“Come on, pick up the phone!” Chase muttered as he tried to call her once again.

It had been four days since he had last spoken to Penny, and he didn’t understand why she had just disappeared again. It didn’t make any sense.

He had gone over to her house the few days before, but after sleeping together and spending the night with her, he had thought that things were going to get better between them once again. Chase thought that he had her back. But she vanished on him shortly after that.

She had told him that she was going to get things sorted out with her job, and she’d even told him that she was going to contact him after she had. But, with all the time that was passing, he was beginning to worry she had just said all that to get him off her back.

Finally, he decided he was going to stop by her apartment and see how things were going. At the very least, she could tell him what was going on.

But when he drove by, he couldn’t see her car out front. In fact, it looked as though the entire place was dark on the inside. He knew he had to be careful. He didn’t want to look like he was trying to break into the place, but he did want to see her. With his frustration mounting, he called her landlord.

“Hello?”

“Yes, hi, Mr. Eastor, I’m looking for someone—my name is Chase Ellis, and someone that I love was living here, but it seems that she’s missing,” Chase said. He didn’t know how to say it, and he didn’t want to sound too panicked, but he was worried about her.

“Who are you looking for?” Mr. Eastor asked.

“Penny Connor,” Chase replied.

There was the sound of papers being shuffled around on the other end of the line, then he got back on. “I’m sorry, but Ms. Connor moved out two days ago. She didn’t leave a forwarding address with us.”

“Thank you for your time,” Chase said after a moment of hesitation. He wanted to grill the man further and find out whatever he knew, but he also knew that he wasn’t going to get anywhere doing that. There was no way they would be able to legally tell him where she had gone even if they knew where she was headed, and he didn’t want to get in trouble trying to get that information out of him.

With a sigh, he decided he was going to go to the one person who kept even stronger tabs on her than he did. Her boss, Doug.

“Chase Ellis! What can I do for you?” Doug asked jovially as he stepped into his office. Chase had been admitted right away, but he didn’t spend any time with formality with the man. He didn’t like Doug, and he never had, and he wasn’t going to pretend to be his friend just because he wanted to know what happened to Penny.

“I’m looking for someone,” he said shortly.

“Well, you’ve come to the right man. I can tell you the whereabouts of most people in this town. That is, most people of importance. If there is someone you need found, I can get you in touch with the right people to find them.” Doug leaned back in his chair with a grin, and Chase felt disgusted. He got the impression this man knew exactly who he was looking for, but he was going to play around.

It was just like something he would do, and though it aggravated Chase, he was going to stay cordial. He had long since learned with his dealings with the man that it was far easier to do that than to try to drag any sort of information out of him through force. Chase had learned that the more he tried to act like he wanted information, the more the man was going to hold it back.

“Can you tell me where Penny Connor is? I know she was working for you, but I haven’t been able to get a hold of her recently, and I’m worried that something has happened to her,” Chase said. He was careful with what he said to Doug. Doug was one of the many people Chase didn’t trust, and he wasn’t going to say anything that could put Penny in any kind of danger.

Doug took in a deep breath then let it out again slowly. “You know, Penny was working here, but as it turns out, she was being a little too friendly with the clients who were coming through, and I just couldn’t keep her on any longer.”

“What do you mean she was being too friendly? From all the times I was in here, it seemed to me that the clients were the ones who were being too friendly with her, and she didn’t want any part of it,” Chase replied coolly. He could sense there was something going on, and he was determined to get to the bottom of it.

“Well, for one, she’s pregnant. Now, I’m not the kind of man to get involved in people’s personal lives, but I know all the women who work here really well, and I know she wasn’t seeing anyone privately. My point being that there is evidence in the security footage that she was getting a little too close to some men, and you know, I can’t have that sort of thing here.” Doug clasped his hands and leaned forward on the desk.

Chase blinked. Pregnant? Penny was pregnant? That couldn’t be possible…she had to have been on birth control. Why didn’t she tell him? Unless…was it not his? No, he couldn’t go down that path. He just needed to find out what Doug was talking about and where she was. Chase rose to his feet.

“Show me that footage!” he snapped.

“I’m sorry, I’m not at liberty to do so. You aren’t a cop, and it is confidential information,” Doug replied with the same cool tone. Chase shook his head.

“So, you fired her?” he said, shaking his head in disbelief. “You fired a pregnant woman?”

“I fired a woman who was getting too close to the clients. If she wants to work at a place like that, she can go elsewhere. We are professional here, and I expect all my women to behave in a respectful manner.” He crossed his arms, sitting back in his chair and giving Chase a pointed look.

Chase shook his head. He knew the truth about what was going on in the nightclub, but he wasn’t going to get into it with this man. He had more important things to do. He had to find Penny.

“I hope that helps!” Doug called out after him as Chase turned on his heel and strode out of the office.

Chase put his phone to his ear and dialed Penny once more. As soon as he got her voicemail, he left a message saying that he was aware of the baby and needed to talk to her as soon as possible.

“Come on, Penny, where the hell are you?” he muttered as he jammed his phone back in his pocket. Chase ran to his car and slipped inside, hitting the steering wheel out of frustration.

There was a huge world out there, and she was so young, so naïve.

He had to find her before something bad happened to her.