Hot Pursuit

Chapter 12

[Georgina's POV]

My phone never stopped ringing again.

Now, what?

It has already been two days since the constant calls started disrupting my routine. Ever since I had first received that call from that pompous jerk, I have been screening my call log just in case so that I could avoid dealing with him. I opted for minimal interactions for now because I was still too furious. I haven't wrapped my head around everything yet but every time I would remember how his deception led me to cram for articles to prevent going over my deadlines and making me submit crappy manuscripts to our head editor, I still feel infuriated. It was a complete disaster, a really epic disaster that would definitely leave a perfectly hefty dent in my payout for this month's quota.

Learning from the entire demise that had happened after associating myself with him, I strongly made a mental note to ignore that bastard for a while. I just wanted to have some peaceful time alone, at least to nurse my bruised ego after everything. There is definitely a valid reason why I feel too prejudiced in even answering a call from him. Despite the need to settle the issue concerning my stolen stuff that he had intently taken from me that night, I was still overwhelmed by my own depression to even care at this point.

But this time, when I saw the familiar caller ID blinking on my screen, I just felt that conscious urge to finally answer it. To hell with it, I thought. Maybe it was just about the time I should finally face the demon. Summoning up the courage, I answered it in one swipe. And as soon as I put the receiver near my ear, his voice emerged from the other end.

He sounded whimsical and satisfied as he said, "I've been trying to reach you for days now. How's it going, darling?"

That "darling" part really got to me and I hissed.

"What do you want?" I sneered back, disgusted by those words that fell out of his mouth, probably because he was so used to charming women that way. But that line will never work on me. Too bad for him, I was not going to make this easy for the two of us today.

"About Saturday night," he started, and I was immediately reminded of what he had told me on that night we talked in his condo. "I take it you've already received the delivery yesterday, haven't you?"

That was right. The unopened rectangular box, as promised, had been carefully hand-delivered to me yesterday afternoon shortly after I got home from the coffee meet-up with Miranda. Honestly, I did not really expect him to actually demonstrate what he said when he had told me he was going to send me a delivery. And when it came, I was still suspicious. I never even opened it yet. I doubted the intention behind all of this. So far, despite my growing anxiety, nothing has yet exploded in my apartment so the delivery must be something else that I would have to use in order to make sense. But then again, just thinking about what it could possibly do for me and its purpose made me feel extremely reluctant and anxious about it.

"Silence means yes, huh?" Kieran's voice cut in when I said nothing back.

I took a deep breath and answered, "What's this about now?"

"Since we agreed to work together for mutual benefits last time, I thought of giving you some kind of consolation. Let's just say it's something for us to seal the deal," Kieran explained in a seductive note, making me roll my eyes. "What do you think of it?"

"Consolation?" I mocked him back, huffing out a breath, "You mean a bribe? I don't think so, Mr. Locke. And what for? In exchange for what?"

Kieran chuckled through the receiver and I could imagine him grinning as he said, "For free pass. Wasn't that what you had bargained for when we talked back here in my place?"

I grunted and bit my lip, getting an instant recap of our conversation that night. I sighed heavily and instead, directly demanded, "What about my stuff? My camera, my drafts? You do realize I could sue you for stealing them from me, right?"

I had no proper defense in regards to that but I knew I had to make a stand against him so that he would realize that I was not a weak opponent. However, instead of feeling quite confronted about it, Kieran just laughed at my words. That infuriated me more but I had nothing else to say.

"Well, darling, no one's stopping you," he told me in an arrogant tone, "But I'm not the type to back down. I can request a restraining order against you too. Don't you know that? Considering that even with your camera alone, hundreds of evidence can already be used to prove you've been stalking me for several days... I don't think anyone who knows and likes me would even favor your side if this comes out. If you want this to get ugly, darling, I don't mind... But we can still try not to push things far to that extent. What do you say?"

Was he threatening me? He was totally threatening me. I almost threw my phone away but stopped before I could lose my sanity. This one conceited bastard! How could he trap me like this? And what's with this sudden turn of events? For some reason, he seemed to be forcing me the idea of agreeing to his request... But why? What would he even gain from all of this? Why would I have to deal with this crap?

I was so lost yet too pressured by the situation. And despite my best efforts to stay level-headed and rational, I failed to find an escape from this mess.

"So do we have a deal here, darling?" Kieran's question popped in, blurring my thoughts as he carried on, "It's not like you're not going to benefit from it all. I guarantee you, it will be worth it. I can already imagine you in all that red. So there's no reason for you to hate the idea as well, Miss Georgina. After all, I would never want to embarrass myself showing up with you by my side on Saturday."

Frowning over his words, it did not get to me until he briefly said goodbye, ending the call without even confirming if I had agreed or not. After all, it also did not seem to appear that I have any other choice. I had to go with him, whether it favored me or not. So when I put the phone down and finally took the effort of checking the unopened box to see what was inside, I decided to ignore the warning signs in the back of my head. I opened it at once.

I gasped.

As soon as I had removed the wrap and opened the cover, all I can see were sparks. I could not stop myself from gaping at the entire monstrosity of what was hidden inside. The silk was the first giveaway, but when my eyes skimmed over the daring luscious color of blood red and its expensive quality, I began imagining what it would look like if I was to wear it.

It was a red flowing silk gown... And Kieran was absolutely never bluffing when he said he wanted me to show up with him at that party. This seemed more on another level... Because it just means that he was not only planning to bring me there with him, he was actually going to flaunt me out to the public... probably as someone that would make an entire scene.

Closing the box again, I now realized the weight of the consequences of my own actions. And it only made me feel that this entire bizarre scenario was going to be much even worse than I had expected.