Chapter 30 Calum
Calum
I sit in my home office, staring out the huge window into the Manhattan skyline. Behind me on my desk there is a stack of legal papers that I need to review. Things are beginning to slip through the cracks, what with me tied up at the ballet… and with Kaia getting under my skin at night.
But I don’t look at any of the time-sensitive papers. No, instead I stare out the window and think about last night.
Skin on skin.
Our breath mingling.
Our naked, sweating bodies writhing.
She set my fucking soul on fire.
But Kaia still got up this morning and went to the New York Ballet, saying she had a costume fitting to finish.
I didn’t want to let her leave my sight… but I can’t just keep her trapped here.
…could I?
I cock my head, trying to imagine how I might be able to get away with it. After all, almost anything is achievable with enough money…
“Calum!”
I spin in my chair, hearing my brother’s voice. Arching a brow, I call out to him.
“In here, Lucas!”
A few second later, he appears in the doorway, looking testy. “Did you see our stock prices this morning?”
I suck in a breath, leaning back in my chair. “No.”
He gives me an odd look. “Well, we have to figure out a backup deal since you punched Jack Schwartz in the face, Calum. There are starting to be whispers that we didn’t have a second choice lined up.”
I squint at him as he comes in, plunking himself down in a leather chair. I school my expression.
“Well, we didn’t,” I say at last.
Lucas tilts his head to the side. “Okay, what is going on with you? Normally that kind of news would have you screaming and pounding your fist on your desk.”
I steeple my fingers and stretch my neck. “I’m not sure what you want from me.”
His gaze scans my face and my body language. For a long moment, he’s silent. Then he leans forward, a smile playing about his lips.
“You got laid,” he says. He purses his lips. “I’m right, aren’t I? You got your dick wet and you forgot all about your real life.”
I shoot him a glare. “Fuck off.”
“Ah!” He claps his hands a few times, reclining in his seat. “It must have been good if you’re being secretive about it. Tell me, was it someone taboo? Maybe the daughter of a competitor?”
I stand up, giving him a look. “We should change the subject.”
Needing a cup of coffee, I head out of my office and down the hall toward the kitchen. Lucas is right on my heels and he’s not done guessing.
“Wait, I forgot. You haven’t been at work. You’ve spent all your free time training ballerinas.” He goes silent for a moment. “Oh, Calum. Please tell me it’s not one of the girls from your ballet.”
I walk into the kitchen and flick on my coffee grinder. It whirs to life, loud enough that it makes conversation impossible. As soon as it stops making noise, it starts brewing the grounds into a fresh pot of coffee.
When I turn around, Lucas is leaning against the kitchen island, a grin on his face. “Who is it? Did you finally woo Honor into fucking you?”
He raises his hand, rubbing his fingertips together to signal money. My neck heat and my hands clench into fists.
He’s not wrong about my method. I do like to snag girls with money. It’s just easier to pay them and know that our relationship is transactional. He just isn’t up to date about the whole Honor situation.
“Is there something that you want from me? Or can I get back to going about my business?”
He rolls his eyes. “You are no fun. I just came to say that I was at a board meeting this morning and your personal stock price is dropping like a fucking stone.”
I shoot him a glare. “If I make you acting CEO, will that embolden you to get the fuck out of my kitchen?”
The smile drops away from his expression. “Seriously?”
“If the company needs it? Yes. I’ve been on autopilot mode for weeks. Might as well make you the CEO…” I pin him in place with a glare. “I swear to god, Lucas. If you fuck this up, I’ll take it out of your hide.”
His hand flutters in the air between us. “No need for threatening me. IndicaTech is as much my baby as it is yours.”
I flap a dismissive hand at him. “Fine. I’ll step down while my attentions are divided between Indica and the NYB.”
He screws up his face. “Please tell me that you aren’t just going to dump the whole Jack Schwartz problem in my lap.”
I give him a thin smile. “No. I’ll keep working on that.”
“Good. I don’t know any other kind of blockchain technology that exists that is as powerful as Schwartz’s.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “If it were easy, I would have done it by now.”
He licks his lips, about to fire back his response. But luckily at that moment, a loud chime begins to sound.
I turn my head toward the panel on the wall, which is currently lit up. Walking over to it, it press the intercom button.
“Yes?”
A video screen turns on, Honor’s face smiling seductively to the camera. “It’s me, Cal. Let me up.”
Her shortening of my name — calling me Cal — sends an ugly shudder down my spine. The only person that has ever called me that is Anita.
“So it is Honor,” I hear my brother mutter behind me.
I glare back at him. “I told you, I’m not sleeping with her.”
I do need to talk to her, though. Pressing the intercom button again, I say, “Come up.”
I turn to find Lucas heading out.
“Wait,” I call to him. “I don’t want to be here alone with her. Honor has already filed three lawsuits against NYB for ageism and sexual harassment. It would be better if there was a witness here.”
Lucas turns to me, his eyebrows rising. “Uh… sure,” he says with a shrug. He squints. “It’s really not her, then.”
Shaking my head, I pour myself a cup of coffee. Lucas fixes himself one too.
Then we stand, sipping the steaming brew, and wait.
It doesn’t take long before the elevator chimes. I lean over and press a button, allowing the elevator doors to open. The sound of heels clicking on stone grows closer and closer.
I look at Lucas, nodding toward the living room. He follows me in, still sipping his coffee, his expression perfectly blank.
I swing open the front door. Honor gives me a sultry grin, her blonde hair falling in waves over the top of her black trench coat.
“Hey Cal,” she says playfully. She wrinkles her nose, stepping closer. Her lips are slicked with bright red gloss. “Are you going to invite me in?”
I squint. “Do I have a choice?”
She titters at that, reaching out a slender hand to push me back. Not interested in having any kind of contact with her, I step back before she touches me, turning and heading into the living room.
Honor follows, pulling up short when she sees Lucas. “Cal, you didn’t say that there was anyone else here.”
I clear my throat and sink into an armchair. “You can address me as Calum. And you didn’t ask if I was alone, Honor. Just like you didn’t ask if you could come to my private residence.”
Lucas sips his coffee stoically, giving her nothing when she looks to him for help. She glares at him.
“It would be better if we talked alone.”
I glance at my watch. “No. Do you want to go first? Or should we just speed things along here?”
She narrows her gaze on both of us. “I think we got started on the wrong foot, Cal—“
“Now it’s Mr. Fordham,” I say. I cross my arms and cock my head. “And you have two minutes to get to your point.”
“Well,” she says, smiling broadly. She glances at Lucas and then back to me. “I had hoped for this to be a matter between us. But since you don’t care, then I suppose I won’t either.” She pins me with a huge smile. “Marry me, Calum Fordham.”
I give her an incredulous look. “I’m sorry?”
She walks over to where I am sitting, touching my hand lightly. “You heard me. You’ve wanted me for years. Now here I am. Asking you to make me Mrs. Fordham.”
I gaze up at her, not quite understanding. “What on earth are you talking about?”
She looks over at Lucas, crinkling her nose as if I’d just made a joke. “Is he always so hard of hearing?”
I start to rise. “Listen up. I talked to Kaia. She told me about what you said to her. And I just want to make something crystal clear.” I pause, leaning forward.
“There is never going to be anything between us, Honor. Not to mention the fact that I already know that you’re fucking pregnant with Mikhail’s child. ”
Honor smirks a little, rubbing her hand over her stomach.
“It doesn’t have to be his. It will be yours, if you marry me and put your name on the birth certificate.
” She wrinkles her nose. “Just like that, an instant family. Plus you’ll get me, any and every way you want me.
” Her lips quirk. “Don’t pretend like you didn’t masturbate to me a couple of hundred times over the years.
Don’t act like I’m not offering you something you’ve coveted forever. ”
My eyes tighten on her face. Several seconds tick by and a smile plays over my lips. “I’ll pass. We should talk about what will happen to you and your unborn child if you ever threaten Kaia again, though. I promise you, it won’t be pretty.”
I glance at Lucas and he scowls at me.
“What?” I snap.
“Who the fuck is Kaia?!” he whispers.
I flap a dismissive hand at him. “Doesn’t matter.”
Honor crosses her arms, sneering. “What, you don’t want your brother to know about your dirty little secret?
Cal is fucking one of the little girls he hired to replace me at the ballet.
Judging by the photos my private investigator got of you two canoodling all over the fucking city, you have a type. Young, blonde, and flexible.”
Her lips twitch. I blink, trying to rein in the immediate fury I feel.
Lucas climbs to his feet, scowling at Honor. “I think you should leave.”
She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, right. Here is the deal, since you had to make me play hardball. I want three hundred million dollars as a fee for keeping those pictures to myself. I want your stupid little bimbo fired from the company. And I want you to sign your name on my baby’s birth certificate, so I always know that he’ll be taken care of financially. ”
I scoff. “Just because you have some fucking pictures?”
She smirks at me. “I have a video from inside Club X, okay? You and your newest little blonde, in the champagne room, talking about your filthiest fantasies. And the second I turn them over to the press, they will tear her to pieces. Your reputation may be tarnished, but she’ll be ruined.
She won’t dance anywhere ever again, ballet or otherwise. ”
I glare at her, but inside I get a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
I know what the ballet means to Kaia. I know how hard it would be for her to lose her position in the company… and be hounded by the press.
Deciding to bluff a little, I stand up and cross my arms. “I don’t think that this alleged video will do the damage that you think it will. And I don’t really care for Kaia, so…”
She smirks at me. “Yes you do. I saw you two together at the bar. When you thought no one was looking, you acted just like a man in love. Whatever you may say, I know that you’re weak where it comes to women.”
I scowl at her. “You don’t know me.”
She tips her head to the side. “Yes I do, Cal. I’ve known you and men just like you for my entire life.
And in order to get what I want, all I have to do is endanger the princess in the castle.
You’ll get your knight’s armor on and ride out to save her.
You can’t help yourself.” Her lips quirk. “It’s pathetic.”
My fingers flex, aching with the need to wring her neck.
“Oh, I almost forgot.” Honor smiles at us both. “If I don’t get my way, I have already paid for a contract with the Ukrainian mob. Unless I’m made very, very rich and very happy, it goes into effect.”
She withdraws a piece of paper that has been stamped with a photo and vital information.
Kaia stares back at me, her doe eyes wide, her lips parted as if she’s about to speak.
I look up at Honor. “You’re…” I chuckle, not knowing how else to respond. “Fucking insane.”
She bites her lip, smiling, and shrugs. “There are worse things to be, darling.”
“You’re going to end up dead,” I tell her.
She starts backing away slowly. “I will give you the night to break the news to your little fuck doll. Tomorrow morning, I’ll be back with the papers for you to sign. You should…” She waves her hand. “Call somebody that can arrange a large transfer of funds.”
Glancing at Lucas, I don’t even know what to say. “You’re literally nuts, Honor.”
She winks at me. “Test me, Cal. Find out just how fucking crazy I am.”
Then she whirls and struts away, her heels clicking on the stone floors as she goes.
I stare after her for a long moment. Lucas clears his throat.
“Is she right?” he asks.
I look up at him, overwhelmed. “What?”
“Do you… have feelings for this girl? Because if you don’t, then Honor has basically nothing on you. You can just walk away.”
Shaking my head, I drop my eyes to the picture of Kaia again. “I don’t love her. I’m not even capable of that.”
He sighs. “No one is throwing around that word but you, Calum. I just asked if you care about whether she gets hurt or not.”
A tendril of emotion creeps out as I stare at her picture. “Maybe.”
“Well… then things are about to get difficult,” he says.
Bile burns the back of my throat. “I know.”
I drop the photo to the floor, turning toward my office. Lucas squints and follows me, not saying a word.