I do not own any of the characters from The Phantom of the Opera, although I do rather enjoy borrowing them from time to time.
A/N Sorry for the delay in this chapter I had a writers block of sorts, but with the help of Designer Kisses I got back on track and have the next three chapters already mapped out. Yea! Thanks for the great reviews as always. They really do make a difference. Oh and not that I'm hinting or anything (I really am, shamelessly too)…but Broken Sparrow is still sitting at 491 on the review count. If anyone has not had a chance to read and review that story, it sure would be cool if I could break that 500 mark, just saying… Oh well.
Here is the next chapter. Enjoy!
Author – ToryD
Beta – Sorry this chapter has not been proof read so please excuse the errors. I guess I need a back up Beta, anyone who possess the skill please email me. Thanks!
Choices
Chapter 9
Nadir entered Erik's office with a sense of apprehension, for he knew that the news he was about to impart would not be well received by his volatile boss. 'Tom Reynolds called." He announced as he approached Erik.
Erik continued to review the latest financials from his London offices. "Did he give you an update on the India project?" He asked absently without looking up.
"You might say that." Nadir responded cryptically causing Erik to glance up from his reading.
"Well?" Erik asked impatiently.
"Tom said Cagney left the project. He's on his way back to New York." Nadir informed Erik quietly.
Other than a slight stiffening to his frame, Erik showed little reaction to Nadir's statement. "Anything else?" He asked in a carefully controlled voice.
Nadir frowned at the unexpected reaction from his employer. "No."
Erik returned his attention back to the papers he still held in his hand. "Tell Natalie that I don't want to be disturbed for the next hour."
Nodding Nadir turned and walked to the door with a strange feeling of foreboding washing over him. After he relayed Erik's instructions to Natalie, he turned towards his own office only to be called back by the ever-efficient Natalie.
"Mr. Desmond's mother called. She was quite upset and wants Erik to return her call personally." She said with a sympathetic look, as it was well known at Desmond Enterprises that Nadir was always the one elected to deal with the demanding Mrs. Desmond.
Nadir sighed resignedly as he took the message from Natalie. "Thanks," was all he said as he went into his office and shut the door.
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Erik reread the same figure on the income statement for the fifth time without really comprehending it. Inhaling a deep breath, he tried to bank down his anger at the news that Cagney was returning to New York, correction he thought to himself,returning to Christine.
"Damn it!" He cursed as he threw the paper onto his desk. "What in hell am I to do now?" He questioned himself in a disgusted tone. Pushing away from his desk, he made his way to his corner office's million-dollar view. Staring unseeingly out at the gray dismal day, he pondered his next move. He could once again threaten Christine into submission; it would prove amazingly easy to ruin any business success that Cagney ever hoped to achieve. But to do so would only further alienate Christine from him
Pulling roughly at the perfect Windsor knot of his tie, he felt for the first time since he was a young boy utterly devoid of control. A feeling that he had worked so hard to shed, only to be once more thrown into its untenable depths due to his feeling for a woman. Erik allowed himself a humorless laugh at himself. A woman, the great Erik Desmond has once again fallen to the feet of a woman.
His first fallacy was that of a small boy who believed that if he devoted his every waking moment of life to his beautiful mother, then she would surely come to show him some modicum of affection. She quickly cured him of that silly boyish notion. He felt a sharp pain in his heart at the memory that crowded his tired brain. On the occasion of his mother's birthday, he had spent days working on a drawing of the two of them. Taking tedious care, he proudly wrapped his gift and presented it to his beloved mother. Simone, upon opening the gift turned on Erik with a disgusted look in her green eyes, the same eyes that he had inherited and now betrayed his pain as they filled with the most haunted look. "You call this a gift?" She sneered at his small distraught form. "What mother would want a picture of you to look at?" Simone began to tear up the drawing into small uneven pieces. "God Erik, how could you think that I would want a reminder that I have a son such as you?" Throwing the torn pieces onto the floor, she began to walk out of the room only to stop at the doorway to turn back to her heartbroken son. "Clean up this mess! I don't want so much as a speck of that hideous picture in my house." As Erik bent down to gather the torn remnants of his offering, he began to harden his heart. At the young age of six, Erik Desmond made a decision that had carried him through his dismal existence. He vowed to himself that he would never again grant anyone the power to hurt him. Retreating into himself, he had found a calming peace that only came with his immense self-control over his feelings. The sweet peace that had eluded him during his young life was now at his very command. Upon his acceptance that he would always be unloved, he had found strength. A strength that had enabled him to achieve such monumental success that even the disenchanted Simone had to stand back in awe at her son's accomplishments.
But all that Erik had learned at so young an age was once again threatened, threatened by his uncontrollable feeling for Christine. Threatened by Christine, whose beauty was only rivaled by her kindness and selflessness, for she alone held his cold heart in her hands. Sighing he retraced his steps to his desk, sinking into his soft leather chair he let his head fall into his hands. "Christine," he whispered in a tortured voice. "Please do not betray me." He pleaded in such a pain ridden tone that if anyone had ever doubted that Erik Desmond had a heart, they would be convinced that he not only possessed a heart, but the very heart in question was breaking in two at the thought of losing his one and only love, his Christine.
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"Simone, I'm afraid that Erik is quite busy today. Is there anything that I can do for you?" Nadir said into the phone as he adopted a jovial tone.
Simone paced the length of her Paris hotel. "Too busy you say." She spat back at Erik's assistant. "Well I'd say he's busy! He'd have to be extremely busy to forget to tell his own mother that he was getting married!" Throwing up her hands in a dramatic gesture, she continued with her rebuke. "I want an explanation Nadir! Why as his mother am I to find out that my son is to be married from the press?"
Nadir rolled his eyes at Simone's latest tantrum. "I'm sure Erik had no intension of hurting you Simone. It is just that everything has happened so fast. Erik wanted to introduce Christine to you when he told you about their engagement."
Sinking down onto the small vanity bench, she gave Nadir a carefully concocted show of tears. "Oh Nadir, you can't imagine how hurt I am." She said amongst her perfectly timed sniffles.
"Please don't let yourself be upset. Erik will be beside himself if he knew how distressed you are." Nadir lied convincingly into the phone.
Simone dried her crocodile tears and sighed deeply. "Yes, your right of course." With one last sniff, she finally got to the reason of her call. "I'll need you to send the plane for me."
Nadir cursed to himself silently. "Simone, there is no need for you to cut your trip short. You should stay in Paris." He said in a persuasive tone.
Scowling into the phone Simone jumped to her feet once again. "But I am needed in New York! There will be so much to plan. First, there is the engagement party. Wedding plans. Nadir, we don't have a moment to waste. I will expect the plane here first thing in the morning." She said in much the same authoritative manner as that of her son.
"But Simone" he was cut off in mid-sentence.
"No buts Nadir! I will also be staying at Erik's country house. Make all of the necessary arrangements." She said as she listened to the protest coming from the other end of the phone with a cunning little smile playing around her lips as she slowly hung up the phone.
Simone stood admiring her reflection in the mirror as she adjusted her pink satin robe. "Well Erik, so you have found someone to marry. Or should I say that you have found someone to marry you?" Bending to pick up the antique silver brush, she slowly began to stroke her perfectly colored dark brown hair. "Christine Daae." She spat the words as though an extreme bitter taste entered her delicate mouth at the very utterance of the name. "Well Christine, why have you chosen to marry my son, hmm? It is not for love that I know with certainty, for who could ever love that repugnant creature. No, it has to be his money." She carefully arranged her hair into a neat chignon. "Well Ms. Daae, you will not get away with stealing my son out from under me. Oh no my dear, we will just have to send you packing. There is only room in my son's life for one woman. And of course that would be his mother."
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Nadir gave Erik's outer door a courtesy knock before he entered the large office. "Simone is coming home tomorrow." He said in much the same way one would pull off a bandage, in one quick decisive rip.
Erik turned away from his reflections of the last hour. "Well, what next? Earthquakes, Plagues?" He asked with a sarcastic tone. Crossing to his chair, he sank down into its depths with the air of a defeated man. Sighing deeply he tried to regain some measure of control. "I don't want her anywhere near Christine." He said in a quiet voice.
Taking a seat in the chair directly in front of Erik's desk, Nadir decided that he had better explain the reason for Simone's return. "That maybe somewhat difficult to accomplish. She is coming for the express purpose of meeting Christine." Nadir informed his boss in an apologetic voice.
"Damn it! Why does she have to come now? It's not like she ever gave a damn about me before." Erik said as he rubbed his tired eyes.
"Well now she is all set to play the devoted mother role." Nadir said with a small amount of distain.
Erik, who had always prided himself for providing ingenious solutions to any insurmountable problem, was at a loss at how to deal with the two women in his life. "I don't want her poison anywhere near Christine." Erik said more to himself than to his faithful assistant.
Nadir sighed resignedly at his friend's plight. "Well short of you and Christine running off to elope, I'm afraid that is out of the question."
Erik looked up sharply at Nadir's words. "What did you just say?"
Nadir frowned at the gleam in Erik's eyes. "Erik" He barely got the word out before Erik began to shoot orders at him.
"Get Judge Smyth on the phone, he owes me a few favors. Also call who ever we know on the school board, I want Christine freed up for the next three weeks." Erik turned to face Nadir. "What is the name of her friend?"
Nadir looked up from his blackberry and supplied the answer in a flat tone. "Meg Garner."
"Right, I want you to get in touch with her and arrange for her to be at the country house tonight to be Christine's maid of honor, make sure she knows that this is to be a surprise for Christine." Erik said as if he was mentally checking off a list in his head. "Call Saks, I want a private room for Christine. Tell them that we need to see several white evening dresses, make sure they do not bring in any wedding dresses. Also we will need wedding rings. Call Tiffany's and have them send over a selection to Saks about 7:00PM."
Nadir shook his head at his demanding boss. "Anything else?"
Erik raised an eyebrow at his assistant's tone. "Yes, call Darius and tell him we are to have a small wedding ceremony at the country house this evening."
"He will ask how many guests there are to be." Nadir commented.
Erik thought for a short moment. "Just Christine, myself, Meg, Judge Smyth, I trust you will stand by me and be my best man?"
Nadir smiled at his boss's question. "It would be my honor."
Erik nodded not comfortable with the emotion of the moment. "Good, that is five…Call the Daae house and invite the housekeeper, Marie Giry I believe her name is. Christine seemed to be very attached to her at the reading of the father's will."
Nadir entered the final request into his blackberry and turned to once again face his employer. "Anything else?" He questioned again.
"Send Natalie in, I want to make arrangements for the next three weeks. Australia sounds nice this time of year." He said as he imagined Christine and himself alone on a private yacht.
"Erik, while you are off on your honeymoon, what do you expect me to do with Simone?" He questioned Erik, breaking into his happy thoughts.
Frowning Erik brushed away the vision of his irate mother at his purposeful slight. "I really don't give a damn. Let her take up residence. As long as she is far away from Christine, she can rot in hell for all I care."
Nadir sighed resignedly at the thought of the living hell the next three weeks surely held in store for him. Rising he crossed the room to open the office door. "Erik," he called as he paused at the opened door. "Have you considered how Christine will react to all of this?" He asked in a gentle voice.
Erik pushed away any thoughts that would mar the feeling of accomplishment that was within his reach. "Christine will do what is expected." He said in a dismissive voice.
Nadir hid his look of concern from his friend as he turned to attend to his assigned tasks.
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Raoul waited impatiently for Christine to answer her cell phone. Looking at his watch, he saw that it was already 3:00 in the afternoon. Her classes ended at 2:45, she should be available.
Taking a deep breath Christine activated her cell phone to answer Raoul's call. "Hello Raoul," she greeted him in an anxious voice.
His heart began to beat faster at the sound of her voice. "Christine, I thought you weren't going to answer."
"No, I'm here." She said as her top teeth began to chew worriedly on her bottom lip.
"Can you meet me at my apartment in thirty minutes?" He questioned hopefully.
"Yes, I can be there." Christine answered hiding the dread she felt at the thought of meeting Raoul face to face.
"Good, I'll see you soon." He said into his phone, trying to project an air of calmness that was in stark contrast to his true emotions of the moment.
"Goodbye," she said softly as she pushed the button to disengage the call. Leaning back against the wall she prayed for the strength to get through the next hour. Looking at her watch, she saw that it was getting late and she had several errands to run before Erik expected her at Saks. She wondered at his strange request. He had sent her the most beautiful single red rose with a short cryptic note that seemed to be his preferred method of communication she had learned over the past few days. The note read, Meet me on the fifth floor of Saks Fifth Avenue at 6:30PM, Erik. What he had up his sleeve this time Lord only knew. Just as she was about to exit the school she was stopped by Meg, who had the most peculiar look on her face. "Meg?" Se questioned with a concerned look.
Meg felt such happiness for her best friend. Grabbing Christine she pulled her into a tight hug, only further alerting Christine suspicions.
Christine pulled back to give her friend an inquiring look. "What's gotten into you?"
Smiling a goofy smile Meg only shrugged her small shoulders. "Nothing, I'm just happy."
Christine nodded while she backed away from her strange friend. "Ok, that's…um…good. I'll see you tomorrow." She said in a calming tone, much in the same way one would speak to a small child.
Meg nodded approvingly. "Tomorrow," she said with a happy sigh long after Christine had left the building. Glancing at her watch, she saw that she had better get a move on if she was to be on time for her appointment at Neiman Marcus that Erik had so kindly arranged for her. Signing to herself, she wondered if Christine knew how lucky she was to have found someone as kind and caring as Erik. "Maybe he has a brother." She said to herself as she turned towards her classroom.
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Christine closed her eyes briefly to try to garner the courage to knock upon Raoul's door. Inhaling deeply she lifted her hand and knocked lightly to announce her arrival.
Raoul crossed his professionally decorated living room to open the door for Christine. "Hi," he said with a wistful tone. His eyes betraying the intense feeling of love he felt in her presence.
Christine smiled sadly up at him. "Hi, how was your trip?" She asked as though the life changing events of the past few days never happened.
"Fine, my trip was fine." He said as he closed the door and followed her into the living room. "Please have a seat; can I get you a drink?" He asked politely.
"No thank you." She answered as she took a seat on the cold black leather sofa.
Raoul crossed to the small bar and poured himself a small glass of scotch, feeling as though he would need the potent brew to get through the next few minutes. "So Christine, it seems that a lot has happened since I left three days ago."
Christine shifted uncomfortably at Raoul's hurt tone. "Raoul, I…" she paused as she tried to find the words to ease his pain. "I'm so sorry." She whispered in an anguished tone as she fought the tears that threatened to fall.
Taking a seat in the chair directly opposite her he looked at her as though she was a stranger to him. "Yes, you said that. What I want to know is why?" He said with a slight edge to his voice. "Why Christine? Did I so something to turn you against me? Hmm?" He asked her with his eyes bearing into her soul.
"No, you did nothing. It's all me. I…" her voice trailed off as she struggled to find the words.
"Yes Christine? Please continue as I am eager to hear the reason for your unforgivable betrayal." He said in a harsh tone that she had never heard before.
Lifting her shocked eyes to meet his blue angry eyes she felt as though he was ripping her heart in two. Unable to stand the sight of his fury a moment longer she cowardly looked down at her tightly clasped hands. "I…Erik" she barely got the name out before Raoul pounced on her.
Raoul flew across the distance that separated them. His angry face only mere inches from hers as he placed a restraining arm on each side of her as he spat his next question. "Erik Desmond, how long were the two of you involved behind my back Christine?" When she failed to answer him right away, he pushed violently against the cushions on either side of her causing her to gasp in fear. "How long?" he yelled into her terror filled face.
"Please Raoul, don't do this." She pleaded with him trying to reach through his anger to find the man who she had come to depend on throughout her life.
Raoul laughed humorlessly at her comment. "Me do this Christine, it is not I who did this. Oh no, that honor belongs solely to you."
"I'm sorry, please believe me, if I had any control over the situation I would not have had it turn out this way." She said as she placed her small hand on his handsome face.
Raoul jumped back as though her very touch burned his tortured soul. "God Christine, the way you talk you make it sound as though you had no choice in the matter." He said in an unkind sneer as he turned his back on her. Walking over to the window, he stared out at the multitude of people going about their business on this cold November day. "Just answer me this one question." He paused, as he was not at all sure that he wanted the answer. "Do you love him?" He said in such a soft voice that Christine was not at all sure that she heard him correctly.
As she sat on the sofa looking at the slump of his strong shoulders, she began to contemplate what her response would do to the man who she had loved all of her life. "I do love him." She said hesitantly.
Closing his eyes against the pain that her answer evoked he knew that he had lost the most valuable thing in all the world to him, Christine. "Well then, I guess there is nothing further to say." He said in such a defeated tone that it lanced at Christine's breaking heart.
"Raoul," she began only to be silenced by the raising of his hand.
"Please don't say another word." Turning once again to face her he looked at the pain she was feeling at hurting him and felt a strange feeling of protectiveness wash over him. "You'll please forgive me if I ask you to leave. Somehow I think it would be better if I were alone right now."
Christine stood as she crossed the room to stand at the door; turning back she looked at the devastation that she and Erik had brought to this poor sweet man. "I'm truly am sorry Raoul. Please take care of yourself." She said in a soft voice filled with the love she would always feel towards her childhood love.
Raoul felt her words fill his empty heart. Looking up into her beautiful eyes, he called one last time to her. "Christine, if you ever need me, I will always be here for you. Remember that." He said with a sad smile gracing his lips.
Christine let the tears that she had been holding at bay begin to fall as she shut the door on her old life.
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A/N Next up we will have Erik's and Christine at Saks, and of course the wedding. The next two to three chapters will be filled with the much-awaited fluff. Please let me know what you think in the reviews. Thanks!