HIDDEN VOWS

Chapter 04

It's been a week since Emery was given a free ticket out of her problems, and with all the sleepless nights of indecisiveness to seek the man out, she knew it was now or never.

Pacing the length of her bedroom, she palmed her phone while the complementary card dangled in between her fingers.

"Maybe he is just a good Samaritan," Natalia told her friend from where she sat on the latter's bed.

"Nick won't be happy about this." Emery said as a matter of fact.

Their relationship may be a distance affair but they had enough rules to keep it going. And she would be breaking one of them by seeking out the help of another man. A man that was not a relative.

Natalia only rolled her eyes at the mention of her friend's boyfriend. Try as much as she wanted Emery to see that Nicholas McLean was not boyfriend material or the right guy for her, the girl would not listen.

Apparently, she and Nicholas balance each other out and they understand each other on an emotional level. Something she had not felt with any other guy.

But Natalia knew the truth-Emery was hoping she could fix the guy.

Natalia grabbed her purse from the bed and sprang to her feet. "We both know that I will do the best I can to help Chris but for once, you can also do something without the consent of Nick... I will be outside, I need to call Lucy." She walked out of the bedroom to give her friend some space.

Just to prove to herself that she was not being manipulated in any way by her boyfriend as her friend keeps telling her, Emery dialed the number on the card.

It was a fact that this Dekker man unnerved her with his mere presence. And though she couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly, there was definitely something peculiar about the man that made her heart flip in a way it shouldn't.

Something that also made her feel protected by him. But that had to be her hormones talking cause she barely knew the man.

More importantly, she had a boyfriend!

'Who is this?'

The voice on the other end of the phone snapped Emery out of her thoughts. Wow, is that how he answers his phone? From his impatient tone, Emery made herself known before he could hang up on her.

"Hi, this is Emery from a week ago." She cringed at her odd introduction. The line was quiet for a few seconds before she heard a throat being cleared.

'Ms. Independent. Hi.'

Emery rolled her eyes at his greeting. His voice sounded husky so she guessed he had just woken up from bed. And upon hearing the ruffling of sheets, her mind took an unintended dirty turn as she imagined the man's state of undress.

Jesus, girl stop thinking about him like that!

'So did you call to hear my voice or you have something to tell me, angel?'

The man was jesting and she knew it, yet she could not fight off the warmth creeping up her neck.

"I need your help, Mr. Dekker." She released an audible sigh that didn't go unnoticed by the man on the other end.

'Do you know Menzgold?'

The club was a famous one in Manhattan and Clifford Hills hence Emery did not have to rake her mind before answering.

"Yeah," she mumbled.

'Good. Meet me there in half an hour and let's talk. Just give the bouncer your name.'

"Sure, thanks."

'Anytime.'

Emery exhaled all the breath she'd been holding after she hung up. Giving her current hot-pants and boat top a thumbs down, she went to her closet to find something decent to wear.