I looked up at the man I had always respected more than anyone else in the world and wondered what the hell had gotten into him. I’d told him about the news Alana and I had received earlier, expecting some words of advice and support from him. Instead, he launched into a diatribe about how useless Alana was to me now.
I let him talk. That was his way. He talked at people. Usually talking them into submission. When he finally stopped, I stood up from my desk.
‘Are you quite finished insulting my wife?’ I snarled at him.
He glared at me. ‘Watch your tone, mi hijo,’ he warned.
‘No, I will not fucking watch my tone, Papa! How dare you come into my office and talk about my wife like that. She is devastated that she might not be able to get pregnant. And if you can’t be anything but one hundred fucking percent supportive of her right now, then I don’t want you anywhere near her, or me.’
‘Alejandro!’ he hissed. ‘I am your father!’
‘No. Right now, you’re just some jackass who is standing in my office insulting me and the woman I love. So, if there’s nothing else, get the hell out.’
His nostrils flared as he stared at me, no doubt wondering whether he should punch me in the face for daring to speak to him like that. But, a few seconds later, he turned around and stormed out of my office.
I walked out of my hotel suite and into the hallway. I’d cancelled my final meeting of the day because I wanted to get home to Alana. I needed to make sure she was okay. But more than than that, I needed her to make me feel okay too.
‘Evening, Boss,’ Lorenzo, one of my guards said. ‘Are you heading to the bar?’
‘No. Straight home,’ I said as I reached the elevator.
‘But, Mrs. Montoya said you were meeting her in the bar.’
I frowned at him. ‘What?’
‘When she left earlier, she said that you’d told her to wait for you in the bar,’ I saw his adams apple bob in his throat as he swallowed.
‘My wife was here?’ I snapped as my heart started to race.
‘Yes, Boss.’
‘When?’
‘About two hours ago. She left shortly before your father.’
Shit!
‘What? Where did she go? You just let her walk out of here on her own?’ I snarled.
‘She told me that you’d asked her to wait for her in the bar. She said Hugo and Hank were waiting there for her.’
‘Call the bar now, and see if she’s there,’ I said as I pulled my cell from my pocket and dialed her number. My heart sank as it went straight to voicemail.
‘Fuck!’ I hissed as I called Hugo.
He answered after a few rings. ‘Everything okay, Boss?’
‘That depends. Is Alana with you?’
‘No,’ he said just as Lorenzo shook his head to indicate that Alana wasn’t in the bar either.
I took in a deep breath, sucking in a lungful of air as I tried to tell myself that she was safe. She was simply upset and she needed some space. She was probably just back at the house.
‘I took her to your suite. I let her inside and I closed the door. I thought she was with you,’ I heard the panic in Hugo’s voice and it did nothing to calm my bubbling anger.
‘It is your fucking job to protect her. Unless you actually hand her over to me, or she is in the house, she is your fucking responsibility!’ I snarled. ‘How could you just fucking leave her like that?’
‘I’m on my way back to the hotel, Boss. I’ll find her.’
‘No. Go check at the shelter. Or any other place she might be. And you’d better pray that we find her soon, and that she’s fucking okay!’
‘Of course, Boss,’ he said as he ended the call.
I turned my anger on Lorenzo then, grabbing him by the throat and pushing him against the wall. ‘How the fuck could you let her just walk down to the lobby on her own? Especially with everything that’s going on with the Ortegas! What the fuck do I pay you for?’
‘I’m sorry, Boss. But she said …’ I squeezed his throat so hard, he couldn’t finish the sentence.
‘I don’t care what she said. It is your fucking job to protect me and my family. She is my family. If anything has happened to her!’ I let him go and he gasped for air as he rubbed his throat.
I stepped back and ran my hands through my hair. My heart raced. Adrenaline coursed around my body as though it was my lifeblood.
I was wondering what to do next when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I spun around to see Jax. ‘Hey, amigo. What the hell is going on?’
I paced up and down my office. Alana wasn’t at the house or the hotel. She wasn’t at the shelter. She wasn’t answering her cell. Security cameras had recorded her leaving the hotel and getting into a cab. I couldn’t get hold of anyone who knew where she might be. It seemed like even Lucia was avoiding me.
I had men out looking for Alana every place I thought she might be. Jax sat watching me. I was about to suggest we go and do something useful when my cell phone rang.
‘It’s Lucia,’ I said. Thank fuck! She had to know something.
‘Hey, Alejandro,’ she said breezily. ‘I was taking a nap and I left my cell on silent. Sorry. Is everything okay?’
‘Have you seen Alana?’
‘No. But she sent me a text a couple of hours ago.’
‘What did it say?’
‘Hang on. I didn’t read it. Let me check.’
There was a few seconds silence as she checked her phone.
‘It says. Hey sweetie. I’m going away for a couple of days. Alejandro and Magda will look after you. Take care of you and that baby. I’ll call you tomorrow.’
‘That’s all?’ I snapped.
‘Yes. What’s going on, Alejandro. Where is she? Why has she gone away? What did you do?’
‘She got some bad news this morning, that’s all. She just needs some space.’
‘So, why hasn’t she told you where she’s gone?’ she asked in a snarky tone that made me want to remind her who she was speaking to.
‘Look, Lucia. She’s pissed at me. She’s pissed at everything. But, I’ll find her.’
‘Well, there’s only one place she would have gone if she’s gone for a few days, isn’t there?’
‘Where?’
She sighed dramatically. ‘Back to New York!’ she never actually said dumbass, but I heard it anyway.
Fuck. Of course she‘d go there. ‘Listen, tell me if you hear from her again, okay?’
‘Yes, and Alejandro,’ she said, sounding like a child again instead of a snarky teenager.
‘What?’
‘Please bring her home soon.’
‘I will. Bye, Lucia.’
I put the phone down and Jax stared at me. ‘She might be in New York. Speak to our friends at LAX and see if she got on a plane.’
‘Will do,’ Jax replied. ‘But where would she go? She wouldn’t go and see her folks, would she?’
‘No. I don’t think so. But she has a friend there. Kelly?’ I said as I tried to recall one of our many conversations about Alana’s life in New York ‘No, Kelsey. She lived in the same apartment building in Manhattan.’
‘I’m on it, amigo,’ Jax said as he pulled his cell out of his pocket. ‘We’ll have her back home within the next twenty-four hours.’
