Chapter 35

Bastian

 

 

I knew something was wrong the second Sabrina rushed up to my side when I stepped out of the conference room with Ashton right behind me.

“It’s Joanna,” she whispered urgently. “She needs you to call your driver to check up on her mother.”

I glanced over my shoulder at Ashton, who frowned in concern. Panic started to claw its way up my back while I pulled both of them into the filing room full of employee records. Ashton closed the door behind us.

“What’s going on?” I demanded. “Why didn’t you tell me she called?”

“She told me not to interrupt the meeting,” Sabrina said, eyes flickering back and forth in distress. “Something isn’t right, Bastian. I can feel it. She told me that her mother called to try to get information about where she was.”

“She didn’t say where she was, right?”

Sabrina shook her head at me. “No, she didn’t. She knew it was Sid using her mom to get information, but she asked me to have you call the driver. I don’t know what she meant by that, but to call him.”

“Shit,” I muttered, running a hand through my hair. “Okay, Sabrina. Thank you for giving me the message.”

She glanced anxiously between Ashton and me. “Do either of you know anything about what is going on?”

I didn’t know what to say to Sabrina to calm her nerves. It was Ashton who stepped in to soothe Sabrina before he ushered her out of the room. He turned to look at me as I fished through my pocket for my cell phone. No missed calls from Joe. No missed calls from the hotel room.

“What do you think is going on?” Ashton asked. “Something with Sid?”

“Something along those lines,” I said darkly. “Listen, if I call you—”

“I’ll call my lawyers and yours,” he finished for me. “I know this guy has connections throughout the force. All crooked cops do. Just do the right thing, Bastian. Call them to get everything documented if something comes up.”

“I’ll do it right. I called Internal Affairs earlier.”

I couldn’t get the queasy feeling out of my stomach. Would Marcus Flannagan investigate everything that quickly? I didn’t once think it would happen that swiftly, unless someone from Internal Affairs had tipped off Sid about my phone call.

“That might be what is going on,” Ashton said, concern thick in his voice now. “Jesus, man. Get the hell out of this office to see if Joanna is okay. I’ll make sure to keep an eye out here.”

“Thank you,” I said, grateful at that moment that I had at least one friend in the world I could trust everything with. “I’ll call you the second I know what is going on.”

I left after locking up my office. Mindful of the cars parked in the garage, I waited until I was driving away from the parking garage before I called Joe’s cell phone. He picked up on the second ring.

“What the hell is going on?” I demanded.

“Nothing is going on,” Joe said, confusion tinging his voice. “I’ve been sitting here the entire time. Nobody has come to the house. Not once.”

“Are you sure about that? Nobody at all?”

“Nothing, boss. No one has come by. I’ve been watching the front door this entire time. No one has come up.”

I didn’t feel an ounce of relief. Something was off if Joanna had called from the hotel, concerned about her mother’s well-being. I focused on the interstate as I merged onto the off-ramp that led to the hotel. It was still at least ten minutes away.

“Keep an eye on the house,” I said. “I’ll be by in the next hour if I can’t find Joanna at the hotel.”

“You think something happened to her?” Joe asked.

“I hope not,” I said, my heart constricting in cold fear. “I really hope not, Joe. Stay put until I tell you to move.”

The phone back in my hotel suite rang nonstop. It didn’t even go to voice mail. I pushed down harder on the gas pedal.

The front lobby was buzzing with people when I dropped my SUV off in valet parking. I pushed past a few people in line, who grumbled behind my back. I braced my hands on the front counter.

“Has anyone been in my suite?” I snapped out. “Has anyone come by looking for me, or for the person who is staying in my suite?”

The front desk clerk drew back in fear at the look in my eye. “Not that I’m aware of, sir. You left specific messages to let no visitors go up there.”

“Why is no one answering in my room?” I demanded.

“I’m not sure, sir. I can send someone up there to check.”

“I’ll check myself,” I snarled, thoroughly panicked. “Don’t you dare call the police, either, until I say to do so. Do you fucking understand me?”

The question echoed loudly in the front lobby. A few people shrank back when I turned to glower at them before I hurried to the elevators. My hands were trembling with anger as I punched the top floor button. Once I made it to the floor and exited the elevator, I burst through the suite door the second the key slot showed green.

I scanned the living room for any signs of disruption. Nothing was out of place. The maids had come through the room at some point to clean and tidy up everything, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Joanna’s bags were still on the bedroom floor, but that only added to my anxiety.

Joanna wouldn’t have left without her purse, which was on the living room table. I sucked in a deep breath while I tried to calm the rising fear inside me. There were only two people who could possibly know where Joanna was—Sid and Joanna’s mother.

I drummed my hands on the steering wheel while I drove another twenty minutes to Joanna’s mother’s house. I parked behind Joe, who immediately hopped out to greet me.

“She wasn’t there?” he asked, reading the anxiety on my face. “I can call a few resources if you need me to.”

“I might need you to do that,” I said. “I’m going to go up to the door. Keep an eye peeled for trouble.”

Joe nodded as he leaned up against the side of his SUV. “I’ve got your six.”

I tucked my hands inside my coat pockets after knocking on the front door. After holding my breath as the locks clicked back, I was greeted by an older woman with fair blond hair the same color as Joanna’s.

“Hello, Mrs. Lind. I’m—”

“Bastian Burke,” she said coolly. “Yes, I know who you are.”

I took a step back at the hostility in her eyes, but also to keep control of my patience. I knew from what Joanna had told me that Sid had convinced her I was the one causing trouble in Joanna’s life, not Sid.

“What do you want?” she asked. “If you’re wondering about my daughter’s whereabouts, I’d like to ask you the same question. I know she left with you last night. Do you have any respect for what I went through this morning as a mother wondering where my child went? Or where she has been for the past few weeks?”

“Your daughter needed some help escaping an abusive relationship that—”

“If that truly was the case, Mr. Burke,” she interrupted coldly, “then you would’ve done the right thing by taking her to a shelter. Even to her family. Instead, you took her to your place for your own needs. That is not respect for my daughter, who has already been through enough.”

I took a deep breath to calm myself. “I understand that you believe I’m the one who is causing this trouble, ma’am, but I can assure you that it isn’t me you should be worried about here.”

“I’m more confident in Sid than I am in you,” she spat at me, seizing ahold of the door. “I have no idea where Joanna is. I don’t even know why you’re here if you’re the one who has seen her last.”

She slammed the door in my face before I could say anything else. I walked back down the pathway to where Joe was waiting at our SUVs.

“No luck?”

“No fucking luck,” I said in aggravation. “She thinks I’m the one who has taken her daughter hostage. It’s the other way around.”

“Do you know for a fact that this guy took her?” Joe asked.

“That’s the only plausible thing I can think of,” I said. “She wouldn’t have left her purse or anything else behind.”

“It hasn’t been forty-eight hours, either,” Joe said, rifling through his pockets for his phone. “I’m going to call a few guys I know. You’ve got some resources to call?”

“Only one other person who knows a few people to call,” I said. “Do me a favor? Keep an eye on her while I make a couple of phone calls.”

I drove aimlessly for the next thirty minutes while I tried to keep control of my emotions. I finally pulled off at a gas station in order to call Ashton.

“Joe’s right,” he said after I told him everything. “There isn’t anything else you can do until it’s been forty-eight hours. No one saw her take off from the hotel?”

“No one saw a damn thing,” I said, sagging against the steering wheel. “I don’t know what to do, Ashton. Keep looking?”

“That’s all you can do for now,” he said. “I’ll have a few friends of mine in law enforcement pull a couple strings without directly involving the police here. They can track Sid’s phone number without alerting the other officers that we are looking for him. They can also hear radio static as well if Sid’s on the channel talking to them.”

“Thank you, Ashton. I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome. Keep your chin up. We’ll find her safely.”

“I hope so,” I said, tears stinging the backs of my eyes. “Fuck, I really hope so.”