Just Before My Wedding: Trapped By My Ruthless Boss novel Chapter 133

Chapter 133

KISAREL

My heart wouldn’t stop beating like a wrecked drum.

By the time the taxi stopped in front of Jace’s house, my palms were damp, my throat tight, and Elgin’s last words were still sitting heavily in my chest.

The driver glanced at me through the rearview mirror. “Ma’am, we’re here.”

I blinked, pulled out of the ugly place my thoughts had dragged me into. “Oh. Right. Sorry.”

I paid him, stepped out, and barely waited for the cab to pull away before walking toward the gate. One of Jace’s security men opened it for me almost immediately, and I felt the way he stole a few glances at my face as I passed.

I must have looked terrible.

The house was too quiet when I entered, and I was more than thankful for it. However, I hadn’t expected Jace to be home. It was just a little past four in the afternoon. He should still be at the office. So, I had all the time to myself to ponder over all that had happened over the last hour.

I had barely made it halfway into the living room when I heard a sound coming from the mini bar.

I froze, and when I turned to look, it was Jace, to my greatest surprise.

He shouldn’t be home. Jace did not come home in the afternoons.

He stood with a stack of cream–colored envelopes in one hand and his phone in the other. He looked up the moment ! entered, and the surprise on my face must have been obvious because he frowned. “Arel?”

I stopped. “You’re home.”

Relief flooded his whole face, then worry chased the relief immediately.

He set the envelopes down, already coming toward me.

“God. You’re back.” His hands came to my arms and my face, checking me over like I’d come back from a war. “I came home to pick up some files and I just – I couldn’t focus. Three days, baby. Three days and barely a word. Elgin kept saying you needed space, and I tried to respect that, I did, but-” He exhaled, his thumbs moving along my jaw. “Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?”

I let him hold my face because pulling away would have required an explanation I didn’t have.

“I’m fine,” I said.

“You disappeared.” His brow creased. “Was it the wedding? The date being moved? Because if we… if Fred pushed too hard, if this is all happening too fast, you can tell me. We can slow it down. I’ll talk to him.” His eyes searched mine. “Talk to me. What happened?”

“Nothing happened.” I made my voice as even as I could, pressing my palm against my forehead. “I just needed some space, Jace. That’s all. A few days to breathe. It wasn’t about you.”

He studied me a moment longer, and I held still under it, and just when I thought he’d let it go, his gaze followed my hand as it dropped from my forehead to my side.

Oh. My. God.

My ring.

For one horrifying second, I couldn’t breathe.

My stomach dropped so violently I had to grip the strap of my bag to stay still.

Jace’s eyes lifted slowly to mine. “Where’s your ring?”

Everything in me went cold.

I looked down at my own bare finger like it might have an answer for me, and my mind scrambled backward through three days.

Shit.

“Yes.”

“Nothing important.”

“If it upset you enough to come home looking like this, then it’s important.” He pushed.

“It’s between us.”

The way his eyes briefly darkened before his face softened again told me he didn’t like that response.

“Fine,” he said. “Then I’ll send someone to get it.”

“Jesus, Jace.” I pulled out of his hands gently, moving toward the couch so I’d have something to do with my body. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll go get it myself. This evening. It’s fine.”

I felt him watching the back of my head.

“It’s a ten–thousand–dollar ring, Arel.”

“I know what it costs.”

There was silence before the worry smoothly slid back over whatever had flickered underneath it: “Okay. Okay. Get it tonight.”

He came behind me before I could sit on the couch, his hand finding the small of my back. “You’re tired. Come upstairs. Shower, change, eat something. We can talk after.”

I wanted to refuse, but I didn’t have the strength to. So I let him guide me upstairs.

“So, while you were taking some time off,” He started when we entered the room, as he walked to the bedside table and started arranging some papers into a neat pile, like the room needed tidying before the conversation could happen. “I handled a lot of things on your behalf. Hope you’ll be proud.” He grinned.

My eyes lifted to him through the mirror as I took off my second earring. “Handled what?”

“The wedding preparations.”