Chapter 40 40
Roman's POV
Something was wrong with Harmony. I had known it the moment she walked into my apartment that morning—she looked as if she was holding herself together by force of will alone. And as the session went on, stretching into the afternoon, I kept catching her checking her phone during breaks with a terrified expression on her face.
We took our last water break around three. Harmony was standing in the kitchen doorway talking to Nurse Sarah about the Saturday match protocol, her back to me, and her phone was on the coffee table where she had last left it. I picked it up.
The notification bar showed several messages from this same Benji guy. I swiped down to read them without unlocking the screen.
BENJI: remember to bring the money to the warehouse on 4th Street. You know the one. Leave the money in the blue container near the back entrance. Don't try anything stupid like calling the cops or coming with a friend. And don't even think about telling anyone. I'll know.
"ROMAN!"
I looked up. Harmony was standing three feet away, her face white with fury, and her hand already reaching for the phone.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she demanded. "I told you to stay away from my personal property!"
"I was just—"
She snatched the phone out of my hand before I could finish the sentence. "You were just invading my privacy, that's what you were doing."
"Harmony!"
"No." She held the phone against her chest like I might try to take it back. "You don't get to do that!"
"Jesus Christ," I muttered. "I just wanted to—"
"Water break!" she announced, her voice clipped and loud. "Another five minutes."
Nurse Sarah appeared in the kitchen doorway with a dish towel in her hands and an expression of profound irritation. "Another water break? We've already had three today. This is a waste of time."
She turned on her heel and disappeared back into the kitchen in a huff, muttering something under her breath about students and their lack of discipline. The moment she was gone, Harmony rounded on me.
"What is wrong with you?" she hissed, keeping her voice low enough that Sarah wouldn't hear. "You can't just go through my phone, Foster. That's not okay!"
"I bought you that phone," I replied, which was probably not the smartest thing I could have said, but it was out before I could stop it.
Harmony's eyes went dark. "Oh, you bought it? Fine. Here." She held it out to me. "Take it back. If buying it means you think you have the right to read my private messages whenever you feel like it, then I don't want it."
I glanced at the phone in her outstretched hand, then up at her face, and I realized she meant it. She would give it back, right here, right now, and walk out of this apartment with nothing but her pride intact, because that was exactly the kind of person Harmony Sinclair was.
With an angry tsk, she started to turn away, but I grabbed her wrist.
"Wait!" I called out.
"Let go of me."
"Just wait." I held on, not hard, but just enough to keep her from leaving. "Who's Benji?"
Her expression shuttered immediately.
"Why does he need five hundred dollars?" I continued. "And what's this about a... a warehouse? Are you in trouble?"
It was as though my questions had cracked something open inside her. Her eyes went bright and wet, and she turned her head to the side so I wouldn't see it.
"It's none of your business," she replied quietly.
"I want to make it my business." I insisted. "Look, if you're in trouble..."
"It's not your problem, Roman. It's mine. I'll handle it."
I had been angry at her for a week and a half now, because of the way she had dismissed me after the sex we'd had. But standing there, watching her try to hold herself together, I realized I didn't care about any of that anymore. Whatever was happening with this Benji person, whatever trouble she was in, it was bigger than my bruised ego.
I desperately wanted to turn that frown on her face into a smile.
"Is the water break over?" I asked.
She looked up at me, confused. "What?"
"The water break. Is it over?"
"I... yes. Yes, it's over." She pulled her wrist free gently and stepped back. "We should finish the last set."
"Am I cleared for tomorrow?" I asked. "The match?"
Harmony wiped her face quickly with the back of her hand and nodded. "Yes, yes. You're cleared. Your knee is responding well. Just don't do anything stupid between now and game time."
I placed one hand over my heart in mock seriousness. "I solemnly swear that I will not destroy my knee before the match tomorrow. Scout's honor."
Harmony laughed at my joke. It was short and surprised, like it had escaped without her permission, but it warmed my heart.
I had never heard her laugh before. Not once in the short time that I had known her, through all the arguments and the tension and even the night we spent together. Her laugh was completely unguarded, and hearing it felt like being let into a private room in her head.
I found myself laughing with her, just a quiet chuckle. Then Nurse Sarah came back, and the moment was over.
Harmony left twenty minutes later. After she was gone, I stood on the balcony and watched the street below until the sun started to set.
Then I made a decision. I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my contacts until I found her number. I copied it, opened CashApp and pasted it into the search bar.
Her account came up immediately. Harmony Sinclair, linked to the phone number and email I already had. Her profile picture was blank, just the default gray silhouette, but the username was there.
Quickly, I opened a new browser tab and created a burner email address in under two minutes. Then I went back to CashApp, logged out of my account and created a new one using the fake email. Display name: John Smith. Generic and forgettable, completely untraceable.
I connected my debit card to the new account, loaded a thousand dollars onto it and sent the entire amount to Harmony's account in one transaction.
The confirmation screen appeared. Payment sent to Harmony Sinclair. $1,000.00.
I locked my phone and leaned against the balcony railing, looking out at the city lights coming on one by one in the distance.
If I offered her the money myself, would try to refuse the money. I knew that already. Harmony would rather die than collect it from me. She would probably even send me a furious message accusing me of interfering in her life.
And that was fine. I could handle her being angry at me. What I couldn't handle was the thought of her walking into a warehouse to meet someone who was clearly threatening her, because she was too stubborn to ask for help.
I stayed on the balcony until the air turned cold, then went inside and locked the door behind me.