I couldn’t find Chrissy anywhere. I chided myself, because I’d panicked earlier and she’d been on the other side of the room. But this time I’d looked everywhere, and I couldn’t find her. I’d even checked the pool. Surely she hadn’t gone down to swim in the ocean alone.
As I was descending the patio steps to the beach, one of the housekeeping staff pulled me aside.
“Mr. Boswell. I’ve been looking for you. We saw Ms. Evans running from the house. She had changed into a black dress, and she appeared to be crying. She asked one of the drivers take her back to her apartment.”
“Thank you for letting me know.” The panic I’d felt when I briefly couldn’t find Chrissy at the beginning of the evening returned in full force, only this time it was justified.
Once the housekeeper was gone, I pulled out my phone. My hands shook. I called Chrissy four times, but she didn’t answer.
I wanted to go to her, to find out why she’d fled. But I was in the middle of a party. If it had been social only, I’d have left. But I was entertaining investors. Some were long-time investors, but some were potential investors, and I didn’t want to alienate them by leaving a party I was hosting in my own home.
What could have gone wrong? She’d been having such a good time. She’d been gorgeous, prettier than any A-list movie star. She’d been confident, and seemed to be enjoying chatting with the guests. And she’d been the best dancer we’d ever had in this house.
How could she leave without an explanation? Hadn’t I given her everything she needed? Everything she wanted? How could she have shared so much of herself with me, and then just disappear?
I rushed to her room, hoping there’d been a misunderstanding.
Her door was open. The pink ball gown was back on the mannequin.
Inside the closet, all of the clothes I’d bought here were there, hanging in neat rows.
I checked the bathroom.
No one was there.
The makeup was still in place. The jewelry where it belonged.
On her bed lay the smartphone I’d given her.
She had loved using her phone to video chat with Bella. I wished she’d kept it. It was a signal, to me, that she wasn’t coming back.
I wandered from her room in a daze.
How had I failed her? Why hadn’t she come to me?
As I stood at the top of the stairs, Travis came strolling over. I really didn’t want to talk, but he didn’t take the hint. “Hey man. I don’t know how to tell you this.”
“Is this about Chrissy? Is she okay?” That’s when I noticed Travis’s nose was swollen.
“Uh yeah. She’s just fine. Little firecracker, that one. I hate to inform you, but she tried to come on to me. I told her I’d have to tell you.”
“Why would she do that?” It made no sense.
“She wanted more money. Some people are just greedy.”
Chrissy’s despair over her sister was real. I didn’t believe that could be faked. And the apprehension in her eyes before we slept together the first time was real. She had been a virgin. And there was no way she could have faked the emotion earlier tonight when she told me she loved me.
I couldn’t accept it.
But she was gone. There had to be a reason. “There’s no way she needed more money.”
“Hey man, maybe she’s just a slut. She obviously couldn’t help herself, but once I told her no, she got upset and freaked out. She begged me not to tell you. So at least she felt guilty.”
“Do not call her that.” Travis’s continued insults wore thin. And his explanation did not fit. Why would he lie? He had nothing to gain — he was nearly as rich as I was, and he had a trail of gorgeous women that followed him wherever he went. We had been friends for over twenty years. I had known Chrissy for only a few days.
That doesn’t matter. You know who she is.
Yet I didn’t trust my own judgment.
Travis gave me a good-natured shrug. “If the shoe fits.”
Even as my heart couldn’t accept it, my mind supplied a memory of my mother, begging my father for forgiveness after one of her affairs. She’d pleaded with him, and he’d taken her back. Later the same hour, she’d happily flounced off for a massage with friends. I had seen the look on her face. It was smug, and satisfied, because she’d duped my father into believing her.
I would not be that fool.
Yet, I wasn’t fully satisfied with Travis’s explanation. I couldn’t picture Chrissy hitting on anyone, much less someone she just met. She certainly wouldn’t hit on my best friend.
I pulled myself together and got myself back to the party. I had guests to entertain, and deals to make. As I walked the last guests to their cars, I noticed the surveillance camera on my front porch.
I decided that I’d watch all the footage from tonight to try and see if something happened to Chrissy that I wasn’t aware of. Something that would have made her approach Travis. Maybe she’d been blackmailed or threatened. The longer I thought about it, the more convinced I was that Travis was the liar here.
In my office, I pulled up all the footage.
I found the recording of Chrissy leaving her room for the first time, dressed in the frilly pink ball gown. She had been stunning. I had to force myself not to think about how we’d made love while she was wearing it; the memory hurt too much.
I had been ready to tell her that I loved her. Yet I had not done so.
Was it too late? Had I done something to drive her away?
On camera, I saw her mingling in the main room, enjoying herself while she charmed my clients. Then I saw her go back to her room and come out again, this time in the fitted black dress. The one I’d picked out, but never got to see her wear.
There. Right there in front of her door was Travis. I watched in horror as he blocked her path with his body. As he trailed his hand down her arm. I was going to kill him. But that wasn’t the worst part. It was clear that she was trying to get away from him. Then he grabbed her wrists. He trapped her, and shoved her against the wall.
When I saw her delicate shoulders crash into the wall, my vision went red. He was going to pay for this. I watched, sick to my stomach, as he tried to kiss her, as he shoved his much larger body against hers.
As he assaulted her.
A knock on my office door startled me. I was not up for dealing with any staff right now. “I’m not feeling well,” I called out. My staff was more than capable of handling any issues that arose.
“It’s me.”
Travis.
He was here, outside my door. That bastard. I shoved my chair back and got to the door in seconds. I yanked it open. I grabbed him by the collar.
“How could you?”
“I told you, she came on to me.”
“I watched the footage.”
The blood drained from his face. “You have cameras in the hallways?”
I punched him, as hard as I could in the face.
He fell to the ground, unconscious. I was only sorry that he wasn’t awake for me to hit him again.
