The Call Boy I Met in Paris — Episode 26
The red error on the payment terminal erased Stella’s triumphant smile. She stared at the screen as though it had personally insulted her, then shoved the card toward the sales representative. “Try it again.” Beside her, Derek shifted impatiently, aware that Sophie and Justin were watching.
The representative obeyed, but the same message appeared. “I’m sorry, sir. Our card processing is down for maintenance.” Her apology was directed to Derek, though her eyes flicked briefly toward Justin as if she had already received instructions from someone far above her.
“What the fuck?” Derek snapped. The outburst drew glances from other clients across the elegant showroom. He had expected money to restore the authority Justin had stripped from him outside Joey’s store, and the public failure burned worse than the declined transaction itself.
Stella’s fingers tightened around the glossy brochure. “The card is fine,” she insisted. “There must be something wrong with your machine.” She looked at Sophie, desperate to prove this was a technical inconvenience rather than defeat.
Justin remained relaxed beside the model. His message to Patrick had required only four words: pause all purchase processing. Lake Enterprises’ internal systems could isolate a sales center without affecting a single customer elsewhere, and Patrick knew better than to ask why.
Derek pulled a checkbook from his jacket. “Do you take checks?” His voice carried the aggression of a man trying to force reality back into obedience. “I’ll pay the full amount right now.”
“Sorry, our system is down,” the representative answered. “We won’t be able to process any payments today.” She maintained a professional expression, although denying a thirty-million-dollar sale was clearly not an ordinary part of her job.
Sophie studied the terminal and then Justin. His prediction had come true within seconds, yet he showed no surprise. That calmness joined the restaurant manager, Joey’s miraculous sale, and his impossible résumé in the growing collection of things she could not explain.
“What are you, a psychic?” Stella demanded. She directed the question at Justin because accusing him of something impossible felt better than accepting bad luck. “Did you know their system was going down?”
“This guy is delusional,” Derek said before Justin could answer. He stepped closer with a patronizing smile. “Let me tell you how this is going to work out for you, compadre. We come back tomorrow, buy the lot, and you two crawl back to that apartment.”
Justin met his stare without moving. “If that’s what you believe, you should come back tomorrow.” He sounded almost encouraging, which made Derek angrier. Justin knew the lot would never be sold to him unless Sophie chose to allow it.
Sophie touched Justin’s arm, signaling that the confrontation was not worth extending. She had no desire to turn house hunting into another family spectacle. More importantly, she wanted to understand why Justin looked like the only person in the room who knew what would happen next.
“Forget it,” Derek said. He closed the checkbook with a sharp snap. “Let’s get out of here.” He placed a hand at Stella’s back and guided her toward the exit, trying to make retreat look like a decision rather than a humiliation.
Stella resisted long enough to glare at Sophie. “I guess we’ll just have to come back.” The threat sounded thin now, but she clung to it as she surrendered the brochure to the representative.
“Have fun waiting,” Sophie replied. She refused to show how deeply Stella’s behavior had unsettled her. Once the doors closed behind them, however, the tension left her shoulders in a slow breath.
Justin watched Derek’s car pull away through the glass. The urge to punish him had come easily, but Sophie’s quiet exhaustion mattered more than revenge. He sent Patrick a second message authorizing the system to return.
Less than a minute later, the terminal chimed. Its red warning vanished, replaced by the normal sales screen. The representative looked toward a concealed office doorway, received a nod, and hurried back to Sophie.
“Ms. Swift,” she called, “our servers are back online.” Sophie turned so quickly that her hair swept across her shoulder. Justin slipped his phone into his pocket before she could see it.
“Already?” Sophie asked. The timing made no sense, but relief began replacing suspicion. She glanced toward the exit, half expecting Stella and Derek to reappear.
The representative smiled and lifted the brochure Stella had abandoned. “And we have a promotion today.” She paused as though even she could not believe the order she had been given. “The property you selected is fifty percent off.” Sophie’s eyes widened, while Justin quietly wondered whether his next lie would need to explain a fifteen-million-dollar miracle.
