Page 46 of Cruel King

I stand up and smile, hoping he’ll lighten up, but he simply stares down at me with a look of pure disgust in his eyes. “I need to speak to you,” I sweetly say as I start moving toward the hallway so we can have some privacy for our conversation.

But he shuts me down. “No, you don’t. Get out.”

“Matthias, what the hell is wrong with you?” Marius asks, clearly disapproving of his brother’s behavior. “Ava has been taking care of Dad, so telling her to leave is shitty, to say the least. On top of it, she’s like one of the family after living here for years. Lighten up, dude.”

In a flash, Matthias whips his head in his brother’s direction and snaps, “No, she’s not. Dad has a nurse. Whatever she’s been doing isn’t necessary, so she can go. Now.”

Lowering my head, I stand there embarrassed for a long moment as time seems to stop. Theo once again tries to defend me, but I stop him. There’s no point. Whatever I’ve done for their father and whatever the rest of his brothers feel about me, it’s clear the oldest King doesn’t want me around.

“I have to go. It was nice seeing you all again.”

All four brothers try to stop me, but I hurry out, humiliated by how awful Matthias treated me. I should go back upstairs to check on Mr. King, but instead I run out of the house down to the carriage house where my father is, desperate to see a friendly face.

As soon as I open the front door to our house, my father looks up from his desk and smiles. “Hey, I didn’t expect you back this early.”

When I don’t answer because I’m on the verge of tears, he stands up and hurries over to me. “Ava, what happened? Is it Max?”

I shake my head, sorry for alarming him. “No, Dad. He’s still with us. I just had to get out of that house.”

“Why? Is he having a bad day?” my father asks as he gently guides me into the living room to sit down.

“No. Mr. King is having the same kind of day he’s had since they gave him the news. I had to leave because when Matthias arrived after all his brothers, he ordered me out of the house. I don’t understand, Dad. Forget about the fact that I’ve been with his father taking care of him for months since he first got sick. Why does Matthias King hate me so much? After we spent that time together during that snowstorm, I thought things had changed. I guess I was wrong.”

I close my eyes and will the tears to go away. I don’t want to cry today. It’s just that I was so excited about seeing him again after all this time. I know he’s married and there can’t be anything between us now, but I thought he’d at least be nice to me.

My father wraps his arm around me and gives me a squeeze that means the world at this moment. “Honey, take it easy on Matthias. He’s had a lot to deal with in his life.”

Turning to look at him, I roll my eyes. “Oh, I’m sure. He has more money than I or anyone I know will ever see, he’s gotten to live the high life in Europe, and he’s about to inherit more when a man he doesn’t even care about leaves him a ton. Poor Matthias. Boo-hoo.”

To my surprise, my father shakes his head. “He’s had to live with expectations that would have crushed other men. He was forced into his marriage, and from what I hear, it isn’t a happy one. Even worse, Matthias never wanted to work at King Industries. He didn’t have the temperament for it. He’s got an artist’s heart, and that doesn’t mix with a business mind.”

I look at my father, stunned. “I didn’t know you knew about his art.”

With a smile, he nods his head. “I know a lot of things you don’t know about. When his mother was alive, she encouraged him to follow his passion and kept his father from pushing him into the business. When she died, that protection ended. I knew it wouldn’t be long before Max decided he had to follow in his footsteps. Matthias not only lost his mother. He lost the person who championed his talent. Without her, it was only a matter of time before he would be forced to work at King Industries.”

My heart hurts for Matthias, even as I hate him for treating me so cruelly earlier. I can’t imagine being stuck in a life I never wanted.

“You sound like you admire him. Why did you always tell me to stay away from him then?”

My father pats my knee and sighs. “You two come from very different worlds. You don’t belong together.”

“But Mr. King always liked me. He treated me like I was good enough. All those gifts he gave me.”

“He adores you. Always has. You’re the daughter he never had. He would have loved you to be with Matthias. He’s told me many times that he and his wife thought the world of you and hoped you two would get together. But I didn’t want you saddled with all the anger and resentment he has over not being allowed to live the life he wanted. Any woman he ends up with will get nothing but misery. I didn’t want that for you.”

“I’ve seen him happy, Dad. He’s not always miserable.”

Shaking his head, my father frowns. “He never had a chance to find happiness. His father had his entire life planned out before he was even a year old. Matthias had the misfortune of being born first, so while his brothers get to do whatever they want, he always had to be exactly what Max expected. He had to attend the same university his father did. He had to major in business, even though he never had any interest in that. The pressure on him to be the next head of King Industries would have broken others, so in some ways I admire Matthias. I also feel sorry for him. I even tried to talk to Max about it, but once Elizabeth died, there was no chance Matthias would ever have a life he wanted. So I made sure Max knew you and his oldest son could never be.”

I tell him I understand, but the truth is I don’t. I don’t know why Matthias had to follow in his father’s footsteps instead of doing what made him happy.

“Why couldn’t Mr. King just have Kellen take over King Industries? He’s always wanted to be in the business. He’s about to graduate with an MBA, for God’s sake. Wouldn’t he be a better person to head the company than Matthias?”

With a smile, my father sighs. “That makes sense to us, but not to Max. He wanted his firstborn son to take over the family business. Kellen isn’t that, so it fell on Matthias.”

“Well, even if he is unhappy about his life, he didn’t have to take it out on me,” I say, sulking.

“Just remember, Ava. All that money the Kings have doesn’t buy happiness. It just buys stuff, but that’s not going to make anyone happy.”