9. Katie
KATIE
My whole body is jumpy as I walk outside, leaving the house behind for what will be the last time. Robert said he’ll send someone to get my things from my room, and after that, there will be no reason for me to come back here.
Robert is still inside, going over things with his mother, his daughters, and the lawyer. He told me he wouldn’t be long and I should go wait for him.
Despite everything going just as we’d planned, I was still trembling. Now with the sun on my face and a nice breeze, I’m starting to calm down. Still, I feel like I just climbed a mountain and then skied down the other side.
That was definitely the tensest moment of my life. But now I’m a free woman. Free to spend the rest of my life with the man I love.
My phone buzzes. It’s Deena. I cannot wait to tell her about this.
“You have no idea what just happened,” I blurt out as I answer.
“You killed Kyle?” she jokes.
“No,” I laugh. “Better. Wait until you hear this.”
I go through it with her, piece by piece, step by step, all the way up to Robert’s family’s jaws hitting the floor when they heard the recording. I can just picture her face, a mixture of shock and awe, combined with joy for her best friend.
“Girl, you are amazing!” she laughs.
I laugh back. “God, I wish you were here.”
“We need to get together soon,” she says.
“Seriously. It feels like a year since I saw you last.”
It may have only been a few days, but Deena and I usually don’t go more than two without hanging out.
“I…also have something exciting to tell you about,” she says. Her voice is softer than usual, and because we’re so close, I know exactly what she’s insinuating.
“You met someone,” I say.
There’s a pause. “Maybe…”
My heart actually starts racing. “Like…someone who might be serious?”
Another pause. I can hear her smile through the phone. “Maybe…”
The door behind me opens and shuts, and I whirl, expecting to find myself staring at my wonderful man. Instead, I see Kyle marching toward me like an angry bull.
“Deena, I have to go,” I say. “But I’ll call you back.”
I hang up just as Kyle reaches me. He raises his right arm up over his head, and for a second, I think he’s about to hit me.
Instead, he points a furious finger straight at me. “What the fuck was that!? You recorded me?”
I shrug. No sympathy whatsoever. “Did you seriously think you could bribe me to marry you, Kyle?”
“But you said you would!”
His voice falters. He sounds like a little boy who didn’t get what he wanted for Christmas.
“Kyle, you cheated on me, your fiancée,” I reply. “With your dad’s girlfriend. And you want to talk to me about honesty?”
To my surprise, a look of despair comes over his face. Almost like he’s going to break down and cry or something.
“Bitch…” he mutters under his breath.
I shouldn’t care what he says. This man means nothing to me now—not like he ever did. But for some reason, maybe it’s because of everything he put me through exposing him, just hearing this word from his mouth causes something inside me to snap.
“What’d you just say?” I ask, stepping forward. Kyle looks shocked at the tone of my voice. “Did you just call me a bitch?”
He takes a step back. “You’re fucking my father!”
“What the hell do you care? We were never anything more than an arranged marriage anyway!” My blood is boiling. “And you know what? Robert makes me happy! Happier than you ever could, that’s for sure.”
Kyle raises his hands up like he’s trying to calm an angry animal or something.
“Listen, Katie, we can still fix this. Let’s just go back inside and tell Johnathan that it was all made up.” My jaw drops. “Tell everyone it was a big joke, get married, and I can get my inheritance. I’ll still pay you—”
“Shut up,” I snap.
“Katie, come on.”
“That’s never going to happen, Kyle,” I say firmly. “I’m with Robert now. He and I will get married—”
“And then he’ll get bored with you,” he replies, lashing out. “Like he did with every other woman he ever dated.”
“That’s not going to happen.” Robert’s voice booms out like thunder. Kyle whirls to see him towering behind him like a marble statue. “I never got bored with women, son. I got bored with the ones who only wanted me for my money. Katie’s not like that.”
“That’s what you think,” he mutters.
Robert walks past his son and over to me. He takes me in his arms and pulls me tight.
Home. That’s what this feels like. My new home.
Not a mansion. Not the penthouse. Right here in Robert’s arms.
“That’s what I know,” he says. “Katie is the one, and I have to thank you, son, for behaving like you did. I never would have let myself get close enough if you hadn’t.”
And with that, Robert and I turn and walk to the car.
I’m all bubbly inside. It’s like we’ve just left a part of our lives behind and are now about to move on to something new.
And as I look up at Robert, my cheeks tingling and my body getting all warm, I’ve never felt so excited.