Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
EDWARD
“And then moving forward I want to build….”
Bzz, bzz, bzz, my phone vibrates on my desk and I glance at the screen.
Philippe
Why is he calling me?
“I have to take this,” I tell the four people at the board table. I stand and walk to the window and look out over the view. “Yes.”
“We’ve got a problem.”
“Such as?”
“Alora drove off this morning and we’ve followed her but we got caught in traffic and have lost sight of her car.”
“Where are you?”
“At the international airport.”
What?
Fury fills me.
“Alone?”
“No, Helene is with her.”
“Find. Her.” I hang up as adrenaline screams through my bloodstream and I turn back to the eight eyes watching me. “Get out.”
They exchange glances and stand.
“Now,” I growl.
They scamper from the room like rats.
I call Philippe back. “Yes, boss.”
“Did you find her?”
“No.”
“What the hell are you idiots doing?” I scream. “You have one fucking job.”
“She’s purposely tried to lose us.”
“And she succeeded,” I fume. “Do not let her get on a fucking plane. Do you hear me?”
“If she’s already through customs then it’s too late, we can’t get through.”
“Buy a fucking plane ticket to get through.”
“Yes, sir.”
I pace back and forth. If she gets on a plane to god knows where…without protection…if something happens to her…if….
I dial her number as my blood boils. Ring, ring.
“Hello,” she answers.
“Where the fuck are you?” I yell.
“That’s none of your business.”
“Alora, I’m warning you. Do not dare get on a fucking plane.”
“I’ll do whatever I like.”
“Stop being so childish, have you forgotten someone is stalking you? It is not safe to travel alone at the moment.”
“Give me a break.”
“Why are you purposely trying to piss me off?” I scream.
“What?” she scoffs. “Are you for real?”
“Get your ass back to Nice. Right. Fucking. Now.”
“Swear at me again and I’m blocking your number.”
Veins are pulsing in my temples; the sky is a red shade of fury. “Stop being irresponsible, I want you safe.”
“And I want to forget I ever met you. So leave me alone. You’ve made it abundantly clear that I’m too much for you. So go find less.”
“Don’t you fucking dare threaten me. You will take a guard with you.”
“Stop trying to control me with your money, Edward, my love isn’t for sale. Stay the hell away from me. I never want to see you again.”
Click.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” My anger explodes and I dial her number again.
Ring, ring…. Ring, ring…ring, ring.
“I swear to god.” I’m so angry that I can hardly see straight. “Answer the fucking phone,” I growl as I pace. I hang up and dial her number again.
Ring, ring…. Ring, ring…ring, ring.
“Fuck,” I scream. I call her immediately.
Ring, ring…. Ring, ring…ring, ring.
ALORA
Heart hammering in my chest, I turn my phone off and shuffle forward in line.
“Tickets please.” The stewardess smiles.
I pass my ticket over and walk through and onto the plane. I take a seat and peer up the aisle of the plane. “Come on, come on, just close the door already,” I whisper.
He’s going to march onto this plane any moment and cause a scene, I just know it.
I wipe the perspiration from my brow, how the heck did my life get so complicated?
He doesn’t want me but still wants to control me
Talk about a toxic situationship.
For fifteen minutes I hold my breath, praying to get in the air. The doors finally close and I let out a sigh of relief. Thank god, two weeks of sun, sand and relaxation.
Thailand, here I come.
PHILIPPE
I stand on the dock and stare up at the yacht to see the dark silhouette pacing back and forth like a caged animal. It’s near midnight and the marina is in silence.
“What the hell is going on with Prescott?” Stefan murmurs as he stands beside me watching him. “I’ve never seen him like this before.”
“Me neither.” I light my cigarette. “He’s got it bad for this woman.”
“Yeah, well, he just fucking lost her, so get over it.”
I watch him for another half hour and I can’t let this go on, I go through my phone and walk up the marina so that nobody else can hear me. Ring, ring….
“Philippe,” William answers.
“Hi.”
“Is everything okay?” he asks.
“Ahh….” My eyes flick up to the yacht. “Are you around tonight?”
“I’m in London, why, what’s wrong?”
I twist my lips as my eyes flick back to the yacht. “Edward is just—”
“What?” He cuts me off.
“Agitated.”
“What’s happened?”
“I’m not sure, I was just thinking that you may be able to come over, but if you’re in London—”
“I’ll call him now,” he replies.
“Okay.”
“Thanks, man.”
I walk to the end of the marina as I do another check and ten minutes later my phone vibrates in my pocket, the name William lights up the screen.
“How did it go?”
“He didn’t answer.”
I twist my lips as my eyes go back to the yacht. “Thought as much.”
“Can you go in and check on him please?”
“He doesn’t want to see me.”
“He doesn’t want to see anyone, just go in and make him go to bed to sleep it off. He’ll be fine by morning.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Call me if anything else is going on.”
“Alright.”
I make my way onto the yacht and stand at the door. “Edward.”
He turns toward me, his eyes are wild and he’s totally disheveled.
“Let’s get you to bed, hey?”
“I’m fine,” he replies, his voice is weak, broken.
But he’s not fine, his soft and sad reply is so unlike him that it only worries me more.
“I’ve got some of your sleeping pills.”
“Go away please,” he murmurs.
“Sir, I need you to go to bed and get some sleep or else as a duty of care I’m going to have to call your brother.”
He exhales heavily. “Leave me be.”
“A good night’s sleep will fix everything; in the morning you will feel so much better and we can make a new plan.”
He stares at me for a while and eventually nods, resigned.
I follow him up to his bedroom and get his sleeping pills and pass them to him; he takes them with a glass of water.
“What would I do without you, Philippe?” he says softly.
“Probably murder a lot of people.” I smile as I gesture to the bathroom. “Shower.”
I wait as he showers and then eventually he comes back into the bedroom with a towel around his waist and drops it as he dresses into boxer shorts.
“Have you eaten?” I ask.
“Yep.” He pulls the blankets back and climbs into bed, and I know he’s lying. He hasn’t eaten all day.
“I’m going to stay on the yacht tonight, okay?” I tell him.
“Whatever.”
“I’ll be in the room next door; you call me if you need me.”
“I won’t need you.” He sighs.
“What if you have a bad dream?” I tease.
“Fuck off,” he replies with his eyes closed.
“Well, can I call you if I have a bad dream?” I smile.
“Get out before I kill you,” he mutters dryly.
I flick the light off and leave his bedroom door ajar. “Tomorrow will be a better day.”
“Stick to your day job, you’re a terrible therapist.”
“Sweet dreams.” I smirk.
“Shut the fuck up.”
EDWARD
I roll my lips as I park the car, can’t believe I’m about to do this.
I push through the doors of the antique store and walk in. “Hello, Helene.”
Helene turns and her face falls when she sees me. “What are you doing here?”
“I….” What am I doing here? “I need to know Alora is okay.”
“She’s fine.” She picks up the feather duster and walks to the shelving as if to dismiss me. Not one to be deterred, I follow her.
“Is she alone?” I ask.
“Well.” She dusts a shelf. “I talked to her a half hour ago and she was at the beach bar and she had just met a lovely man.” She keeps dusting. “Funnily enough…he just broke up with his girlfriend as well.”
I glare at her, my tongue slides over my teeth as I get a vision of Alora talking to another man, my fists clench at my sides.
“Where is she?”
“That is none of your business.”
“It’s all of my business, I want her to be safe.”
“Oh, she’s safe.” She smiles sarcastically.
“But let’s be real for a moment, you don’t want her, you just don’t want anyone else to have her.
But my prediction is that tonight she’s going to fuck you out of her system with a long, hard night grinding in the sheets.
” She smiles. “And by morning she won’t even remember who you are.
You snooze, you lose, Prescott. Letting her go was the biggest mistake of your life. ”
My jaw clenches in fury. “I don’t like you.”
She shrugs with a smile. “But Alora does, and we both know that her opinion is the only one that matters.”
“Where is she?”
“Get out.”
I hate this woman, although her loyalty is admirable.
“When will she be back?”
“In a while.”
“How long?”
“Goodbye, Edward.” She turns to dust the shelf. “Tell Philippe to ask me out on a date.”
“Dream on.” I march toward the door. “That will absolutely not be happening.”
“Toodle-oo.” She waves with her fingertips. “Have a nice life,” she says in a singsong voice. I march out of the store and onto the street, I can feel my blood as it pumps angrily through my veins.
What a fucking witch.
ALORA
“Where are you from?” I ask.
“New York,” he replies with a playful smile.
His sandy hair has a curl to it, and even while sitting down on a bar stool I can tell that his tanned body is built for sin.
I thought men like this only existed in brochures, I’ve never met a man like him while on vacation before. “It’s beautiful. Like you.”
“Really?” I smile as I feel myself blush, there is definitely something about this guy. “My sister lives in New York.”
“Yeah? What part?”
“Manhattan.”
“Next time you’re there visiting we will have to catch up.” His eyes dance with mischief. “I could show you around the city that never sleeps.”
“I’m sure if I went I would be sleeping.” I smile into my drink.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” He smiles as he sips his cocktail.
Oh…
I’m at a beach bar in Koh Samui and have unexpectedly just met another solo traveler, funnily enough he’s here recovering from a breakup as well.
“We have a lot in common, Alora.” He smiles as he sips his cocktail.
“Apparently so.” I tap my cocktail glass with his and frown. “What was your name again?”
“Brennan.”