5. The promise.

JAMES.

The soft music that played in the background did nothing to lighten the weight in my chest, frowning at the other failed mission of the day, I tipped my glass back and drowned my drink in one go.

“I know you didn’t call me to watch you play ‘get drunk in five seconds, did you?’ Cayden cast an unimpressed look at my empty glass before dragging his eyes up to me.

“It may not be an act,” I said as I signaled to the bartender to refill my glass. She made to tip off Cayden’s glass but he placed a hand over it, with a nod, she went off to attend to other customers.

“You never drink to that extent,” he chided and I raised a shoulder. “what do you think your employees will think when they see you drunk?” he took a quick glance through the club -the place I worked so hard for years to stand out among other clubs in the state and outside. “It will be bad for your reputation. You can not risk getting drunk in public, James.”

I shot him a smile before bringing the glass to my lips and took a small sip, “that’s why I have you. Many years of service and you have not disappointed me so, why fail now?” Cayden’s brows shot to his forehead as he searched my face for any hint of amusement. Taking another sip of my whiskey, I shook my head as I turned my body halfway towards him. “Relax, I know the rule of the business and there isn’t anything worth making me drunk, ever.” I picked up my glass again and drained the remaining content. “I just need the burn.” Which like the music was going nothing to the tightness of my chest.

In a swift move, Cayden turned fully to me with a clenched jaw and tightened fist, “Owen Anderson?” he banged his hand on the counter drawing a few glances our way but neither of us responded to the look. “that bastard.”

“The Livingstons.” I bit out and chewed my teeth. I wished I hadn’t been quick to finish my drink because then I needed the burn for my chest. I popped open two buttons of my dress shirt almost baring my chest.

Cayden’s menacing look fell off. A confused expression replaced it for a second before an even deadlier look replaced it.

“Unidor Tech.” With the way Cayden clenched his jaw, all he needed was a ‘go’ from me to snap the nearest available neck and that was one of the reasons I kept him as my right-hand man.

With a sigh, I shook my head and mirrored his position, looking him straight in the eyes.

“His sister-in-law and her puppet husband. They’re holding me down with a blackmail.” I would have had another drink to wash down the dirty taste of those words from my tongue but I already reached my drinking limit for a night. Four.

“The Mayor?” Disbelief was evident in his voice and I narrowed my eyes down at him and he shrugged.

I stood from my seat “I came here to check on my employees' performance anyway.” I turned my eyes to the bartenders behind the counter to find the four of them engaged in mixing and serving drinks. With a raised brow at Cayden, I made my way to my office.

“This isn't something you can handle alone,” Cayden’s voice came behind me as I padded through the empty hallway that led to my office. “you have to talk to me.”

“They asked me to marry their daughter.” The door beeped as I flashed my key card before it, looking over my shoulder at Cayden, I threw the door open and walked into it.

“What do they have against you?” The sound of his teeth grinding against each other was the other sound in the room with my heels clicking against the tiled floor as I walked to my seat behind the desk.

“Fifteen years ago, Wednesday, the twenty-first day of May.” Apart from being my right-hand man, Cayden and I have been stuck together since childhood. The look of understanding that flashed through his face assured me that I didn’t need to go into details. “Marry their daughter or they would go back to that.” I slowly took my seat and Cayden dropped into his before me.

“Have you told Henry?”

I scoffed lightly, “does it look like I told Henry?” The last thing I needed was my little brother’s interference in what was happening. I needed to have a clear mind while handling the situation at hand. Speaking of which; I took out my phone from my coat pocket and went through the list of calls that came in throughout the day; a lot from my secretary for the meetings we attended during the day, two from Cayden which I took, one from the Mayor’s office which I ignored and another two from her husband which I also ignored. Yet there was no call from Amara.

I looked up at the clock on the wall; three hours to midnight and she was yet to call.

“How did she find out about that?” I shook my head and fired up my laptop and shut it down once it was up.

I didn’t really come to check on the club’s performance, I had seen it two weeks before the blackmail and it was doing fine, the employees too, what I needed was a space to clear my head and think. I may have found a temporary solution to the problem but that didn’t eliminate the issue. As long as they had something over my head, I was always going to be a tool and I would rather chop off my dick than become someone’s tool. Especially not to the Livingstons.

“You have to tell Henry.” I shot him a glance and he threw his hands up in defense, “I’m just saying. He is no longer a kid and the longer you stretch this out, the worse the outcome gets.”

“I can handle the outcome,” I said firmly and he shrugged. “Does she know? The daughter in question.”

“That their parents are blackmailing someone into marrying her? No, but, she did agree to get engaged to me.”  With raised brows, he sank into his seat. Seeing his confused look, I filled him in on what happened from the night of the charity event to the agreement I had with Amara.

“That is... that’s something,” he sputtered.

“Yeah, it is. I wanted to hold this off for as long as I could but, they were pressuring me. I was supposed to talk to her during the event but she just happened to fall straight into my laps and I decided to seize the

opportunity.” It was either that or the secret goes to light. And although I didn’t regret what I did, it was still bad for business.

I reached into my pocket and took out my phone and confirmed that she hadn’t called me as I suspected. Perhaps, I should have taken her number to save myself the stress.  With a clenched jaw, I clicked the phone off and placed it on the table.

“While I handle the engagement and the Livingstons, I want you to look into this and find out how they got their hands on that information. Even if it means going back there.” I got up from my seat, gave Cayden a quick nod and made for the door.

“You don’t mean that,” he said in a low tone and I slowly turned to him.

“Every word.” I bit out, my grip on my phone tightening.

“You said to never do that, James. We agreed to that.”

Pushing down the bitter lump in my throat, I looked up at him and straight into his eyes, “Never say never, dear friend.” Not waiting to hear anything else from him, I opened the door and shut it behind me once I was out of the room.

I had gone back on my word. A promise that was agreed on and sealed. A promise that would have not been broken had the Livingstons not decided to meddle. But, it was all for the best, I needed to destroy whatever evidence they had against me and I needed to do it fast.

My phone pinged once the door clicked shut behind me and the screen lit up with a message.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: Hey, Daddy.

A small smile snuck up to my lips as I recognized the text before I squashed it. That Amara didn’t want to marry me didn’t mean she could be trusted. She was a Livingston and apples do not fall far from their trees. Clicking on the message, I found the call button and brought the phone to my ear as I continued out of the club.

“I specifically told you to call.” I said once she answered with a dull ‘hello.’

“You know people in love usually start a conversation with things like ‘Hello love, how was your day?’”

I chuckled dryly, “Hello baby girl, how was your day?”

“Ugh,” she groaned, “you are no fun. So, I called like you asked.”

“I called you Amara.”

“Tomayto tomahto. The point is we are talking, and why did you want to talk?”

Another chuckle escaped my lips and I wiped the smile off and tucked my hands into my pants pocket. “Just wanted to have your number. Sleep tight baby girl.” Not waiting for a response, I ended the call immediately, pocketed the phone, and took the backdoor out of the club with a new feeling of satisfaction.

I knew I could handle Sarah and Nolan Livingston but Amara texting me tonight -which means we are on the same page as I wanted to confirm- I was certain I would eliminate Mrs. Mayor and her husband in no time.

Chuckling, I woke the engines of my Maserati and made my way home.