The Hated Billionaire by Erica Frost

Chapter 22: Brett

I was already tired, and I had only been at work for a few hours. It was mainly because I was trying to ignore my urge to go and check on Christina. I needed to know if she was back safely. It just so happened that this was a day full of things to do. I went down the hallway to go and meet with the chief financial officer.

When I passed Christina’s office, I looked in. I couldn’t see her in there, but a young lady walked past a moment later, carrying forms and with a bewildered expression.

“Hi,” I greeted her as she slowed down. “Um, is Ms. Bradfield in?”

“Yes, I think so,” she replied, looking up at me with big hazel eyes. “She came in this morning. I didn’t see her come back from lunch.” A frown creased her brow, visible under the fall of hair across her forehead.

“I see,” I said. I looked at my watch. It was two o’ clock. Maybe she was having a business lunch and forgot about the time.

I managed to get my mind off the subject of where Christina was, focusing instead on the annual budget report that needed to be finished next month. There were a lot of points to clarify. I found myself wishing Christina was here so I could talk to her – she had a keen mind and I trusted her with her concise explanations more than I did Burgess and his in-depth legal knowhow.

When the meeting was finished, I hurried down to her office again.

“Is Ms. Bradfield back?” I asked the secretary. I was trying to hide my anxiety, and I supposed my worry must have sounded like anger, because she grew instantly defensive.

“I’m sure she’ll be back soon. She probably had to talk to the guys from the tax office or something…it’s not like her to just take off because she feels like it.”

“Maybe,” I agreed, trying to sound unbothered. “Let me know when she’s back, please.”

The secretary nodded, but I could tell she was concerned about Christina and she still thought she was in trouble. “Yes, Mr. Caden.”

I went back to my office, wondering if all my employees thought I was draconian. I didn’t think I was such a horrid boss. The only person I had ever treated even remotely unfairly had been Christina, now that I thought of it – I had often picked out errors in her slides at meetings, or been a smartass at her expense. I had deliberately been horrid; but just because I was attracted to her and it was the only way I could think of to fight how I felt. I found myself tapping my fingers on the desk, a habit when I was stressed and unsettled.

I let out a sigh. I should try to calm down. The secretary was right – Christina was probably off at a meeting somewhere.

“Mr. Caden?” My own secretary said, coming into the office. “A call for you. It’s the chief technical officer.”

“I’ll take it in here. Thanks,” I nodded.

The meeting lasted longer than I had expected, and by four o’ clock I was glad to finally see the chief technical officer out of my room. I wanted to call Christina.

I shut the door and sat down, taking out my phone. I was surprised that I felt nervous. I suppose that I couldn’t quite ignore the idea that she was mad at me. After all, it was a distinct possibility – I hadn’t heard from her since Sunday, apart from a terse note to say she was fine, with no explanation given.

I dialed and waited. The phone rang and then was abruptly silent.

“Weird.”

I put it down, leaning back in my chair. I tried to figure out what had happened.

This wasn’t like Christina. If she had been sick, she would have stayed at home again, not come in and then left after half a day. Not unless she had suddenly relapsed. In which case, how ill was she? I spontaneously decided to go and find her.

“I have to go out, on urgent personal business,” I told my secretary. “Please forward important calls.”

“Yes, sir.”

I could remember very well where her apartment was, and I swung into the carpark after half an hour in heavy traffic and jumped out, ringing the doorbell.

“Christina? Hello?”

No reply.

I was really feeling frantic. I should have done something yesterday when she was off work! I should have come to visit her, or called. But, then, she’d seemed fine when I texted – her reply had been terse, but I had been so preoccupied with thinking that it was my fault to consider what was happening to her.

I didn’t know anything, so I went back to my car. I called Teagan. I explained that Christina was missing.

“I see. Have you gone past her house?” He asked.

“I’m at her house,” I said. I felt my heart thudding in my chest. “I really am a bit stressed. I can’t imagine what could have happened.”

I could hear my brother was worried too when he replied. “She isn’t at home and she isn’t at work. Do you know where else she might have gone? Does she have family here?”

“I don’t know!” I almost shouted. I was really worried. “I don’t think so. She wasn’t born here. Sorry,” I added. I tried to calm down. I knew so little about Christina, and that was my fault. I didn’t even know if she had relatives here.

“I know. You’re stressed,” he said gently. “I can hear that. Would you like to come over? Maybe we can figure this out together.”

I felt myself relax at the thought of going over. “Yes. That’d really help.”

“Great. See you soon. I’ll get something cooking in the meanwhile – you can’t think properly on an empty stomach.”

“Thanks.”

I drove to my brother’s apartment. The drive took over half an hour. I jumped out of the car and rang the bell, feeling a sense of urgency I couldn’t explain. I needed to get to Christina.

My brother let me in and I went straight through to the sitting-room. I couldn’t sit still, though, and ended up walking to the window and back, my legs not letting my body rest. I felt better walking. I told my brother what I knew as I went from the window and back.

“She switched off when I called her the first time. The second time she just let it ring.”

“How likely is it,” my brother asked slowly, “that she’s in danger..? I mean, if we think about it logically. Is there anyone who would threaten her?”

“Who would want to threaten her?” I demanded. “She’s my finance executive, not a CIA agent.” I knew I was being mean, but I was just scared. I looked across at my brother but he looked perfectly calm.

“Why don’t we call again?” Teagan asked. “I can see you’re really worried. I know a guy who was in the police-force. He could get a trace on her number. At least then we’ll know where she is.”

I felt a flicker of joy in my heart. “You can do that? Sounds great,” I said. “But maybe let’s hold on for a bit. I’ll call her again and see if she answers.”

I took out my phone and pressed her number. Nothing happened. This time, the phone rang for a few seconds and then went off.

“No reply,” I said.

My brother’s frown deepened.

“This is pretty weird,” he agreed. “If you can wait, I’ll call Grayson. Maybe he can find out where she is.”

I let out my breath in a long sigh. I felt so relieved!

I waited while my brother spoke to his friend. I couldn’t hear much of what was being said – on Teagan’s side there was mostly just nodding and agreeing.

“He’ll be over shortly,” he said. “Then we’ll find out where she is.”

“Great,” I agreed.

Grayson arrived about ten minutes later – a tall, serious guy with a thin face and short gray hair, cropped to police-standard length, even though he was no longer serving as a policeman. He greeted me formally.

“Hi. I’m Matthew. You can call me Grayson, though – that’s what everyone calls me.”

“Hi, Grayson. I’m Brett, Teagan’s brother. I’m glad to meet you. I know it sounds like I’m making a fuss about nothing, but could you trace a number for us?”

“Yeah, sure, I think so,” Grayson agreed. “Can you call now?”

“Sure,” I said, hastily pulling out the phone. I had suddenly got a horrible thought – what if whoever it was who kept stopping the call had decided to put the phone off? How could we trace her? I held the phone to my ear, desperate to hear something on the other side.

“It went through!” I almost shouted.

“Good. Just keep the call open, and I’ll take it from here,” my brother’s friend said. He took the phone from me and I didn’t watch what he was doing. I was too busy hoping it would work. I sat in the chair by the window, trying to look as if I wasn’t completely stressed.

“Got it!”

I jumped up out of the chair as Grayson spoke. I went over to him, my heart thudding.

“Where is she?” I asked quickly.

Grayson looked at Teagan, and I tried not to shout or to demand the information. He had a worried look.

“She’s in not a very nice area, actually,” Grayson said worriedly. “It’s down where the factories are – or where most of them were…now there are a lot of disused buildings down there and it’s pretty dangerous.”

“What the hell?” I was suddenly terrified for her. “Grayson! Are you sure?”

“As sure as I am that technology works,” Grayson said calmly. He looked at Teagan, and I could see the police officer in him coming out again. He seemed absolutely calm, where the rest of us were really worried. “Come on. We should call the guys to go get her.”

“Yes!” I agreed instantly. “We need to get the cops. But can we go too?” I asked.

Grayson shrugged, looking at me like he didn’t think I would be much use. I felt offended, but at the same time I could see his point – Grayson and Teagan were both really big guys. At the same time, I wanted to be there.

“Yeah,” Grayson nodded. “I reckon the guys could do with some help. And I am sure you want to be there. Come on. Let’s go!”

I nodded and put my phone back in my pocket and grabbed my coat. Grayson and Teagan were talking to each other in low voices and I wondered what was worrying them. When I went back over, Grayson cleared his throat.

“I don’t think my truck will take us that fast. And your brother says his car’s got an issue with the rear wheel.”

I grinned, taking my keys from my pocket.

“I have a BMW sports car,” I said. “I reckon we’ll get there on time.”

My brother and Grayson looked at each other, then back at me. I nodded to them and they fell into step behind me.

My humor at their surprise was brief and lukewarm in the face of Christina’s danger. I was just grateful that we would be able to get there fast.