Carla’s Prince

Chapter 8

The silence from Carla’s side was killing Cristoff slower and slower every minute. After his phone call to Carla, he had asked about who had taken her home and his driver was more than a little insightful about Carla. He was the one employee he trusted enough to travel with and he had seen them all. All the women he had tried having a relationship with. All the women who had broken his heart because they only ever saw him as a stepping-stone in their social circle. Sometimes he was a little confused as to just how high in society such women wanted to get. After all, he was a prince and the ultimate prize as far as going up the social ladder was concerned.

Vince had always been the one employee who treated Cristoff more like a brother than a boss. He was always keen to point out where he went wrong and he had said it in black and white: he was making a mistake letting Carla go.

“She left me in bed,” Cristoff had told him.

“Well, normal people actually have these places they go to every morning called jobs,” Vince had replied after hearing the talk he’d had with Carla on the phone. “Did you ever consider that she was actually going to work?”

“She could have said something.” Cristoff was remaining adamant.

“Maybe she did not want to wake you up,” Vince went on. “She is the first woman who seems truly honest and I know that she is the one you have been waiting for all these years.”

Vince’s words had cut deep like sharp blade and since then, Cristoff had tried getting in touch with Carla but she was not answering his calls or replying to his texts. He had even sent a few emails but there was nothing coming from her side of the table and he had to accept that perhaps he had ruined things for them for good and that was something he could not accept. He needed to see her again, soon and the only way to do that was to either go to her office or make his way to her apartment…and so he did. It had been almost a week and a half since he saw her and when he got to the address he had been given, he could not help but feel a little anxious. There was no telling how this encounter was going to go even though he had come with a box of Swiss chocolates that he had ordered specially for her and a custom-made three-row 24-karat diamond bracelet. Carla did not look like the kind of woman to throw everything out the window for jewelry but he had been taught that if you loved a woman, adorning her with jewelry was always the way to go.

He took a long deep breath and gently knocked as he stood at her doorstep. His heart was racing as he waited for the door to be answered and when the door was answered, his heart skipped a beat when he saw Carla standing there in an oversize t-shirt. She had her hair held up in a loose messy bun but even in the clothes she had on, she still looked perfect.

                                                            *****

“What the hell are you doing here?” Carla asked as she blocked the doorway with her hand, not that she had enough strength to keep him from getting in if he wanted to.

“I had to see you.”

She shook her head.

“How did you even know where I live?”

“I am a man of means, Carla. You should know that by now,” he said, a sly smile on his lips. “So, are you going to invite me in or will you let me just stand here like a moron?”

“Well, you are a moron. So, all you have to do is play the part.”

He took a step forward.

“I brought you this to say how sorry I am,” he said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a long velvet case. She shrugged.

“What the hell is it?”

“Open it and see,” he said and she sighed loudly before she opened the case. A gasp escaped her throat when she saw the exquisite diamond bracelet inside. She looked up at him and shrugged again.

“I am not one of those women you can wrong and buy back into her good graces,” she said angrily.

“That’s not all I brought.” He brought his arm from behind his back to show her the box of Swiss chocolates he was holding. “I had them flown in especially for you.”

She looked at the box and then at the bracelet before she looked up at him again. She could feel her heart racing as she stood at the doorway.

“Where would I even wear this?” she asked.

“I go to a lot of black tie events and diamonds go with anything and everything,” he said.

She looked at him for a long second before she walked into the apartment. She put the bracelet on the kitchen counter and walked back to the living room with the chocolates.

“I guess this means I can come in?” Cristoff asked and she shrugged.

“You are a grown ass man. Do whatever the fu*k you want,” she said as she got back to her ice cream.

Cristoff walked into the apartment slowly and grabbed the bracelet from the kitchen before he got to where she was. He looked at her and sat down next to her.

“Carla,” he said in a soft voice but she did not pay any attention to him. Her eyes were still glued to the TV screen. She was not showing any signs of giving him any of her time. “Carla, please listen to me.”

He reached for the remote and muted the TV forcing Carla to look at him.

“I don’t know what you want from me. If it is business, you can talk to Hardley and as far as anything personal goes between you, and me, it is over. It was a mistake that should not even have happened.”

“Will you at least give me a chance to explain?” he asked and she shrugged.

“Why? It is not like you gave me the same chance even though there was absolutely nothing to explain.”

“I had a talk with Vince and he made me realize something,” he started as she put the tub of ice cream on the table in front of her. “I cannot lose you, Carla. I would be a fool to let you go.”

She looked up at him and bit her lip unsure of what she was supposed to say to that.

“I am not perfect, Carla,” he continued.

“I never said that you were,” she said in a whisper but loud enough for him to hear. She had thought of how perfect he seemed ever since she met him. After all, he seemed to have everything. The looks, the money, the life…everything. Yet, here he was in her living room, on her couch telling her how imperfect he was.

“This is new for me. Having feelings for a girl who is genuine. I am always meeting women and I fu*k them and I forget about them. It never really goes past that and I never even allow it to because more often than not, there is no future. But I see a future with you, Carla, and I want that future with you.”

There was a long minute of silence as she sat there looking at him wondering what the right thing to say was. She had a million thoughts running through her mind at that minute. She would have spoken her mind if she could but she was not so sure that it was such a good idea to do so. After all, she only wanted to tell him to kick rocks or something in that line.

“Say something, Carla,” he said in a soft voice and he shook his head.