“It’s our job to try to save you some money if you don’t need to spend it.” He begins to pick the pieces of the broken screen off one by one.
“And I appreciate that, but this is an emergency situation. I have a number stored in my phone that I need to get—if you can just transfer the data to a new phone, I’ll be the happiest customer you deal with today.” I nod quickly.
“Okay, fine.” He looks a little defeated and then looks past me. “Maria, can you help Mr. Ward with a new phone?”
“Of course!” She is all smiles as she approaches. “We have several new devices that have come in recently. Would you like to see them?”
“No.” I take what is left of my phone from the repair technician’s hands. “I just want one like this.”
“Absolutely! That one… Well, it’s an older model. We’ve got a couple of upgrade options.” She turns toward a display.
I don’t want to deal with her spiel, but it doesn’t seem like I have an option. I let her irritate the fuck out of me for several minutes before I choose the newest phone, and she ringing me up. New phone. New contract. Insurance. There are way too many fucking things to deal with when all I want to do is buy a damn phone.
“Give me the full package.” I put a frustrated smile on my face. “Upsell it all to me—I don’t care.”
The only thing I care about is Kiana. I have to find out where she is. I have to talk to her. She’s the most important thing in my life right now, and I can’t lose her. I’ll fight Kiana’s father again if I have to—I’ll endure her mother’s wrath—just as long as I get to hold that sweet angel in my arms again.
I never thought I’d be this obsessive. This fucking possessive. But Kiana has turned me into a man I don’t recognize anymore, and I like it.
Hell, maybe I love it.
Maybe it’s what has been missing.
“Okay, sir, if you take this phone back over to Bob, he should be able to import everything from your old phone.” Maria hands me the bag.
“Thanks.” I nod as I take it.
I walk back to Bob, who still seems to be rather offended that I didn’t let him try to repair the old phone, but he gets to work on the transfer immediately. In my head, I’m replaying every worst-case scenario. I don’t want to hear Kiana say goodbye, that this was all a mistake—that her father finding out was a wakeup call.
Even worse, I don’t want to endure the brunt of her anger and lose her because I come clean the first chance I had. I put her in an awkward, horrifying position when it could have been avoided completely.
There were so many issues she was still dealing with. She felt abandoned and neglected by her family. Hell, it might not have been physical abuse, but they certainly abused her emotionally for most of her life. I was supposed to be her anchor outside of that world, but I tied the anchor around her neck and tossed her in headfirst.
It wasn’t intentional, but will Kiana see it that way? In a perfect world, all of the good I did would be enough to forgive one mistake. If it wasn’t so bad…
“How long is this going to take?” I lean forward, and I can feel the frustration grow as Bob slowly moves the data to my new phone.
“I’m sorry, sir. It does take a while to transfer the data.” He grimaces.
I take a walk around the store because I can’t stand in one spot and stare at the bar moving across the screen. It’s infuriating, but it isn’t Bob’s fault. If I keep staring at him while he’s trying to work, I’ll just blow a gasket on him. That isn’t fair.
There are so many thoughts going through my head. Kiana isn’t the only one I have to make amends with. It will be impossible to make amends with Lawson, but I created an atmosphere of confusion at work. Joanna—the others who saw the exchange—everyone they told. Office gossip and rumors spread like wildfire whether they are true or not. Dan will be so fucking upset that Lawson is gone, considering how much money he brought in for us. He fixed Jack’s account and already had a premier Hollywood celebrity account headed our way. I doubt that deal will close now…
I fucked up so much by avoiding the truth. Cowardice? Not wanting to see how upset it would make Kiana. Easy excuses, but tiny slivers that can’t undo the horrifying outcome.
“Okay, Mr. Ward. Your phone is good to go.” Bob offers me the device and smiles.
“Thank you!” I grab the phone out of his hand and don’t even bother to get the bag or the box it came in.
I rush straight to my car and dial Kiana’s number.
Every ring feels like an eternity. Each one worse than the one before it.
Then I hear voicemail. Fucking voicemail. This is too important to leave on her voicemail.
I scan my phone and feel my heart sink into my stomach. He transferred my contacts and all of the data, but none of my missed calls, old voicemails, or previous text messages were able to be salvaged.
I have no way of knowing if Kiana tried to reach out to me.
“Just pick up the phone. That’s all I ask,” I mutter and start dialing again.
I’m greeted with her beautiful voice via recording as she invites me to leave a message—yet again. I dial her number a few more times and get the same result. She’s cut off communication. I can’t get her to listen to me, but maybe I can get her to read a text message. It’s the only option I have at
