At No Time || Bruno Mars

85

"Christine? Who's Christine?"

Peter would have never assumed that the woman he had to clarify for Trystan would stab him in the back. Even though it did not seem as if Christine was very fond of her, he thought he would only have good things to tell about Christine in return; that though they used to sleep around, she was a good friend and good worker. He would have never thought he would have to sit in Trystan's face and expose the fact that she had betrayed them both.

"Why would she have it out for us? I don't even know her!" Trystan's question would be less difficult to resolve if Peter had an answer for it. He did not want to pit it with jealousy; he felt Christine was beyond that, but it was what Trystan whole-heartedly claimed.

"You think she did all of this because we're together? You told me that what you guys had wasn't serious!"

"It wasn't!" Peter insisted, hoping his rising voice did not push her away. He knew she was just frightened—it was not everyday that someone who she had never even met before was behind something so treacherous. "I don't know what her reason was, but I'll get to the bottom of it."

Stacie had finalized the call that Christine had connections with Matthew that went much farther than Kimioko's ever did, and Peter's name was brought up more than five times when they discussed him through e-mail. "Unfortunately, they're speaking through code words they only know. I'm not able to decipher them passed an educated guess. But since you know her, she might be willingly to spill everything."

Peter doubted that. If she truly were behind the photos of Trystan and Angelique and the set-up at the hospital, he figured she would probably lie about it all, just like she had been doing for weeks.

"I don't know about that, but I'm gonna talk to her."

They had ended the then-two a.m. call and both he and Trystan had been up ever since, making a plan of what to do. It seemed as if every time they got a bit closer, the newfound information was more confusing.

"Can we press charges?" Trystan asked as she sat next to Peter on the bed, hoping the question was not too much for the internal battle he was already dealing with. She could not imagine having a close comrade she had faith in backstabbing her.

"We can if she's really behind it," Peter noted quietly. Part of him did not even want to, having known and and trusted her for so long, but he had put their daughter in harm's way, and that was something that was unforgivable.

"What, you think someone else might be?" Trystan inquired, rummaging through her mind for any possible suspects. She did not make any enemies when working with Sovereignty, and she could not recall acquiring any from before.

"There's always a chance of that. I'm not saying she wasn't involved, but I don't wanna write her off as the only one in this. Matthew was involved, too. Maybe the entire Bennett-Price company was behind this."

"But why?" Trystan could not stop questioning. "What have we done to anyone that would make them want to do this to us?"

Peter knew the question was rhetorical, but he shrugged anyway. He was not so oblivious not to realize there were people who probably did not like him in the business—success often sparked jealousy and envy, but he kept his personal life too low-profile for that to be the first thing someone would go for.

Though it would still be a couple of more hours before she would receive it, Peter texted Christine, requesting she meet him in his office later in the morning."

"I'm gonna put off the meeting with us and Ron." Peter put the device down and turned to Trystan. "I have to handle Christine first. I need to know exactly what we're stepping into."