Page 90 of Worth Every Game
Nico strides into the room. He’s sharply dressed for work, whereas I’m completely dishevelled. I hardly slept. He hands me a fresh suit, shirt, and tie. “You’ll be too broad for it, but it’ll do for a day.”
“Assuming she lets him back in,” Kate says.
Nico chuckles, but I can hear the disapproval in it. “I’m going in early. You two take your time.” He drains the rest of his tea, then gives Kate a peck on the lips before letting himself out.
When he’s gone, Kate resumes her aggressive death stare.
“What?” I snap.
“You’re crap at this relationship stuff.”
I roll my eyes. I’m not going to let her lay into me about this, because I already know I’m shit at it. I don’t need reminding. “I’ve never done this before.”
Kate sighs. “Well, first—”
My phone rings. It’s the bank. I signal to Kate to be quiet and answer it.
“Mr Lansen?” comes the voice on the other end.
“Speaking.”
“There’s been some unusual activity on your account. There’s a large transaction pending, and I need your authorisation to clear it.”
Low-level panic sets in. I’m not buying anything right now.Jesus. Fraud is not something I have time for. The hassle is a royal pain in the arse.
“It’s your black card,” the voice says.
I jerk upright in my chair, causing Kate to frown, gesturing at me with her hands and mouthing, “What?”, as though it’s crucial to her existence that she knows what’s going on too.
The black card is the one I gave to Elly. The one I forced on her when she ripped up the cheque. The one I slid into her bra when she won the game.Is she using it now, or has she lost it? Has it been stolen? Wouldn’t she have mentioned that?
“What’s the transaction?” I ask.
The speaker clears his throat. “A car.”
“A car?” I blurt, and Kate looks at me in alarm. “What kind of car?”
“The card is being used at the Lamborghini showroom in South Kensington.”
I let the words beat around my skull for a moment, as if that might help me make sense of them. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Erm, no, sir. This is not a joke. Do I need to cancel the transaction?”
Kate is leaning right across the table, trying to hear what’s happening.
I stand and cover the handset, then hiss at Kate. “Call Elly. Now.” Kate doesn’t move, so I repeat, angrily this time, “Now. Get her to tell you where she is, right fucking now. I think she’s trying to use my credit card.” Kate frowns, then looks alarmed for about half a second before she grins.
I shoo her away, aggressively mouthing, ‘Now,’ at which she dashes for her phone as though I’ve stung her with a cattle prod.
She swipes on the phone and puts it to her ear. The buzz of a ring sounds a few times before the line goes dead. Kate cursesunder her breath and tries again. She has to do it twice more before Elly’s small and tinny voice says, ‘Hello?’
Kate makes eyes at me and then walks away to the window, and proceeds to talk to Elly where I can’t eavesdrop. I tug on my bottom lip as I wait, my mouth drying up.
“Sir? Are you still there?” says the voice at the end of my phone. I’d forgotten he was still on the line. “What do you want me to do about this transaction?”
“Leave it pending. I need to check something. I’ll call you back.”
“So I’m not authorising this purchase, sir?”