CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Desmond
Lorelei and I had done a great job at the gala, and from the way my grandfather keeps smiling from his desk, I bet we had made a good impression that would help towards winning this battle against my father.
The strategy meeting I had with my grandfather’s men and lawyers shows that we are doing quite well, but there are still a few people who have concerns about how I might not be in the best position to lead due to my inexperience.
According to the original plan, this topic shouldn’t be something we need to worry about for the next ten months, but my father’s action had brought our timetable forward. Still, I am confident I can do this; after all, I have the people I love and care about by my side.
“Then all we just have to do is keep up with-” Timothy’s presentation is interrupted by my grandfather stepping in.
“Sorry, guys, we need to take a break. Everyone is out apart from Timothy and Desmond.”
We all look at each other, not sure exactly what is going on; however, I can tell that whatever my grandfather has to say is important. Once we are left in the room, he pulls up a chair and sits down.
“Do you know your father met with Lorelei?” My grandfather throws the question at me.
“Alexander and Lorelei?” Timothy speaks, no doubt surprised by that question.
I am just as surprised as he is, and before I can deny the allegation, he slides his phone across the table.
I pick it up without a word, and sure, there are pictures of Lorelei and my father meeting just two days ago when she arrived in Velhaven.
Lorelei had failed to mention anything like that, and that bothers me.
“There must be an explanation for this,” I begin, but my grandfather’s dismissive wave shows that he isn’t buying whatever I have to say.
“I heard she is meeting with him today. Do you know where your wife is?” I had left her in bed when I came here to HQ four hours ago, so she should probably be up by now. I quickly reach for my phone to call her, but I keep getting redirected to voicemail.
“I can find her,” I say, as I pull up the location tracker I had installed in her phone.
It doesn’t exactly work when her phone is switched off, but the last location comes from Richardson Boulevard, where my father’s office is located. I get a dark feeling in my stomach, and I snap to my feet.
“Let me resolve this. You don’t need to jump to any conclusion, just let me deal with this.”
“Of course, you’ll deal with this, but I need to know, have you joined hands with your father?” My grandfather accuses.
That feels like an insult, and I guess he realizes it since he clears his throat and clarifies that he needs to know if I intend to betray him.
“We both know I won’t join hands with him. Let me just go and get Lorelei, and she will explain why she met with him.”
I rush down to the parking lot, and instead of having a driver drive me, I choose to drive to my father’s office. I am sure I broke several traffic rules, and to be honest, all I care about is getting to Lorelei. At my father’s office, his men are right at the door.
“Sorry, sir, but I can’t let you-” the bodyguard begins right as I punch him in the stomach.
“Trust me, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Let me go and meet my father, or you’ll regret it.”
The second bodyguard looks at me, then at his colleague on the ground, and he yields. The rest of the team is already heading towards me, but they do not attempt to stop me. As I ride the elevator to my father’s office, I try to calm myself down.
“Where is she?” I yell as I step into his office, my father sitting down at his desk.
“We raised you with manners, all for you to come storming into my office like an animal,” my father’s stern voice rebukes me.
“Where is my wife?” I ask him again, this time, anger seeping into my voice.
For years, I have tried to look beyond the damage this man has done to me.
The pain, the hurt, the tears, the nights when I had gone to bed bawling my eyes out, the times when I realized that I had no one in the world to care for me.
I have always put that behind me, but this, this is crossing the line, and I would make him pay.
He looks at me, his gray eyes staring at me. I am not in the mood for his games, and I look around for Lorelei, but there is no one in his office apart from us.
“You should take your seat. I have a message from her.”
A message from her? What the hell has he done to her?
“I swear to God, if you harmed a hair on her head, I’ll destroy you, not caring whether you’re my father or not,” I make it clear to the monster who had given me life.
He ignores me as he turns his computer around and presses a key on his keyboard. “She knew you might react this way, so she made a video.”
It is Lorelei, alright, and the clothes she is wearing are ones she had gotten here in Velhaven. I lean close to the screen as Lorelei clears her throat.
“By the time you’re seeing this, Desmond, I will have left.
I know this might come as a surprise to you, considering how the past few days have been, but speaking with Alexander, I realize that despite my best intentions, we can’t be together.
Meeting you was the most beautiful thing to ever happen to me, and I wish I could stay much longer, but-”
I punch the screen without hesitation, and the monitor snaps back, crashing into the ground with a loud bang.
“I don’t care what that is. Where is my wife?
” My father’s gaze locks onto mine, and for what feels like eternity, we stare at each other before he breaks it and leans back into his chair.
He crosses his legs and folds his arms across his chest.
“Sometimes, I find it hard to believe that you are my son. I guess being with my father has tainted you.”
“Where is my wife? I don’t give a damn what you think. I want my wife right now!”
My father is an obnoxious jerk, and while I have always let him have his way, I am really pissed right now.
“She left, if that’s what you want to hear.”
“There is no fucking way she did. What did you do to her?” He sighs heavily as he leans forward.
“If you had listened to the end of the video, you would have heard her reasons. Funny how she was more than willing to trade all you have for just five million. A small change to get her away from you.”
I don’t believe him one bit, but that video really looked like Lorelei. She won’t leave me for anything, especially not with her grandmother.
“Did you know that she met with me a few days ago? When I told her that I would give her back her freedom, she was more than willing to leave you right away.”
I shake my head, not wanting to believe him. Lorelei and I had enjoyed ourselves at the gala, and we had even made love afterward. Yet, she had asked questions about my father, wanting to know more about our relationship.
Was this why? Is this the reason she prodded me for information about him?
“I’m sorry, son, but it happens. Well, on the bright side, you won’t have to pay alimony,” my father says, a smirk on his face.
“You bastard,” I say as I lunge across the table, grabbing him by the collar. “I don’t know what you did to her, but I’ll make you pay for this.”
My father throws his hands in the air, that obnoxious smirk still on his face. “Sure, but I might sue you for assault if you don’t let me go.”
I wait a few more seconds before letting him go. “This isn’t over. I’m going to crush you.”
With that, I storm out of his office and head back outside.
Timothy has arrived, and I throw the keys at him, asking him to drive me back to my grandfather’s place.
I keep playing the video in my head. I shouldn’t have lost my temper, and now I have no idea what Lorelei had said in the rest of the clip.
My grandfather is waiting in his office for me when I return. “So did you find her?”
I slump into the chair as I manage to narrate everything that had happened to him. His face turns grim as he tries to process this.
“She doesn’t strike me as that kind of person,” he finally says.
“Can we find out what happened in their meeting? How did you know they were meeting?” I ask, realizing that there might still be a way to unravel this whole mystery.
My grandfather shakes his head, explaining that the source of the information is too valuable to burn. Besides, my father had met with Lorelei privately, and no one truly knows what had happened.
“I don’t think she left willingly,” I mutter. I suddenly realize that I need to talk to Grandma Lillian.
Reaching for my phone, I dial the hospital, asking to be connected to her, but I’m met with shocking news. Lorelei had processed her checkout, and she had been flown to Velhaven about three hours ago. My phone slips from my hand, landing on the couch.
“She is gone. Her grandmother is gone.”
My grandfather looks at me with confusion, and Timothy explains to him. I let out a long sigh into my hands as I realize that Lorelei had truly disappeared. Somehow, with Alexander’s help, she is out of reach.
She didn’t leave of her own free will. I’m confident of it.
I tell Timothy to drive me back to my place, my grandfather protesting immediately, insisting that I can’t afford to be alone at the moment.
“I need to be sure that she left of her own free will,” I inform my grandfather.
He turns to Timothy and tells him to keep an eye on me. He tries to offer comfort on the ride back to my place, but I barely listen to him. I race to our room, searching desperately for something to cling to.
Please be here. Please be here.
“I found it! I found it!” I shout with joy and relief.
“What did you find?” Timothy rushes into the room as I show him the locket.
He looks at me as if I had lost my mind, and I explain to him what this locket proves.
Last night, Lorelei had told me how important this locket is to her and how she always takes it with her wherever she travels.
If she is truly leaving me, there is no way she would leave the locket that contains her parents’ picture.
I bet Alexander did not know that.
Calling that monster my father is something I’d never do again. Now, I have enough conviction to prove that Lorelei didn’t walk out of my life as he claims. I just need to find her and prove that my father abducted her.
“Call Dean right away. Tell him I need his help.”
Alexander can be pretty ruthless, and if he had abducted Lorelei, then clearly, he would have used the best men possible.
Experts, men who are good at what they do, and finding her would require an expert as well.
The only person I can trust to handle something like that is no other person than Dean.
With his connections, he would be able to find Lorelei in a matter of days, just as he did before.
“I heard, nephew. I can’t believe Lorelei would leave you just like that,” Dean begins as Timothy passes the phone.
“She didn’t leave. Alexander took her, and we need to get her back.”
“Desmond-”
“I have proof, Dean. I know she didn’t leave me willingly. I need your help to both prove it and get her back.”
He remains silent, and for a moment I think he’ll turn me down. “Fine, I’ll have one of my guys come over.”
Alexander had just made the biggest mistake of his life.
Not only would I get Lorelei back, but I would do everything in my power to destroy him.
Yes, for going after my woman, I must destroy Alexander Sinclair as ruthlessly as possible.
Anyone who messes with my woman should be ready to lose everything dear to them.