DARK HEARTS - BILLIONAIRE MARRIAGE CONTRACT ROMANCE

TESTED

My very public fractured marriage with Alexander King erupted in scandal, with many assuming he's having an affair Selena Vasquez. Nowhere was it ever mentioned that we'd lost a child, and in all honesty, I prefer it that way. I don't want the sympathetic smiles or looks of pity.

I get enough of that from Alexander.

Besides, it took two months for me to crawl out of the slump of depression I was in. Spiraling deeper and deeper into despair before I finally snapped out of it. My son was gone and there was no getting him back.

I just wish I knew where Alexander and I went wrong.

Eventually, I had to come to terms with the fact that I would never know what went wrong between us.

Maybe he got cold feet.

Maybe he was afraid of marriage or commitment.

Or maybe I was just his favorite past time.

Whatever it was, he ghosted me after I lost our son. Which hurt me more than anything else he could've done.

I needed him.

He took care of me the week after I got out of the hospital, but there was so much healing that needed to be done that it wasn't enough. I still needed his help, but I was forced to endure it all alone.

The one good thing to come from my breakup with Alexander is I now know I am capable of loving someone again. But my mother was right. Women who marry for love are fools. So, when she introduced me to one of the world's most eligible bachelors, I allowed myself to let go a little. And I wasn't at all surprised he was white.

After having my dad walk all over her, she got it in her head that somehow white men were more faithful than black men, and less arrogant. Clearly, she never dated someone like Jackson before. If she had, he'd know that white men can be just as arrogant and unfaithful as black men. Albeit in different ways.

And Adam West was as arrogant and unfaithful as they come.

We went out to dinner twice before I threw in the towel. Especially when he kept insinuating I might like the watermelon martini or prefer the chicken over steak better because we black people love our chicken and watermelon. And especially after I repeatedly told him I'm not a fan of either. That passive aggressive bullshit earned him a very special kind of ghosting. One where I completely blocked him from ever being able to contact me again.

But like my relationship with Alexander, some good did come out of it. I was able to run into and reconnect with Sam Tisdale. He and I attended the same private school together growing up. Also, our fathers often did business with each other. So, quite naturally we picked up where our fathers left off. Only, we aren't kids anymore and Sam has grown up to be quite exquisite.

We got together over drinks where he brokered a meeting between me and some kid name Bishop Riggs who went on and on about some new breakthrough software he's working on. He even went as far as to invite us back to his office for a demonstration.

After seeing what this software could do, I had to have him. So, we called up our teams right then and there, and a new business relationship was born.

I have Sam to thank for it.

Soon after, he and Bishop both began to send me flowers. The latter out of gratitude for sharing in his vision, but the former had other intentions. The only problem being, I'm still married to Alexander with two years left to go on our contract.

"Where are we going?" Elijah asks for the millionth time. His body language and attitude telling me he just wants to sit on his PlayStation five all day. "Do I have to go? Can't I just stay here and play my game?"