Chapter 66
Chapter 66
Chapter 66 Dante’s POV. Some thing was terribly, horribly wrong.
| had known this from the minute that meeting had come to an end. Sophia was not the easiest of woman to persuade and after all the progress that | had thought we’d made over the week away, | really hoped the two of us could move forward and explore us but many many things had the way of that cancelling out efforts and sending me to the pits again starting back right where | had been.
gotten in
Between Pheobe trying to put out glass news to the tabloids and the verdict passed by the meeting, | knew that Sophia was furious with me and, as always, she would not wait back for me to explain things to her.
Once the meeting had come to a conclusion, | rushed after her trying to dodge the other colleagues that tried to greet me. Nothing mattered to me more than getting to Sophia and clearing out the air before she made this even more bigger of a deal than it was in actuality.
| had made it to out of the board room and there had been no sign of her. Naturally, | assumed that she had headed to her office and | rushed over only go find her office empty and her assistant looking rather confused at my presence in an empty office.
After asking around, a red head mentioned seeing her leaving the building on their way up and | immediately rushed down to the loby and stormed out of the revolving doors which | hated. | made it to her car but found it odd that she had chosen to walk to where ever she decided to go to.
| walked all the way to the cafe down the road where | knew Adam and her frequented but there was no trace of her there either. Running out of placed to find her, | called her office again to ask the ever eager Lucy if Sophia had returned to which she informed me that Sophia had left for the day because her bag had been taken.
Defeated, | walked back to the parking lot with the intention of driving to her house but some thing didn’t bloody add up. How the fuck could she have headed back home when her car was still very much where | had last seen it parked in the spot that had been reserved for her vehicle.
| fished out my phone from my blazer pocket to call her up but then let it be knowing that she was never going to answer in her state of mind. She never ever took my calls when she was furious with
1.me. Where the hell could she have been?! | gave up and a stormed over to my car. My anger bubble beneath the surface and | itched to
pound my fist in to some thing just to let out my frustration. | headed home with the intention of fixing myself a strong drink then taking an icy cold shower to relieve myself from being in her presence for more than five minutes without being able to touch her.
At some point between trying to cool down my own temper and pouring drink after drink, | had TA
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given it a rest and dropped my cup on the cabinet. | was never one to be outright drunk and | could hold my alcohol pretty impressively and | also knew not to drink excessively.
| groaned not being able to help myself and reached for my phone. With out letting any of my own thoughts talk me out of it, | dialled Sophia’s number and waited for it to ring. When it did no such thing and went to voice mail instead, | began to get a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach.
| was on the verge of trying again assuming it might just be a network issue when my phone rang in the palm of my hand. | stared at the unfamiliar number before answering the incoming call.
“Hello? Is this Mr Crawford?” The feminine voice spoke from the other end. “Yes. Speaking.” | said with a crease forming between my brows.
“This is Nancy, your daughter’s nanny. She introduced herself before going on. “I would like to know if you have heard from Miss Sophia? She hasn't returned home yet and she is never late.” Nancy sounded worried and | could hear Hayley in the back ground mumbling some thing but she sounded scared.
Sophia hadn't returned back home yet. This did not sound good. She may be angry at me but she would never ever be so careless towards Hayley.
“I need to get going but | can’t leave unless Hayley is with another trusted adult.” She explained. responsibly holding more concern for Hayley than any thing else.
| immediately rose from my study and reached for my keys. “I'll be over in a few minutes, Nancy. thank you for letting me know about this. Please stay with Hayley until | get there.” | hung up then rushed out of the study and the house entirely before | made it to the car.
I tried
my best to stick to the speed limit and be a safe driver but fuck it, | needed to get to Hayley and make sense of what was going on and figure out where Sophia was at this time of the night.
As | drove down the paved drive way to Sophia’s inherited home, | noticed that her car was still not home and she hadn't magically appeared as | had hoped she would by the time | had gotten here. | didn’t want to accept that some thing had happened to her just yet but it was really beginning to look like that.
Nancy had let me in through the front door which | was pleased to see had been locked before | had gotten here. Hayley had been curled up on the couch looking far too distraught than a child her age ought to have been.
Nancy petting her head slowly ing to comfort her but when Hayley heard me approach the living room, she immediately ran over to me.
“Mama isn’t home yet. She didn’t come home today. She is always home when the big hand on the clock hits 12 and the small hand points are 5.” Hayley’s voice w
tensed and laden with fear and | knew that | would have to calm her down and get her to bed first before | could do any thing else.
| looked to Nancy who had rose to her feet as well all ready to leave for the night. “Thank you do. 2/4
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11:32 Fri, 8 Mar R G W
much for staying longer and informing me about this. | apologize for the inconvenience, nancy.” She nodded curtly at me but her eyes were just as worried as his Hayley’s had been.
“It is no trouble at all, Mr Crawford, Hayley is like my own and | would never be careless to leave her by herself because it falls out of my working hours.” She said gently before leaving. | felt like she wanted to tell me more but she held back because of Hayley,
After Nancy had left, Hayley clung to my legs and | reached down to pick her up. She was
embling and scared at the fact that her mother didn’t come home. | was petrified myself and held of thinking about all the things that could go wrong.
| had to focus on Hayley first. It was important that she was calm and settled before | even made any further phone calls. | rubbed her back as she tightly wrapped her arms around my n*eck.
“Where is mama?” Hayley asked me the question that | wished to God | had the answer to
What was | even going to tell her? | could say that | didn’t know or that I’m going to look for her because that would only cause further anxiety to her. Even though my gur told me that something was definitely wrong because Sophia would never ever do such a thing especially if it meant being careless to Hayley. In the times that | had observed her with Hayley, one thing was evident and that was that Sophia put Hayley above all else and as her highest priority. Nothing else mattered to Sophia as much as Hayley did.
“It will be okay, Hayley. She’ll be back home soon.” | kept my voice low as my own thoughts raced through my mind.
It felt rather ironic that the very same day Pheobe leaked her fake news. Sophia just goes missing less than twenty four hours. later. What made it even more freaky was that her car had still been parked in the work parking lot.
“But where is she?” She asked the dreadful question once again and | had to think of some white lie. after all
| think she went over to Adam’s. They are friend and I’m sure she'll be back before we know it.” Her head lifted of my shoulder so that she could look at me with reluctant eyes.
“Why didn’t Adam come over here? He always comes her when they want to catch up.” She asked innocently recalling her observations. “Err, because | wanted to spend some time with you this evening.” | said with a broad smile and saw her begin to relax. “Have
you eaten dinner yet?” | asked her and she shook her head causing her soft hair to bob around.
“Would you like some pasta?” She immediately nodded with eagerness and | carried her to the kitchen and set her on to the counter.
After a full hour, Hayley had been fed, showered and ready for bed but | stayed with her until she was fully asleep before | headed out to the foyer to make a few urgent calls.
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11:32 Fri, 8 Mar RB. Chapter 66
| had Frederick hack in to Sophia’s company cameras to see if there was any footage of her leaving the building and getting to the parking lot. Aside from that, | had him try to track her phones location but that was proving to be futile. Another indication that some thing was indeed very
wrong.
| paced the length of the hallway not finding it with in me to even sit until | had received some sort of feedback from Frederick. He would take long and asked me for just ten minutes but it felt like the most longest ten minutes of my existence.
When my phone buzzed again, | pressed the green button and moved away from Hayley’s bedroom door to not disturb her. “Tell me you have found some thing solid, Fred.” | nearly begged once | put the phone to my ear.
“Oh, | found some thing alright but it doesn’t look good at all.” F***. When Frederick said stuff like this it meant prepare for the worst. “She left the building shortly after that meeting mentioned had. ended. The footage shows her leaving the building and making it to her car but a man got to her before she could unlock it.” He informed me but | could sense that he had more to tell me.
“He drugged her up and carried her a few rows back where a white van had been waiting.” Dammit! This was worse than | thought | didn’t think she would have been kidnapped.
“Did you try and get any identification of the man?” | asked impatiently, my hands running through my hair far too ughly as | pulled trying to ease the sudden headache that unleashed upon me.
“His had half a mask on but he looks very much like our friend Demetri.” | grit my teeth together. “but you know I'd never leave on assumption so | tried to run the plates and found it registered to a rental then hacked the system to find the records and | was right. Demetri has got Sophia. | don’t know where they've taken her but I’m guessing it’s not any where pleasant.” He warned and | was too consumed by the rage that had over taken me.
Demetri was not operating alone. | was willing to wager all that | was worth that it was Pheobe who had been behind all of this. If they so much as harmed a single hair on Sophia, | would rain hell on both of them until they wished they had never ever walked this earth.
“Try again to find out even the direction in which that van was headed.” | said to Frederick before hanging up.
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