The Queen || ✔

Chapter 4: True Queen

Hilary

I felt numb and weak staring at Charles. I didn't blame him, his wife was a lunatic. Born and raised to fight for and against life, but I was mortified at what had just happened.

I had men pulling me out by my fingers, making sure to hurt me, curse me and threaten to kill me and my baby. I loved Charles but his wife was too dangerous.

I wanted to go, so he pleaded with me while I insisted on me taking Mason and leaving. I stayed. He needed me by his side, but he also needed to understand that Claudia was a demon.

"Say something." I pleaded with Charles. We were seated in his office, in complete silence. He was in shock.

I looked at him, trying my hardest to keep my sanity, but the situation was making it very difficult.

"What can I say? You saw yourself, my kids hate me." He sounded so broken.

I realised that if not me, who would pull him back together? If not me, who would comfort him and encourage him to keep going on? Definitely not Claudia.

"They don't hate you. They just lack your presence. Baby... they want a father." I said, sitting up straight on my seat and pouting my lips in heartbreak.

"You think I don't know that? I just feel so guilty. They're right, I have always been an absent father in their lives." He took a big gulp of his whiskey and poured more. I stared in disbelief, but I now had to help him stay strong.

"Then forgive yourself. Huh? Start with yourself... then Claudia, then you can be a good father to them."

"It's too late." He grunted, "And it's all my fault. All of it."

"What are you talking about? I thought Claudia caused it." I asked nervously.

I found myself becoming uneasy, he was making me nervous. One minute everything was her fault, now it flipped completely. Something in his disheartened voice shook me inside out.

"I started it all... I changed her. I changed her and now she might kill me... you or... or Ma-Mason." He said nervously.

"What do you mean? Who did you change?" I was hysterical now.

"Claudia!" He screamed at me. I was still confused, but I let him speak. "She was once a sweet girl, I hated that. So I showed her things, taught her things and now..." I stared in disbelief.

I always thought Claudia was born like that. A ruthless fighting AK-47 machine with bullets strong enough to rip even the strongest man into shreds, but she was once sweet. Unbelievable.

"Why did you do it?" I asked in a whisper.

"I was annoyed. She was too sweet, we were young, she was younger. She was sixteen when we got married. I had a short-temper and I... I..."

"Stop." I didn't want to hear anymore of it. I just had to focus on calming him down and helping him to focus on the future, not the past. And his future was Mason.

"Stop talking about a mistake you regret. It happened, and there is nothing you can do to change it. What you can do now is way better than the mistake you made before, if you do this, it might clear your conscience and help you heal. Be a good father to Mason. He is your second chance at being a good dad." I said as I walked up to him and rubbed his shoulders.

"I know... and I promise to be the best father ever. I won't fail him."

"I know you won't."

This wasn't normal. Charles was a King, literally. Feared. Respected. Targeted. Wanted. He was supposed to be unbreakable and fearless, yet here he was, basking in his own sadness.