44. Gage
Gage
Two days later
I step out of the shower and stand in front of the vanity.
I wipe away the fog from the mirror and assess the damage.
I look like shit.
I feel like shit.
This jetlag is still kicking my ass.
Two days in Stockholm and I still haven’t found my footing.
It doesn’t help that my days are so crammed, I can’t catch my breath.
Delaying the trip caused a cluster fuck in my schedule. These back to back meetings are going to be the end of me.
Stop whining. That’s what being a CEO is all about, Hollingsworth. Man up and get the job done.
I rub my hands over my face. It doesn’t do much to revive me or get me moving, but the prospect of caffeine and an outstanding breakfast does .
With a towel wrapped around my waist, I step into the bedroom. As I pass the desk, I freeze.
Lily hasn’t returned the last few texts I sent her.
I snatch my phone off the desk and compose another message. I’m still holding onto my phone when it rings.
My face contorts in a grimace.
It’s not who I was hoping to hear from.
I’m about to let it go to voicemail, but decide against it.
Fisher could explain Lily’s silence.
I accept the call. “Hey?—”
“I should’ve never asked you to look after my daughter.” He barks his greeting into the phone.
I flinch at his words. “Good morning to you too.”
“I don’t have time for jokes.”
“It’s seven o’clock in the morning here in Stockholm. If you’re going to call me to chew my head off for some unknown reason, have the courtesy to do it after I’ve had my coffee.”
“Cut the crap, Hollingsworth.”
“I’m this close from hanging up on you.”
“It’s your fault Lily is missing.”
I’m suffused with panic.
“Lily is missing?”
“Yes.”
My stomach plummets to my toes. “Since when?”
“Since she walked out on me at lunch a few days ago after I showed her you’re a piece of shit?—”
“What the fuck is your problem, Fisher? Why are you insulting me?”
“You played my daughter for a fool, asshole.”
A growl rumbles from my chest. “Whatever I shared with your daughter is between her and me. She’s a grown woman. Butt out. ”
“You abused her innocence and put ideas in her head.”
What is he talking about?
“Now she’s missing, she’s going to force me to back out of an arrangement because she refuses to marry someone she was betrothed to.”
“Excuse me?”
“I handpicked a husband for Lily. A man who’s far more suitable for her than you––”
“Lily is… supposed to get married to another man?”
“Yes!” One word that has the same impact as a slap across the face.
I thought she wasn’t seeing anyone.
Was I wrong?
“You’re a bastard.” Fisher isn’t done insulting me. “How dare you put your hands on my daughter? You fucked her––”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” How the hell does he know that? Lily talks about intimate matters with Fisher? “First, you and I shouldn’t be having this conversation. Second, that’s none of your business––”
“It is my business when you’re in love with another woman and stringing along my daughter.”
“You’re not making any sense.”
“Come off it. I had a private investigator follow you around. I know all your dirty little secrets.”
I’m about to tear him a new one, when it hit me. “I’m in love with another woman? Says who?”
“Save your breath. Don’t bother lying. I have video proof.”
“Fisher––”
“Here’s how it’s going to go down, Hollingsworth.
I’m going to find my daughter. And when I bring her back to New York, where she belongs, she’s going to do what I tell her to do.
I need her to be a part of this family, and I need her to be in the Hamptons in the next few days, and I need her to be invested, and I need her to forget all about you so she can marry the man she’s betrothed to. ”
What in the actual fuck?
“I don’t need her to be entangled with the likes of you.”
“Fisher––”
“Stay the fuck away from my daughter.”
Pompous jerk. “I’m not fucking staying away.”
Silence.
“Fisher?”
I pull the device away from my ear.
The asshole hung up on me.
I dial Lily’s number.
It goes straight to voicemail.
I try again.
Same result.
I’m going to burn Stockholm down to the ground if I don’t get answers right the fuck now.
I pace back and forth like an enraged bull, my nostrils flaring, steam billowing from my ears.
I stop dead in my tracks.
Realization flashes over my head like a neon sign.
If Lily was missing, wouldn’t Fisher call NYPD instead of harassing me? He might not have known I was in Sweden, but he knows I live in LA.
She isn’t missing.
She doesn’t want her father to know where she is.
What’s going on, Lily?
Why are you running?
There’s one person on this planet who knows where she is. I’m willing to bet my billions on it.
I call Nadine’s number.
It goes to voicemail .
I see red.
I try again.
Nadine’s cheery voice blares through the speaker.
Her voicemail. Again.
Pure white rage consumes me.