The Mafia Queen

I sat through my third and final seminar of the day, my head bobbing as I fought to stay awake. As much as I loved my travel business, these seminars could be painfully dry, bordering on downright boring. Especially after nearly seven hours of PowerPoint presentations and various speakers droning on about hotel packages, day trips, and the best ways to book a trip around the world.

I sighed and took a sip of my now cold coffee, hoping the bitter taste would keep me from dozing off. I glanced at my phone. Only thirty minutes to go. I should make it.

With nothing better to do, I began braiding my long blond hair, at least giving my hands something to occupy themselves with.

I had only agreed to attend this weekend’s seminar because I had been asked to be a guest speaker on day two, which meant participating in the seminars on day one. Yippee, me!

Originally, my fiancé Kai was supposed to attend them with me, but he had been called to LA on a business trip last week and would not be back in New York until later tonight. Which meant he could make it to my presentation tomorrow.

If he wanted to.

Honestly, I was not sure where our relationship stood anymore. We had been together for five years, engaged for three, and it was almost a year since we had last talked about any wedding plans. We had drifted apart slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, until one day I realized I could not remember the last time we had felt like a couple rather than two people simply going through the motions.

Kai had increasingly been traveling for business, disappearing to cities all over the country. He worked for his father’s company, Warner Securities, although I had no idea what he did that required so much travel. Whenever I asked, he brushed me off with the same answer. It’s too complicated for you to understand.

At first, I pushed back. I was not some stupid girl who could not understand the business world. I had an MBA from Harvard, just like he did. That was where we met. He had pursued me for nearly a year before I finally agreed to go on a date with him.

The rest was history. Or was it?

Over the past eight months, I had developed a growing suspicion that Kai was cheating on me. Whenever he returned from one of his trips, he barely touched me. He was too tired. Too jet-lagged. Not in the mood. There was always an excuse.

And when we did have sex, it had become painfully one-sided. His needs mattered. Mine seemed almost irrelevant. It had been a long time since I had felt satisfied in our relationship. Emotionally. Physically. Sexually.

To be honest, I was not even sure why we were still engaged. I cared about Kai. I really did. But I was not in love with him. I never had been. Not once had I told him I loved him, and strangely he had never seemed bothered by it.

I had not loved anyone since I lost my parents. Maybe I was broken beyond repair.

The only reason I had accepted Kai’s proposal in the first place was that he had gotten down on one knee at a Knicks game, in front of thousands of people, with cameras pointed in our direction and everyone staring at us.

I could not humiliate him by saying no. So, I had said yes. And after that, it was just easier to go along with it.

The engagement gave me something else, too. A reason to keep running. A reason not to stop long enough to look back at the past I had spent years trying to outrun.

Once the last seminar finally ended, I made my way up to my suite. Since the apartment I rented was on the outskirts of New York, I had booked a suite at the hotel in downtown Manhattan where the seminar was being held.

It was far more luxurious than anything I normally allowed myself. Not that I could not afford it. My travel business was quite successful. I had simply never been someone who needed extravagance to feel happy. Tonight, though, I was beginning to think a little luxury might be exactly what I needed.

I took a warm shower and ordered dinner delivered to my room. I had just settled in when my phone buzzed with a message from Kai.

I’ll be there in thirty minutes – K.

I huffed at the screen before tossing my phone onto the bed.

Twenty minutes later, I was halfway through my roasted salmon, barely registering the television playing in the background. I was not paying attention to whatever was on. My mind kept circling the same thought.

Kai was cheating on me. With every month that passed, I became more certain of it. And strangely, I was not heartbroken. I was furious. Not at the possibility of losing him. I was not sure I had ever truly had him to begin with.

No, what consumed me was the growing need to expose him. To catch him. To make him admit what he had done.

A knock on the door finally pulled me from my thoughts. I opened it to find Kai standing there with a small suitcase in his hand. He was average height, with short blond hair slicked back with far too much gel.

“Hi Alex,” he said as he stepped into the suite, not bothering to give me so much as a hug.

I did not reach out for him either. I did not correct him about my name.

My name was Alexandria, and I hated being called Alex. I had told Kai that countless times, yet he had never bothered to remember. Looking back, that should have been one of the first signs that this was not someone I wanted in my life. If he could not even respect something as simple as my name, why had I ever expected him to respect anything else?

Honestly, I did not know why he had not broken off our engagement yet. And why had I not done so? I knew the answer. I wanted to catch him in the act. I wanted proof. And then I wanted to make him pay.

My father had raised me to believe that actions had consequences and betrayal should never go unanswered. For nineteen years, I had kept that darker part of myself locked away, buried beneath everything I had built my life to be.

But over the past year, it had started clawing its way back to the surface. Every lie from Kai fed it. Every unanswered question strengthened it. And now I wanted to let it loose. I just needed to be patient. I needed to bide my time.

“Hi.” I sat down on the bed and grabbed the remote. “How was your flight?”

“It was fine.” He mumbled the words as he unpacked his bag. “About tomorrow. I’m too jet-lagged to attend the seminar with you. Is that alright?”

I had not expected anything else. “Sure.” I shrugged, staring at the television. A part of me wondered why he had even bothered coming here instead of going back to his apartment.

Another part of me already knew there was probably a reason. I just did not know what it was yet.

I was not particularly looking forward to spending another day alone in seminars, but if Kai was going to be like this, perhaps I was better off by myself anyway.

We spent the rest of the evening in bed, occupying the same space without really being together. Kai scrolled through his phone while I watched some animated television show, the bright colors flickering across the darkened room.

When he finally got up to use the bathroom and get ready for bed, his phone vibrated on the nightstand.

I glanced at it. Then reached for it without thinking. A message illuminated the screen.

I’ll be there at four o’clock tomorrow. Can’t wait to see you, baby. XOXO

For several seconds, I simply stared at the words. Then I snorted. Of course. I was right. Kai was cheating on me. And tomorrow, I was going to catch him.

There were three seminars scheduled for tomorrow, with the final one ending around six in the afternoon. So, that was why he could not attend. Four o’clock. I put the phone back exactly where I had found it before climbing beneath the covers.

I curled onto my side, turning my back toward Kai as he returned from the bathroom. A slow smile tugged at my lips. For nineteen years, I had kept that darkness locked away. Tomorrow, I was going to let it out. Tomorrow, I thought.

Kai was fast asleep when I made my way to the first seminar of the day. Sitting still was almost impossible. My mind kept racing ahead, imagining every possible version of what I might find and how I would react when I finally had proof.

I barely heard a word of the first speaker. I kept raking my fingers through my golden hair or tapping my nails against my thighs, watching the clock as though I could force time to move faster through sheer willpower.

I had chosen a comfortable black dress for the day. The short sleeves and mid-thigh hem kept it professional enough for my presentation, while the low heels meant I would not have to sacrifice my feet for the sake of looking polished.

After lunch came the seminar where I was a guest speaker. I had twenty minutes to talk about my experience in the travel industry. How I had started my own business ten years ago, at the age of twenty-four, and grown it into a six-figure business.

Normally, talking about my business was something I enjoyed. Today, I had to force myself to concentrate.

For the rest of the seminar, I tried to listen to the other guest speakers, but my attention kept drifting to my phone. Nothing. The clock seemed to move backward. By the time the seminar ended, I felt like I had been waiting for hours rather than minutes.

I grabbed an early dinner at the hotel’s restaurant before the final seminar. I barely tasted any of it. My stomach was too tightly knotted, my thoughts consumed by one question. What would I find?

The seminar began. I lasted halfway through it. Then I quietly slipped out and made my way back to my suite. My stomach twisted tighter with every step. I knew what I was about to do. I just had not expected knowing to make it any easier.

I unlocked the door and stepped inside as quietly as possible. For a moment, everything was silent. Then I heard it. Soft moans coming from the bedroom.

My jaw clenched. So, this was it. Proof.

I crossed the suite without making a sound, my pulse pounding in my ears. I reached the double doors and slowly pushed them open.

Kai was lying on his back in the bed—my bed—with a redhead woman whose skin was an unnatural shade of orange straddling him.

For a few seconds, I simply stared. I had imagined this moment so many times. In every version, I had been devastated. Broken. Heartbroken enough to collapse. Instead, I felt something cold settle over me. Fury.

I slammed the door against the wall. The two of them jerked toward me, their expressions transforming from surprise to panic.

“Alex…” Kai gasped, scrambling to push the woman off him. “It’s not what it seems.”

I let out a short, humorless laugh.

“Oh, really?” I folded my arms across my chest. “So, she just what? fell on top of your dick, Kai?”

His mouth opened. Nothing came out. I stepped closer. “Eight months.”

“Alex—”

“Eight months of wondering whether I was imagining things. Eight months of wondering why my fiancé suddenly could not stand the thought of touching me.”

“It’s not—”

I raised my hand before he could finish. The slap cracked through the room. Harder than I had intended.

His head snapped to the side, and for one glorious second, I felt nothing but satisfaction.

He slowly turned back toward me, one hand rising to his cheek. “You bitch.”

I smiled coldly. “Finally. Something we agree on.”

His cheek was already beginning to redden beneath my palm print.

“You better find another room for the night,” he hissed. Then, as though I were nothing more than an inconvenience he would rather not deal with, he turned toward the red-haired woman. “Now leave. I’m busy.”

I stared at him. For a moment, I could not believe what I was hearing. Then something inside me simply… snapped. “We’re over.”

Kai turned. I pulled my engagement ring from my finger. The ring I had worn for three years. The ring I had accepted because I had not been brave enough to say no. I looked at it one last time before throwing it at him.

“There,” I said. “Now you can be as busy as you want.”

I did not wait for his response. I turned and walked out, closing the door behind me. For the first time in years, I was not running away from something. I was walking away from it.

The elevator ride seemed to take forever. I stared emotionless through the glass at New York City spreading out before me. I was not heartbroken. I was not furious anymore either. I was done. Done with Kai. Done with this relationship. Maybe even done with New York. Once my lease was up, I would pack my things and go somewhere new.

Before I met Kai, I had moved every few months or years, never staying anywhere long enough to put down roots. Always running from a past that still hunted me. A past I was not ready to confront. Maybe it was time to run again.

As soon as the elevator opened, I strode through the lobby without even thinking about where I was going. I was desperate to get out of the hotel.

It was not until I was halfway across the lobby that I remembered I had left my things in the suite. I had my phone. My keys. That was all I needed. I could come back for the rest later.

I was almost at the doors when I collided with something solid. No. Someone. A broad, immovable chest stopped me in my tracks. The few people scattered through the lobby fell silent.