Betrayed, I Burned His Empire

"Killian?" I pushed the bedroom door open.

I expected to see my husband asleep. I had planned this surprise for weeks. I skipped the final dinner in Paris, took a red-eye flight, and drove straight from the airport. I just wanted to see him. I wanted to see my son.

A sharp gasp pierced the quiet room. The heavy duvet tangled as two naked bodies scrambled apart.

"Elowen!" Killian shouted, yanking a pillow over his lap.

Beside him, a blonde woman clutched the white sheets to her chest.

Blair. The woman who ran the front desk at Killian's office.

"What are you doing here?" Killian demanded.

"I live here." I stared at the tangled limbs. "My flight landed early. I wanted to surprise my husband."

Blair shrank against the headboard. She pressed her face into Killian’s shoulder. "Killian, please," she whimpered. "You said she wouldn't be back until Friday. She's scaring me."

"Scaring you?" I stepped further into the room. "You're naked in my bed."

"Don't yell at her," Killian snapped. He wrapped a protective arm around Blair's bare shoulders.

"I haven't even raised my voice yet."

Before I could take another step, rapid footsteps padded down the hallway.

"Mommy?" a small voice called out.

My heart leapt. Leo. My four-year-old son. I turned toward the doorway, a smile automatically forming on my face. "Leo, sweetheart, Mommy's home—"

Leo ran right past me.

He clutched a plush green dinosaur to his chest and rushed to the side of the bed. He reached his little hands up toward the mattress. Toward Blair.

"Mommy," Leo whined, ignoring me completely. "I had a bad dream."

Blair offered a sweet, practiced smile. She reached down, stroking Leo’s hair. "It's okay, baby. I'm right here."

The floor tilted beneath my feet.

"Leo," I said, my voice cracking. "I'm right here. Come to me."

Leo finally looked at me. His brow furrowed. He tightened his grip on the dinosaur. "No. I want Blair. She reads better stories than you."

"She bought you that toy?" I asked.

"She sleeps in my room when the monsters come," Leo said. He buried his face in the mattress, right next to Blair's hip. "You're always gone. She makes star pancakes."

"Buddy, go back to your room for a minute," Killian told him softly. "The adults need to talk."

"Can Blair come?" Leo asked.

"In a minute," Blair promised, blowing him a kiss.

Leo trotted out of the room, not even glancing at me.

I stared at my husband. "You let him call her Mommy?"

"He needs a mother figure, Elowen," Killian said. He didn't look guilty. He looked annoyed. "Someone actually present."

"I was in Paris securing the contract that pays for this house!"

"We don't need your money," Killian shot back. "We need a family. You've been absent for two years. You chose the boardroom over your own son."

"I built a company from scratch so you could quit your failing firm!" I yelled. "I paid off your debts, Killian!"

"Don't throw finances in my face," he scoffed. "Money doesn't keep a bed warm. Blair is my confidante. She understands me. She listens to me when I come home exhausted. What do you do? You criticize."

"I'm sorry, Elowen," Blair whispered.

She didn't sound sorry at all. A faint smirk played on her lips as she peeked at me from behind Killian's arm. She reached up to brush a strand of hair behind her ear.

Silver caught the light.

I stared at her neck. She was wearing my diamond pendant. The one my mother gave me.

I turned my gaze away from her throat and looked past the bed. The double doors to the walk-in closet stood wide open.

My designer gowns had been shoved to the back. In their place hung rows of cheap floral dresses. A pink makeup bag sat squarely on my vanity, surrounded by bottles of perfume I didn't own. A pair of pink slippers rested right next to Killian’s dress shoes.

This wasn't a one-time mistake.

She lived here.

"How long?" I asked.

"Does it matter?" Killian sighed. "It’s over, Elowen. I was going to file the papers on Monday."

"You were going to blindside me."

"You left us no choice!" Killian raised his voice. "You abandoned this family! Blair stepped up. She loves Leo. She loves me."

"Killian, she's glaring at me," Blair murmured. "I told you she would be mad. You promised she would understand our connection."

"I want her out of my house," I said.

"This is my house too," Killian countered. "And Leo wants her here."

"I said, out."

Blair let out a pathetic little sob. "Killian, maybe I should just go. I don't want to cause trouble."

"You're not going anywhere," he told her. He looked at me with pure disdain. "If anyone leaves, it's you. You're hysterical."

I wasn't hysterical. In fact, a strange, freezing calm washed over my skin. The panic from a minute ago vanished, replaced by an icy clarity.

I didn't scream. I didn't throw the lamp.

I reached into my purse and pulled out my phone.

"What are you doing?" Killian asked, his confidence faltering for a second.

I raised the camera. *Click.*

The flash illuminated their naked bodies tangled in my sheets.

"Stop that!" Killian barked. He tried to lunge forward, but the duvet pinned his legs.

*Click.* I snapped a photo of Blair's clothes hanging in my closet.

*Click.* I captured the vanity covered in her cosmetics.

I walked right up to the side of the bed. Blair flinched, shrinking back against the headboard.

I pointed the lens right at her chest. *Click.*

"That's my mother's necklace," I said.

Blair quickly covered the diamond with her hand. "Killian gave it to me."

"I thought you lost it," Killian muttered, avoiding my eyes.

"Elowen, put the phone down!" he demanded a second later.

"Or what, Killian?" I asked, framing one last shot of the two of them glaring at me. *Click.* "You'll cheat on me again?"

"You're crazy," Blair muttered.

"I'm gathering evidence." I slipped the phone back into my bag.

"Nobody cares about a few photos," Killian scoffed.

"My lawyers will."

"You're going to traumatize Leo!" Killian pointed down the hallway.

"You did that the moment you brought another woman into his home," I replied.

I turned on my heel and walked out of the bedroom.

"Elowen!" Killian yelled from the master suite. "If you walk out that door, you get nothing! I'll take full custody!"

I didn't answer. I marched down the stairs, my shoes smacking the floorboards with heavy thuds.

The front door slammed shut behind me.

The cool evening air hit my face as I walked down the driveway. I unlocked my car, slid into the driver's seat, and gripped the steering wheel.

My hands didn't shake. No tears fell.

They thought they could steal my home, my husband, and my son. They thought I would just cry and walk away.

I opened my phone and pulled up my lawyer's contact.

I started the engine.

Killian wanted a war. He was about to get one.