Checkmate (Camren)

Consequences (25)

Christopher Collins' Point Of View

I shifted on the soft bed, feeling my body heavier than normal. The sunlight coming from the gap offered by the curtain was exactly over my face, making me huff impatiently. I tilted my body to the side, feeling my wife's body touch mine. I opened my eyes with certain difficulty, my eyelids seemed to weigh more than normal, almost preventing me from waking up. I saw my wife lying next to me, with a serene expression, as if she was having one of the best nights of sleep of her life. I brought my hands to my face as I grunted about the tiredness that I was feeling. Recently that was getting worse, I had the feeling that the more I slept, the more tired I became. Would it be possible?

I looked at the clock on the nightstand, and it indicated that it was past my time to get up. I sat up on the mattress as I grabbed my phone from the table. I frowned as soon as I saw eighteen missed calls. Some from Brandon, others from John. For a split-second I felt that a bomb would blow up inside my head, like a sort of foreboding. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, to then look at my beautiful wife who was sleeping beside me on our bed. I dialed Brandon's number, and after a few seconds, I heard his fearful voice on the other side of the line.

"Good Morning, Christopher."

"Good Morning, Commissioner. Something wrong?"

He was silent for a few moments that made my heart race. I put on the slippers that were on the floor on my side of the bed, and headed in slow steps to the balcony in my bedroom. The day was cloudy, the sky dark due to the thick layers of dark clouds. A storm was coming.

"You need to come to the police station. Something has happened."

"What happened?"

"Christopher..."

"Just tell me, Brandon!" I exclaimed nervously.

"Collins Enterprise was hacked again. And this time we have a more delicate situation. Please, I need you to come here."

I didn't give him a chance to keep talking. I lowered the phone slowly, feeling my fingers ache around the device, which was being squeezed with as much force as I possessed in that instant.

"Fucking shit..."

I could hear the low sound of the Commissioner's voice calling my name on the phone, until the call came to an end. My whole body was vibrating with anger, or rather, hatred. The thefts wouldn't stop until I was left in misery, I felt that. It was like having a cursed fortune that would never be completely mine. They'd never leave me alone. Assholes! It was hard to believe that Heitor would be so clever to that extent, he was just a mere pawn in a heavy game. Hacking a system as good as mine wasn't a task for a simple beginner, let alone an amateur. Whoever it was, the person wasn't willing to play, and I could no longer control that situation, things were getting out of hand. I'd play hard, I'd find out who really was behind this goddamn hell that has become my life.

"Shit!" I slammed my hand hard on the balcony's jamb. "You can do it, Collins. You can. I didn't do all that to fall down like this." I whispered to myself as I took a deep breath.

"Christopher? Is everything alright, honey?"

I heard my wife's serene voice coming from the bedroom. I turned away from the balcony and went inside, seeing Camila still in bed. She looked tranquil, rested.

"Get dressed, we're going to the police station."

"What happened?" She asked curiously.

"I was hacked again. And apparently, this time wasn't so simple."

Camila's expression changed, her calm countenance disappeared, giving way to a nervous woman.

"We were robbed again, Camila." The words came out of my mouth in a disbelieved way. "Again, someone had the audacity to do it again!" I yelled before throwing the phone as hard as I could against the mirror, shattering it into a million pieces.