Ruthless King

She picked up a piece of the vase. “Sorry, Ace. Guess I’m just a failure all the way around.”

“Jilly!” Regent snapped. “Put that down before you cut yourself. And you are not a failure.”

“What’s going on? Oh God, Ace, what did you do? Did you break that?” Thea called out.

Several voices joined hers. Great, her first family Sunday lunch and she’d completely humiliated herself.

“I can fix it,” she whimpered.

“Ace! You’re not supposed to ride your hoverboard inside,” Carrick said firmly.

“It wasn’t me! It was Jilly! And she broke the vase.”

Jilly burst into tears. Huge, sobbing tears. She attempted to calm herself, knowing she was going to be embarrassed later.

Not to mention that she’d promised Ace.

But she couldn’t seem to stop herself.

Everyone fell silent.

Regent suddenly picked her up. She didn’t fight him, just continued to hold the vase piece as he carried her away.

“Just some superglue,” she whispered. “That’s all it needs.”

“Jilly, hush up.”

She closed her mouth. Yeah, she guessed she’d done enough. Not only had she smashed the vase. But she’d embarrassed him in front of his family.

Regent would never let his emotions bleed out all over the place like she was doing.

God. What was wrong with her?

Would he finally realize that she was utterly unsuited for this life?

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

A door shut, and she glanced around through blurry eyes to see that they were in his office. Moving to the sofa in front of the open fireplace, he sat with her on his lap.

She tried to move away, but he held her still. “No.”

“My bottom hurts.”

“I’ll check it soon,” he stated. Although he turned her so she was kneeling over him, her legs straddling his thighs. “Tell me what’s going on.”

She swiped at her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Regent.”

“Why?”

“For . . . for breaking the vase. And for embarrassing you.”

Silence followed and she kept sniffling, wiping at her eyes and nose. God, she was such a mess.

“I really tried to . . . to be more like what you want. To not be so much like m-me. But I failed. And while your family was here. What must they think of me?”

“Jilly—”

“I have to tell you something,” she said, not caring that she was interrupting him. She had to get this out.