Chapter 56 It Gets Worse?

Chapter 56 It Gets Worse?
Sloane’s POV

I didn’t know how many seconds had passed since that call, but all I knew was that I’d remained in that position, unmoving, phone in hand while I stared at the wall like it was going to provide some answers.

It had to be a lie.

Arthur wouldn’t do this.

The Arthur I knew had been calling me and telling me to come back home. Arthur was stability, and there was no way in hell he would do that.

Priya had never liked him and had tagged him as a man who had issues with successful women.

At this point, it was ex-bestie’s word against boyfriend’s word. Boyfriend or ex-boyfriend? Honestly, I didn’t know.

I found myself scrolling though my contacts for his phone number. I dialed it and he picked up on the first ring as though he had been expecting a call from me.

“Darling,” his voice was so calm it was almost deceiving.

“Arthur.” I called out his name, hoping that he would come clean and tell me the truth about what he did, but the line remained silent.

“Arthur, why?”

“Why what?” It almost sounded like he did not know what I was speaking about.

“Priya already called me and told me everything. Why do you have to reduce yourself to this? You’re bigger than this.”

“Honey, I think it’s rich coming from someone who left her real relationship to be parading around Los Angeles with a playboy star who has got mummy issues.”

“Sorry?” I asked, lines of confusion etched across my forehead.

“It’s so shocking you don’t even know the man you’re dating. I’m not going to be the one to tell you about him. I just hope your eyes finally open and you come back home.”

“Arthur is this really you? I didn’t come back home just yet and you’ve resulted in blackmail? You’re a lawyer. You ought not to do shit like this.”

“You act like you’re a saint yourself.”

“What do you mean? I haven’t done anything.” I was genuinely confused.

Just then, my phone pinged with a notification and the sight that greeted me had me screaming and almost falling out of my chair.

It was….. It was the picture of….

God, I couldn’t even say it properly because I was genuinely sick to my stomach, but how…. How did he get the pictures.

“Arthur?”

“Babe, you’ve forgotten I’m a world class lawyer who you had the privilege of dating. The biggest mistake you made was choosing to date him while you were with me. Now, watch me make it all crumble.” He said, evilly.

Gone was the Arthur I knew and present was the devil. I wanted to ask the man I was speaking to what he had done to Arthur.

“By the way, I’m still giving you some time to get your senses and come back to me. Just so you know, I don’t have that much patience anymore so you know that your grace period is almost over.” He cut the call and I stared ahead like I had just seen a ghost.

I was quiet for minutes before my brain rebooted and I found myself getting up from my chair.

I was two seconds away from going crazy when my phone pinged with another notification. This time around, from a number different from Arthur’s.

Unknown Number: [+1 -822 -947 -500](tel:+1 -822 -947 -500). Sloane, this is Priya. This is the tabloid tip line. Just in case you want the story gone. Once again, I’m sorry for being a bad friend 😪

Oh fuck. I was speechless. I would have called Priya and told her that I fucking loved her, but given that we were not friends anymore, I didn’t.

Something told me that I didn’t have all the time in the world, and so, I made my way back to the locked away gym Malik was going in for hours and I could still hear the grunts. I was concerned for him. 

The fact that he hadn’t been cleared to return back to the field was one thing, but now this.

I knew he didn’t want to see or have any form of conversation with me, but I was going to do my best to end this.

Just as I stood outside, walking around the entrance of the gym and trying to navigate this whole situation by myself, my phone rang loudly and I was very certain he had heard.

Staring at the screen, I saw Brenda’s name. Odd because I hadn’t seen or spoken to Brenda in a while. Since the assault, it felt like everything had stilled.

“Brenda.”

“Sloane, I’ve been trying to contact Malik for the longest. Are you at home or with him?”

“I’m at home.” I said to her, unsure of whether to tell her that he was on the other side of the door, punching anything and everything. 

“Okay. Where is he?”

“He’s in his room upstairs. We had a meeting with the executives of the team today and he’s a bit tired so he’s resting.” I hated that I was lying.

“Is there anyway I could speak to him. This is very urgent and we need to fix it before it gets out of hand.”

Was this about the article?

“I know about the article already.”

The line went silent before I heard her voice. “What article are you talking about, Sloane?”

Wait, there was something else that needed Malik’s urgent attention? It just felt like the whole world was against the both of us at this point.

“The Truth: The Dark Past Of Basketball’s Golden Boy.” I stated and the way she was silent made me know that she was not aware there was something like that.

“I haven’t heard of that before, but whatever that is, it is not as serious as what we have going on.”

“What is it?” I was worried. The rate at which my heart was beating had tripled. At the end of the day, if I didn’t end up with a high blood pressure today, then there was nothing that I could not face in this life.

“After his last tests to confirm if he could return back to the court and be a player again, traces of some anabolic steroids were found in his blood and this could cause some major issues.”