Promise

Chapter 5: A Phone Call

Christian

"Why do you need this now?"

"Because I do," Bella clipped over the phone. "Why do you need to question everything?"

"You're asking for my credit card number. I think I'm allowed to be inquisitive," I growled.

"I don't need your money. Just tell me the damn numbers."

After I armed my sister with the details, giving her full power to ruin me, I collapsed on my couch, tossing my wallet on the coffee table.

"If I see purchases at Louis Vuitton in the thousands, tell your husband I will steal his daughter," I drawled, yanking my tie off.

"Don't be silly, Christian. If I was at Louis Vuitton with your card, I'd spend millions happily. We both know you wouldn't even notice it was missing. Okay, talk soon. Love you, bye!"

"Bye." I hung up the phone, glancing at the time as I threw it on my couch.

9 PM–an early day of work for me. Now, I had no idea what to do with myself. Couldn't call my friends to have dinner with me because we just did that two nights ago and they were married men. Bella apparently was committing espionage with my credit card. And I was pretty sure Ariadne was working tonight.

So, after a day of contracts, calls, and an inordinate number of memos, I was alone.

It didn't help that I had these incriminating photos looming over my head. I had no idea what Jacob Hawthorne wanted from me. I felt it wasn't money, but he wasn't going to back down. I was serious when I had said I didn't want Damon or Francis involved. I wouldn't be able to handle it if something had happened to them, and this was my own mess. I needed to clean it up.

I hadn't told Trevor, but the photos were of Hawthorne himself. Bare-knuckle boxing wasn't just my outlet of choice, it was a popular one. At the time, I didn't know I was beating up the guy who would become my biggest competitor. Photos were strictly not allowed in these venues and the pictures he'd gotten were clearly illicit. They didn't show his face well, but they showed mine.

Shirtless with scars all over my chest and faded wounds from previous fights. Sweat-slicked hair, blood in my teeth, looking down at Hawthorne shriveling away from me. It wasn't a good look. I didn't need Bella to tell me that if these got out, I was in major trouble.

But until the man himself came to me with his demands, my hands were tied.

The wallet sitting on my coffee table caught my eye. Before I could think better of it, my hands reached for the one thing I always had in there. I knew it was safe in there, close to me, but never actually took it out to look at it because every time I even thought about her, my throat constricted. The memories flooded in immediately.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Guilt wracked through me and before I knew what I was doing, I was dialing a number I didn't even know I had memorized.

"Hello?" Robyn's voice came through the phone.

She sounded the same as when we were kids. So sweet, so pure, so innocent.

"Christian? Are you okay?"

"Hi."

"Are you alright?" There was genuine alarm in her voice. She thought something was wrong. Of course, she did. I never called her. We used to talk all the time and now, me calling her was such a monumental occasion that she probably thought someone died.