Page 43 of A Forgotten Promise

The room descends into a beat of silence, filled with anger, panting, and if I was willing to look, a lot of judgment from those not involved in the fight.

Have I just fought because of a girl? A woman? Well, that’s a first. Especially since the woman in question would probably side with her brother and add another punch.

Roxy shoves my shoulder. “With his sister?”

“Don’t get involved, Roxy,” I warn.

“I wouldn’t if you took your schoolyard behavior outside of this office.” She bows her head and takes a deep breath, and then turns to Caleb. “While I understand your motivation, next time punch him somewhere that is not here.”

“Of course, it’s all my fault.” I snort. “Get out of my office. All of you.” I wipe the blood from the corner of my mouth, my bottom lip already swelling.

“She doesn’t deserve any of this. And certainly not you. Stay away from my sister.” Caleb rakes his fingers through his hair, pacing in front of my desk like a caged lion.

If I’m honest with myself—which I haven’t been much lately—I see his point. If I had a sister, I wouldn’t want her anywhere near me. Especially not me as of late.

I raise my arms in mock surrender. “As you wish. She will probably be devastated, seeing as she is really interested.”

He spins to probably launch at me again, but Xander blocks his attack. “Bullshit,” Cal barks.

I crack my neck and walk around to sit behind my desk. “Why don’t you ask her?” I regret saying it as soon as the words leave my mouth.

I promised her a week.

Here I was thinking I’ve sunken as deep as possible, but there is always room to improve. Or to fuck up more, in my case. If I give my word, I keep it. Apparently not anymore.

But it’s not like I really broke the promise. Why neither of us thought about her brothers seeing the photos from our date is beyond me.

I suspect all my partners have a news alert set up with my name. Especially since my image is what can make or break this firm.

I guess Saar’s week of freedom just shrank to minutes. But the cat is out, and at least we can move forward faster.

“Are you seriously considering dragging Caleb’s sister into your image-recovery scheme?” Declan shakes his head.

“She came to me.” I shrug.

“No fucking way.” Cal snarls, and Xander puts his hand on his shoulder.

“As I said, ask her. For all intents and purposes, we’ve been dating long-distance for a year. You’d better get the story from Betsy, so you are prepared to sing about me being madly in love.”

“No way Saar would agree to that. Why? What do you have on her? Have you blackmailed her?” Cal yells.

“Caleb, keep your voice down,” Roxy warns, but like all the others in the room, she is looking at me with expectation.

“I don’t need to blackmail people, especially not women.” I lean back in my chair.

“That’s not my experience,” Cal retorts.

Fair enough. I did motivate him to join this company in a not-very-ethical way when I announced his involvement before he signed up.

He got an additional ten percent of the company out of that stunt, so he should be pleased.

“I never blackmailed you. I helped you with your slow decision-making, and made you richer in the process.”

“There is no way she’s willing to do this. Not for you.” Caleb shakes his head.

“Obviously,” I deadpan.

“Why then?” Xander asks.

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