“Did you have classes together?”
“No.”
The hairs on the back of my neck rise wondering whom this Janice really is,
if that’s even her real name. It seems very suspicious that a new friend would suddenly appear in Lily’s life just in time to have her kidnapped.
“I hope she’s okay,” she whispers.
“I bet she is,” I mutter darkly.
Whoever masterminded the kidnapping knew to wait until the traditional two-week Easter holiday when they could ensure she was traveling abroad. This gave them ample time before anyone would raise the alarm at her disappearance.
Once Lily falls back to sleep, I’ll call my assistant Trevor again and give him the information I’ve been able to gather. This should help speed the investigation along. The sooner I discover who the fucker is, the sooner I can make them pay for what they’ve done to my Lily. They’ve traumatized her, and that won’t go unpunished.
“Close your eyes,” I tell her, pulling the covers up higher over our shoulders and tucking her in more tightly. “Go back to sleep.”
Gliding my hand along her back, I pull her in closer. Reaching her shoulders, I gently massage them, and it’s not long before I feel the tension release from her body as she quickly falls back asleep, snuggled against my chest—right where she belongs.
Instead of getting up to call Trevor right away, I simply watch Lily sleep.
Why anyone would want to hurt this sweet, intelligent, gorgeous woman is unfathomable. I don’t care who they are; they will fucking pay for what they’ve put her through. I’m seriously considering wringing Peter’s neck and severing all ties with him after this. It may not be good business, but for once I don’t fucking
care. He better have a good excuse for not rescuing Lily the moment he discovered she’d been taken. Although, there is no excuse he could give that could possibly be good enough.
Taking a deep breath, I slowly extract myself from the bed, careful not to disturb Lily. I make sure to pull the blankets up over her, so she doesn’t catch a chill in my absence. Pressing a kiss to her forehead, I close my eyes and breathe in her sweet, clean scent. There’s something fucking intoxicating about my princess.
Turning around, I reach for the phone and call Trevor again at the hotel. Last time I called, while Lily was in the bathroom, he had no news for me. This time he better fucking have some information.
“Peter has been texting me again, sir, demanding to know why you aren’t answering him and what is going on,” he tells me.
“Have you responded?”
“Only to ensure him you are handling the situation.”
“Good,” I growl. Peter doesn’t deserve to know what is going on. “Do you
have any information for me?”
“Some,” he says hesitantly. “With the time difference, it’s been difficult to reach people.”
“I don’t want excuses,” I clip. “I want results.”
“I went on a hunch and checked Miss MacKay’s social media accounts,” he
tells me. “And they all show she has been having a wonderful Easter Holiday in Paris, and then again back in London.”
“So no one suspects anything?”
“I doubt it, sir. There aren’t just photographs of places she’s reported to have been, but more than one selfie all geo-tagged at those locations.”
“Fuck,” I mutter.
“Yes, it would appear someone has gone through a lot of trouble to keep Miss MacKay’s disappearance a secret.”
“Yes.” I then have a sudden thought. “Text Peter and get her mobile number
from him, Daniels will need it to do a trace. I want to see if she’s been supposedly sending any messages. Someone must be posing as her to her parents
and university.”
“Yes, of course,” he says, and I can tell he’s reaching for his phone as he mutters, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Well, I have some information for you.”
“You do?” he asks excitedly.
“They kidnapped Lily from outside of a club, I don’t know which one. But it
did foam during that evening.”
“That’s still a thing?” he scoffs.
“Apparently,” I answer amused. “She was there with a new friend of hers who goes by the name Janice. They met in the library on campus, but they don’t have any courses together.”
“So are you thinking this Janice might be in on the kidnapping?”
“Yes.”
