Love, Honor, and Betray, Roby, Lawson [i have read the book a hundred times .txt] 📗

I fell in love with you that I knew I couldn’t be withher anymore. I knew it was finally over between us.”

“Unbelievable. Do you think you can stop her from calling Curtis?”

“I doubt it. She’s a woman scorned, and I don’t think there’s much anyone can say to her at this point.”

Charlotte wanted to laugh out loud just to keep from crying. This just couldn’t be. Not now, when she was still trying tofigure out how to end this Tom foolishness and make things right with her son.

“This isn’t good,” she said.

“I know, and I’m really sorry to have to tell you all this.”

“I’m sorry, too. Very sorry that I slept with you. I never should have done that and now my marriage could be ruined becauseof it.”

Michael didn’t say anything.

“Why are you so quiet?”

“You don’t wanna know.”

“I do. So tell me.”

“Look. For your sake, I don’t wanna see your marriage broken up. But I’d be lying if I said it would make me sad. Not whenthat would mean I’d finally have a real chance at being with you.”

“I can’t believe you’re saying that.”

“I’m just being honest.”

“I have to go,” she said.

“Baby, please don’t be angry with me.”

“Good-bye, Michael.”

Charlotte tossed her phone onto the desk. How dare he wish that something bad would happen between her and Curtis? Yes, sheknew he’d said he was in love with her, but he also knew she was in love with her husband. Michael knew because she’d toldhim so. He knew this was the reason she’d made it clear that she couldn’t see him again.

But what was she going to do now? What if Sybil was on the phone with Curtis at this very moment, disclosing everything? Whatif Curtis then called her to confront her about it?

Charlotte paced back and forth, wishing she had a drink to calm her nerves. But she knew alcohol wasn’t the answer, becausealcohol had been part of the reason she’d been so quick to sleep with that Tom.

Charlotte’s phone rang, and all she could think was, Speak of the devil.

“What do you want?” she screamed.

“You, of course,” Tom said, snickering. “And how’s that kid of yours?”

“He’s horrible, thanks to you. And why on earth did you involve him in this?”

“All in good time. You’ll know soon enough. But in the meantime, I want to see you again.”

“No. I’m not doing that anymore.”

“You’ll do what I tell you, or I’ll send that little porn picture of yours to more than just Reverend Black.”

Charlotte felt faint and quickly sat down in her chair.

“For example,” he went on, “I wonder what your parents would think about it? Wonder how they’d feel about all the whoringaround their little girl is doing.”

Charlotte couldn’t speak.

“What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?”

Charlotte still said nothing.

“Ignore me if you want. But you will do what I say or face consequences.”

Charlotte just sat there.

“Oh,” he said. “And I’ll call you with the location and time in a few days. You take care now.”

Charlotte set her BlackBerry down and wept. Lately she cried all the time, but she knew she had reason. Plenty of reason andfar too much of it.

She wondered if maybe she should simply go ahead and tell Curtis the truth, so this part of her nightmare would be over with.But she knew he would never forgive her for this, just like he would never forgive her for Michael—once he learned about heraffair with him.

He would probably never speak to her again, and neither would Matthew. They would shut her completely out of their lives,and she wouldn’t be able to bear that. There wouldn’t even be a reason to live.

Chapter 39

Curtis read through one of the résumés the headhunter had e-mailed him an hour ago. It was a pretty quiet morning, but he knewthat was because not every staff member at Deliverance Outreach worked on Mondays. Many of them had various duties on Sundaysjust like he did, so it was only right that they only had to work four days during the week.

Curtis set aside the résumés of two potential candi­dates and skimmed through another. Some lived right there locally andothers lived in the Chicago area, but they all seemed very well equipped to handle a CFO position. He was also looking forwardto speaking with a guy Anise was highly recommending, since he currently worked as a VP of Finance for a large nonprofit orga­nization.The other plus was that he was a man. Curtis wasn’t a male chauvinist and had no problem hiring any woman as long as she wasthe most qualified and a good fit for the position, but after that whole Raven fiasco, hiring a man would be a welcome change.

Even though four days had passed since Barry and Joel had escorted her out of there, Curtis was still pretty dismayed by heractions. She’d done a great job for the church and had seemed very well put together as a person, but then she’d switchedher persona. She’d turned into someone he didn’t know, and he was glad he’d never gotten involved with her. Even the thoughtof what she might have done had he given in to temptation and had actually slept with her was disturbing, because there wasno telling what the outcome would have been.

Then there was Sharon, who hadn’t been able to take her eyes off of him during service yesterday. He knew this not becausehe’d been staring at her nonstop but because every time he occasionally looked her way, her eyes were fixed on him. He wouldn’tdeny that she made him feel a bit uneasy because of the chemistry they definitely had between them, but he was serious aboutnot calling or seeing her again. He’d made up his mind about that and was very proud of his decision.

Curtis’s phone rang. “Hello?”

There was no response.

“Hello?” he said but then saw the call ending.

He wondered if someone’s mobile device had dropped the call or if someone had simply dialed the wrong number. He looked upwhen Lana knocked on his door, which was already open.

“I’ve