticing the faint furrow between his brows every time Daisy spoke.

She turned to Kingston, her gaze raking him up and down. “And you look so handsome, Kingston. As always, of course.”

My fingers clenched even harder, pain springing up my knuckles from the pressure.

“And you look… well, Daisy,” Kingston said, clearly trying to be polite to the mother of his child, yet he did not look her in the eyes as he spoke. Still, the compliment stung me.

We made small talk. I pushed my food around on the plate. Daisy played hostess, beaming like she wasn’t the root of half my anxiety. Every time Kingston tried to steer the conversation to neutral ground, Daisy redirected it.

She wanted something. I could feel it.

It wasn’t until I took my second sip of wine that I knew something was wrong.

It hit slow. First, a warmth in my stomach, then a flush that spread across my chest. The room tilted slightly, and my head felt too light. My tongue, thick. My skin, suddenly too sensitive to the brush of air. I set my glass down carefully, breathing shallow, trying to stay present.

Something’s not right.

I looked at Kingston. He was frowning at his own glass, untouched. I remembered Daisy pouring the drinks herself. A quiet dread tightened in my chest.

“Excuse me,” I mumbled, standing on shaky legs. The world swayed, and Kingston was at my side in an instant, steadying me with a firm hand on my waist.

“Cora?” he said quietly. His voice was closer than it should’ve been. His warmth seeped into me, grounding me for a breath.

“I— I’m fine,” I stuttered. “It’s just... the wine. Gone to my head. Or something.”

Daisy’s voice carried from across the room, faux concern laced with triumph. “Oh dear, maybe you didn’t eat enough beforehand. It was a strong pour. Guess you can’t handle your liquor!”

I wanted to scream. She’d most likely drugged me. Subtly, cruelly. I could taste her satisfaction.

But my tongue felt dry and fat in my mouth and words evaded me as I choked down the rising feeling of not being able to breathe.

I tried desperately to regain my speech, and when I finally managed it, I did not waste words on accusations. Stupidly, before I could pull away from Kingston, the words came, bubbling up unbidden, to the surface.

“I love you,” I whispered.

And then louder, clearer. “I’ve tried not to. But I do. Silly, silly me.”

The room went silent.

No one moved. Not even Daisy. At least, I didn’t think so; I could barely see with my vision swimming so blurrily.

I wished I could claw the words back, swallow them whole, pretend it hadn’t happened, but they hung there, bare and vulnerable in the air,.

I couldn’t pretend anymore. My mouth kept moving, my voice trembling and fragile.

“I didn’t mean for it to happen,” I said, looking at Kingston, unable to look away. “I mean, you’re my boss! But somewhere between protecting Riley and arguing with you and seeing how you care even when you pretend not to… I fell. Oopsies!”

I hoped that my smile was some balance between playful and sincere, but given the unfiltered, wild pace of my thoughts, I doubted it.

My breath hitched. “You were my boss but also never just my boss.”

He didn’t say anything. He just stared, stunned.

I turned toward Daisy, who had gone rigid in her chair, wineglass frozen midair. “Did you really think this would embarrass me?” I asked, my voice shaking. “Did you think drugging me would humiliate me into silence?”

“No,” she said icily. “I thought it would get you to finally show your hand.”

The heat in my face turned to fire. “You didn’t win anything, Daisy. If you had to drug someone to get a confession, then you’ve already lost.”

Kingston’s jaw was locked tight, his eyes still on me, stunned, and something else I couldn’t name. Not yet.

I stepped back from him, wobbling a bit on my unsteady feet and suddenly feeling slightly self-conscious. My limbs felt too loose, my thoughts foggy but raw. “I should go.”

“Cora—” he started.

“No. It’s fine,” I said, brushing his hand off gently. “I think... I think I’ve said enough for one night.”

Outside, the air was brisk. It helped clear the haze from my mind, but not the ache in my chest.

He had not expressed that he felt the same way. Perhaps it had been foolish of me to hope but… I had.

I walked fast, not caring if my heels clicked too loudly on the pavement or if Daisy was watching from the window with that cruel little smile.

I’d told him the truth and now I had to live with it.

Love wasn’t something I handed out lightly. It had been ripped from me before, mocked, manipulated. I didn’t even know I still had it in me to say those words, not after Zach.

But Kingston wasn’t Zach. He was colder, in some ways. Sharper. But when he let his guard down—when he looked at Riley like he mattered, when he held me like I might break—he made me believe in safety again.

He made me believe that maybe, just maybe, I wasn’t alone in this.

And now... I’d said everything. Out loud. In front of the very woman who hated me most.

And he hadn’t returned the sentiment.

I should’ve felt humiliated.

But oddly, I didn’t.

Maybe it was the drugs in my veins but I felt free.

The night air was cool against my flushed skin, my hands gripping the stone railing leading to the sidewalk like it was the only thing keeping me upright. I was shaking, whether from the drug or from what I’d said in front of everyone, I couldn’t tell.

“I was hoping I’d find you still here,” Kingston’s voice came low and rough behind me.

I turned slowly. He had ditched the blazer, his sleeves rolled to the elbows, the sharp lines of his jaw clenched. His eyes weren’t angry, though. They were full of something else, something that made my stomach twist.

“You left the table,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

“So did you.” He stepped closer. “And I didn’t just leave the table, I’m leaving this whole farce of a dinner. I didn’t want to stay without you, and I can’t face Daisy after what she’s done.”

The air between us tightened. He reached up and brushed a strand of hair from my cheek, his fingers warm. “You shouldn’t have had to say what you did like that. Not there. Not like that. She didn’t deserve to hear how you felt.”

“I didn’t mean to.” My throat burned. “It just… happened.”

He smiled, something achingly tender. “I’m glad it did.”

“Can we… can we just go home,” I said.

“Of course.” He didn’t miss a beat. One moment we were standing outside of the restaurant, and the next we were at his manor, beneath the low warm lights.

No sooner had we stepped into his warm home, then he kissed me.

There was no hesitation, no holding back.

His mouth crashed into mine like he’d been waiting years to do it, like he was answering my earlier confession with this. I melted against him, gripping his shirt, letting the world fall away as he pulled me close; his warmth, his scent, his hands threading into my hair.

“Let me take you to my room,” he said. “Let me show you how much you mean to me.”

I nodded, breathless, my lips still tingling. Whatever tonight was, I didn’t want it to end.

Not yet.