Chapter Forty-Six Missing the Point
When everything was winding down at the party, Tommy made his way through the dwindling crowds to find Alex.
He hadn’t seen Evie since she cut the cake, and he was getting concerned.
Thorn had grabbed his girlfriend and left around eleven-thirty, looking extremely upset, but Tommy figured he had gotten tired of trying to catch up to Evie, who seemed to be going out of her way to avoid him, slipping like a mouse through the crowds every time he tried to approach her.
Nissa had expressed her theory that the reason Evie was so angry was that Thorn had stopped spending time with her since getting into a relationship, after Tommy told her that Evie had lied about booking a spa getaway to get him to confess that he and Alex were planning a party.
Tommy had agreed with her, and when Thorn told him he didn’t know if he could make it to Evie’s birthday party the next morning, Tommy said it was his decision, then asked whether his new girlfriend was worth losing Evie forever.
The question seemed to finally penetrate the sex hormones in his brain because he’d gone pale and muttered he’d be there.
Now he was wondering if Evie had confronted him, then hidden away somewhere to calm down for a while, maybe even fallen asleep or something. Finally spotting Alex at the bar with a group of people he didn’t recognize, he approached and waved him over.
“Hey! What’s up?” Alex looked around, a smug expression of pride on his face. “Was this a rager or what?”
“Yeah, it was great,” Tommy said distractedly. “Have you seen Evie?”
Alex froze, his face paling a little as he looked around. “No, I haven’t seen her in ages, now that I think about it. Not since she cut the cake.”
With very concerned, nervous looks, they both pulled out their phones and sent her a text. She never replied, and Tommy felt panic building. He’d noticed there were a lot of people he didn’t know at the party, but had assumed they were friends of Alex’s that Evie knew.
“We need to find her. Now.” He grabbed Alex’s shoulder and shoved him toward the elevators. “Go check the roof.”
Alex nodded, looking increasingly worried, and jogged through the crowds. Tommy watched him go and started approaching people, asking if they’d seen her. Most people shook their heads and shrugged, but a group of women about Evie’s age looked very confused and asked who he was talking about.
“What do you mean, who?” He snapped, his anxiety about Evie’s safety making him short-tempered. He waved his arm around the room. “Evie. You know, who the birthday party is for? How did you get in here? It was invite-only.”
“We were.” One of the girls pulled out her phone, scrolled for a second, then showed him, looking nervous. “The invite was sent to all of Sloane Tech.”
“What?” Tommy was perplexed; he’d never sent the invite to Sloane Tech at all, besides to Tara and a few of the executive assistants he’d seen Evie talk to over the years. “Who sent it?”
“Uh. Hang on.” She pulled up the email. “It came from Kara, but she got it from an Alex Turner? Says he’s the Chief Security Officer of Sloane Security Services.” She showed him her phone again, and Tommy saw that Alex had asked Kara to send it to all departments.
“If you didn’t know who the party was for, why did you come?” He passed her the phone back, glaring at her and her friends, not understanding why they would come to celebrate someone they didn’t know.
“This club is really hard to get into.” She explained, her expression dropping as Tommy’s anger became clear. “It was an open invitation. We didn’t think it would be a problem.”
“It was a birthday party!” Tommy snapped, furious but knowing it was directed at the wrong person. Kara would be hearing about passing along things that didn’t come from him, and Alex was going back on probation. “Get yourselves home, ladies, the party is over.”
Walking over to the bar, he told the bartender to close it down immediately and to make sure they did the same upstairs.
The house lights came up, and there was a chorus of boos and complaints as the DJ announced the party was over, but Tommy was past the point of caring.
Pulling out his phone, he called Evie, swearing when it went straight to voicemail.
He left a message asking Evie to call him, then connected his phone to the Tower’s security system and contacted HELIX.
“Is Evie at home?” he demanded when the AI’s calm voice, modelled to sound like one of Evie’s favourite actresses, came over the line asking how she could help him.
“Yes, sir. She and Mr. Denton arrived at the Tower at eleven twenty-two.”
Tommy glanced at his watch, and his stomach sank when he saw it was almost three in the morning. “Is she okay?” He frowned when the AI didn’t respond at once. “HELIX, is she okay?”
“Evie instructed me not to give anyone any information about her until she said so.” The AI’s voice was apologetic.
“She is my primary user; I can’t override her commands for anyone unless there is an emergency.
” Another pause, and this time she sounded vaguely amused.
“Much to Thorn’s frustration. All I can tell you is that she is home, locked down in her apartment, and does not appear to be physically harmed in any way. ”
Tommy sighed, shoving his hand through his hair.
“Great.” He disconnected, pinching the bridge of his nose for a moment as he struggled to get his temper under control.
Dealing with the invite going out to all of his companies was going to have to wait until Monday, when he had much less alcohol in his system and had spoken to Evie.
Right now, he had to find Nissa and Alex and go home.
**********
Tommy found Alex as he was coming out of the bathroom, looking almost wild with panic, and felt his anger soften a little as he approached him.
The kid was deeply in love with Evie and meant well, but Tommy realized he should have reined him in a little with the party instead of getting caught up in his excitement.
“It’s okay,” he told him before Alex could open his mouth. “She’s at home.”
Alex’s cheeks flushed, a flash of anger crossing his face. “What? Since when? Why would she leave without telling anyone?”
Tommy shrugged. “She left around eleven-ish, I guess? HELIX said she arrived at the Tower around eleven twenty-two and would have taken between twenty and twenty-five minutes to get there from here. As for why, I’m assuming Thorn finally caught up to her and she told him off, because he left around eleven-thirty looking very upset. ”
“Yeah, well, he deserved it,” Alex muttered, his face darkening slightly. Tommy had told him Nissa’s theory, and Alex had been pissed that he was getting snapped at for something Thorn had done.
“That’s not why she left.” Nissa appeared at Tommy’s elbow, followed by Paula, who looked very amused as she typed on her phone.
“I mean, yes, Thorn caught up to her, and she told him to leave her alone, but she was already leaving when that happened.” She looked at Paula, tapping her lower lip like she was thinking.
“I wonder why she would leave suddenly just before eleven? What happened that would have upset her, do you think?”
Paula chuckled, but Tommy felt his tenuous hold on his temper slip. “I’m not in the mood for this, Nissa, just spit it out already.”
Nissa rolled her eyes but immediately became more serious. “Fine, but the question is valid: what happened just before she left?”
“She cut the cake.” Alex cut in. “So what? What does that have to do with her leaving?”
“It was red velvet,” Nissa explained, like it was the answer to everything, but Tommy was still confused.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Red velvet,” Nissa repeated slowly. She looked between them and threw up her hands in frustration. “You know, probably the only type of cake she can’t stand?”
“What are you talking about?” Alex laughed, but Tommy closed his eyes as another sinking feeling came over him. “She loves red velvet; it’s her favourite.”
“No, she hates red velvet; she says all the food colouring makes it taste weird.” Nissa folded her arms and glared at them both like they had just admitted to kicking puppies for fun. “Her favourite is strawberry shortcake with whipped cream or Thorn’s Reforma Torta.”
“Nissa’s right.” Tommy groaned. He’d known that, so why had he thought it was the other way around? “She hates red velvet. She never even took a slice.” He remembered how her eyebrows had gone up when he handed her a plate, and she’d set it back on the table, mumbling about not being hungry.
“And why would you have it at a club?” Nissa continued, still angry on Evie’s behalf, and Tommy couldn’t blame her; they had really messed up. “She hates clubs. I told you that weeks ago.”
Tommy could see that Alex was starting to look guilty and defensive. “She doesn’t hate clubs!” Alex responded hotly, his cheeks reddening. “She comes with me all the time!”
“She comes because you act like a child when she tells you no,” Nissa told him sharply, and Tommy sighed, reaching for her hand before she completely went off on him.
“Nissa, enough. We fucked up. We get it.” He said, trying to calm her down before she put Alex on his ass.
“No.” She snatched her hand away from him. Tommy could feel his temper building as she continued to berate them. “And whose brilliant idea was it to invite a bunch of people she doesn’t know?”
“I like showing her off!” Alex snapped back. “Besides, I’m trying to show people she’s not the terrible person they think she is because of her father!”
“Oh, bullshit.” Nissa scoffed. “It’s been years since that went down. The only people who still believe that are conspiracy theorists who think she’s part of some massive plot to steal Sloane Technologies.”
“Actually, we still get quite a bit of hate mail for her,” Tommy muttered.
“Especially since that TV movie based on it came out last year and changed it just enough that I couldn’t block its release.
” It hadn’t been for lack of trying; he’d exhausted every legal route he could, delaying it for years quietly.
Nissa rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t change the fact that they’re all crazy, and most people at Sloane Tech, Sloane Security, and Protective Services don’t believe it anymore.”
“And just because you like showing her off doesn’t mean she likes being paraded around like a show dog,” Paula added, surprising Tommy with her defence of Evie.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Tommy said quickly, seeing that Alex’s face was now bright red and not wanting there to be a fight when they were all drunk. “If you saw her leave, why didn’t you come tell us?” He looked at both women expectantly.
“We didn’t see anything.” Paula shrugged. “We were dancing.”
“Thorn told Cole about Evie confronting him, Lana overheard and told me,” Nissa explained.
“And she ended up getting an Uber with Aaron back to the Tower,” Paula smirked smugly. “He texted and asked Nissa and me to watch and see when you’d both notice she was gone. Apparently, she bet him five hundred dollars that neither one of you would until you were getting ready to leave.”
A slight frown crossed her face. “You don’t think she’ll actually make him pay, do you?”
Nissa shook her head. “Nah, she won’t hold him to it.” She turned her attention back to them, and Tommy could see his dismay mirrored in Alex’s expression. “We weren’t allowed to interfere, just watch.”
“Good.” Paula looked relieved, then turned to Tommy and Alex. “According to Aaron, she’s incredibly hurt and angry with the two of you, and for a good reason. I’d let her cool down for a few days before you try to talk to her.”