Chapter 17 – Alejandro
Chapter
Seventeen
ALEJANDRO
Jax looks at me with a smile on his face as he puts his cell back into his pocket. He’s found her. Fuck. I could kiss him right now.
He wouldn’t be smiling like that if she was in danger, and immediately my anxiety levels go down a notch. A dark and buried part of me was filled with dread, worried that the Ortegas might have taken her as some kind of twisted power play.
“Seems your girl boarded the 4:15 flight to JFK, amigo.”
“Fuck,” I sigh. I’m relieved, yes, but now I’ve got a whole new set of worries.
I damn well hope she isn’t going to see her snake of a father.
I don’t think she would, but there’s always a possibility.
I hate that man with a passion, but he is her dad, and family holds sway even when we don’t want it to.
Just look at me for proof. Sitting in my office and letting my own father mouth off about Alana like that.
I should have punched him in the face after that first sentence escaped his lips.
Once this is all sorted, we will be having serious words.
“Samuel!” I call my assistant, who’s waiting in the other room. He comes running into my office like the place is on fire and he has the only bucket of water.
“Yes, boss?”
“Call the airport and have the jet ready to go to New York as soon as possible.”
He nods. “I’ll get right on it.”
“And call Hugo too. Tell him to meet us there. He helped get us into this fucking mess; he can help me fix it.”
Samuel nods before walking back out of the room.
I look at Jax again. “You think you can find out who Kelsey is and get me her address by the time we land?”
He frowns at me, puts his hand over his heart. “Of course I can. This is me you’re talking to. Your doubt wounds me.”
I chew my lip in frustration, and he gives me a reassuring grin. “She’s safe, amigo. She’ll be back in your arms before you know it.”
I nod at him. I hope he’s right, but I won’t relax until she is back where she belongs. With me. And once she is? I’m never letting her go.
Now I know she’s fled back to New York, I’m convinced she overheard that ridiculous conversation with my dad.
She heard him venting, and in her understandably fragile state, she ran.
If she’d just hung around a little longer, she’d have caught the rest of it, and none of this drama would have been necessary.
No. I shake my head. I’m being an asshole.
It wasn’t her fault. My father was out of line, and I took too long to straighten him out.
She’d just been told the worst news possible, and I knew she was insecure about it.
Not only disappointed and distraught for herself, but worried that she was letting me down by daring to have fertility problems. Problems that millions of people have, all over the world, and that would never make me think less of her.
But in that frame of mind, to overhear my father’s callous judgment?
It must have been too much. She came to my suite looking for comfort, and all she found was cruelty.
I can’t blame her for running, and it breaks my heart to imagine how much pain she’s been in.
Alone. If for even one second she thought I agreed with him…
Pain shoots through my jaw and I realize I’m grinding my teeth. I’m a mass of conflicting emotions, and it’s driving me crazy.
Yeah, I get why she did it, and I regret what happened, but part of me is still angry with her for how she went about things.
She flew off to the other side of the country without so much as a goodbye.
I’m hurt too, as well as fucking furious.
She could have called me, sent me a message like she did Lucia.
Even if she needed space, did she have to abandon me so completely?
Shit. It’s all such a fucking mess. I’ve thought about nothing but her for hours now, in a frenzy of worry and pain. My dad was an ass today, but he wasn’t wrong about one thing. Loving someone does make you weak.
“Shall I get the car brought round out front?” Jax asks, interrupting my thoughts. Thank fuck, because I really wasn’t enjoying them.
“Yeah,” I nod absent-mindedly.
“Okay. Meet us out front in five,” he says before disappearing out of my office.
I take my cell out of my pocket and call Lucia. I promised, and I know she’s worried too.
“Have you found her?” she asks immediately.
“Yes. She’s gone to New York.”
“Told you.”
“You did. I’m flying there myself soon. We’ll be back tomorrow morning. Don’t leave the house while I’m gone.” The last thing I need is teenage girl crisis on top of everything else.
“Can’t I come with you?” she asks.
“No,” I reply firmly. I have no idea what reception I’ll get when I find Alana, and this is between the two of us. She will need handling, one way or another, and Lucia shouldn’t be around while I do that. It might not be pretty.
“I’ll bring her back before you even wake up tomorrow,” I say.
“Fine. But you’d better not hurt her,” she snaps.
“What the fuck, Lucia. You honestly think I’d do that?”
“I mean her heart, dumbass! I didn’t think you were going to beat her up,” she snaps. “There are more ways to hurt a woman than with your fists, you idiot.”
God, this kid is infuriating. Who else would I ever allow to speak to me like this? It doesn’t help that she’s often right. “I won’t hurt her,” I say with a sigh. At least I’ll try not to, I add silently.
“Good. Then I’ll see you both tomorrow.”