CHAPTER THREE

Brian's POV

“Open the door.”

I banged angrily.

There was absolute silence at the other end of the door.

I banged again, knowing fully well that she was in there and she could hear me.

“Jolene !”

When the door finally fell open, my eyes went over her for a moment.

Her eyes were red, her face pale as though she had just cried before coming out here.

I threw that to the back of my mind, definitely not why I came here.

“What’s gotten into you?” I said, the words bursting out of me in fury.

“Seems you’ve forgotten all of your responsibilities, huh… do I need to remind you what your duties are in this house?”

She just stared at me…

No words of defense, no apology.

My voice dropped into something colder, “Answer me when I talk to you!” I said through gritted teeth.

Then calmly, she said. “I’m sorry for all the trouble I caused you and your family this morning.” And when she said it, she wasn’t looking down and dropping tears like she used to.

“Soon enough, you won’t have to worry about me.”

I frowned.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You’ll understand soon.” She said simply before closing the door on me.

It wasn’t the door closing in my face that pissed me the most; it was the quietness in her voice. The way she said it like she already had something planned out that I didn’t know about.

What kind of game is she playing now?

Before I could give it much thought, my phone buzzed in my pocket. “Emma?” I said. “What’s the matter?”

“Good morning, boss. I just called to remind you about your meeting today at 10 AM.” My eyes instinctively went to the time on my phone as she said that.

I didn’t have much time left.

“I’ll be there soon!”

The line disconnected.

I glanced once more at her door before making my way to my room to get dressed for work.

**** 

As soon as I stepped into the office, the staff went still.

It was always like that.

My eyes glanced around the place as they all greeted me.

Emma followed behind me with today’s schedule.

Ten minutes later, I was already in the boardroom.

Today’s objective was to discuss how we could secure a partnership with The Beaumont Group.

That was a contract I had been pursuing for months now, and still, the Beaumont Group had not even acknowledged me once.

A contract worth billions.

Of course I wasn’t letting it off so easily.

“I don’t care what it takes. I want that contract.” I said to the executives before walking out of the boardroom.

Back in my office, I just sat there, spinning my chair as I looked over the city, my thoughts far from my surroundings.

“Just fucking accept my partnership already!” I sighed.

Knock. Knock.

I rolled my eyes at the door before saying the words nonchalantly.

“Come in.”

Emma, my secretary, walked in, a file in her hand.

“This was just delivered; the sender says it’s confidential.”

The first thought that came to my mind was… Could it be Beaumont Group finally reaching out?

Without thinking twice, I took the file from her.

But just as quickly as the hope had come, it went, leaving me with nothing but dread.

“Is there a problem, sir?” Emma said quietly, trying to get a glimpse of what was in the file.

“Get out!”

She didn’t let me repeat myself, just stormed out.

My eyes traced every word on that paper, each word adding fuel to my anger.

DIVORCE AGREEMENT.

My eyes traced every line carefully, waiting for where she would ask for my fortune; after all, that had always been her reason for staying. And no matter how bad I treated her, she chose to stay.

I went all the way down to where her signature was at the end of the paper, yet I didn’t see any part that requested compensation.

I instinctively flipped the paper, despite knowing it would be blank at the other end. I couldn’t just believe that she didn’t ask for anything in return.

Instead of relief, my expression hardened.

She thinks she can leave whenever she wants? I said with furrowed brows.

I quickly picked up my suit jacket and stormed out of the office.

****

As soon as I made my way into the house, I noticed an unusually empty space in the parking lot, but I didn’t give much thought to it.

“You’re back?” Mom said as soon as I burst through the door. “Any problem?”

I totally ignored her, hurrying upstairs to Jolene's room.

“Jolene !” I yelled as I reached the door.

There came no reply.

I twisted the doorknob, and to my surprise, the door fell open so freely.

My eyes scanned the room.

She was nowhere to be found.

I walked into the walk-in closet; for all I cared, she could be hiding in there.

But she wasn’t there, neither were any of her belongings.

“What is Jolene without her daily tantrums?” I scoffed, storming out of the washroom, which was also empty.

“What is the matter?” Mom said, pulling up behind me.

I didn’t need to answer her…

“Ohhhh…” She said as her eyes scanned the room. “I saw her leave with two bags earlier. I didn’t think it was anything serious.”

I stared at her in disgust.

“You didn’t think it was anything serious?” I muttered.

 I began dialing Jolene's number.

It rang, but she didn’t answer.

I dialed it again.

No answer.

I dialed again.

Still nothing, and then it went straight to voicemail.

My jaw clenched.

“You don’t leave until I say so,” I muttered under my breath as my hands flew over my screen, trying to locate the tracker app.

It was connected to a tracker I had secretly hidden inside her phone. 

My lips curled into a devious smile as I found the red location sign moving slowly across the map.

“Let’s see if you can escape me now.”

While I was driving, I noticed that she had stopped somewhere for a while and wasn’t moving.

Why isn’t she moving?

Did she find the tracker?

I increased my speed, desperate to get there quickly.

I soon arrived at the location, my heart thumping heavily in my chest as I looked around for any sign of her.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

I took it out quickly.

Unknown number.

“Who am I speaking with?”

“Look straight ahead…” Came the familiar voice.

I scowled. “What game are you playing now, Jolene ?”

“Just do as I say…”

The voice faded the moment I saw it.

“No…no…no…no…no!” I yelled as I ran towards my car.

My Ferrari Purosangue sat abandoned in the middle of the streets with a broken windshield.

Now the empty space in the garage finally made sense.

“Fuck!” I yelled as I reached the car, checking for all the damages. 

“Sir, is this your vehicle?” One of the traffic officers asked as soon as I got there.

“Yes, this is my…”

“You have attracted a fine for damaging government property.” He interrupted, handing me a piece of paper.

“Your car is going to be towed now; you have to come pick it up at the station after you've settled the fine.”

My hands clenched, frustration eating deep into me.

In the heat of the moment, my phone buzzed again.

“I’m going to fucking kill you, Jolene !” I yelled into the phone.

The officer’s eyes snapped to me at the sound of my threat.

I moved away from him a little

“I figured I’d leave your tracker for you.” She said, her voice annoyingly calm.

My eyes went to the wrecked car again, my anger instantly skyrocketed.

“Do you know how much this car costs?”

“Not as much as the pain you caused me.”

At that point, it took everything inside of me to not crash out.

“You’ve crossed the line here, Jolene . You’ll pay dearly for this.”

I didn’t even know what to threaten her with.

She had no family…

Wait.

The orphanage.

I knew how much the orphanage meant to her and how she would always beg for me to donate to them because she didn’t have the best of life growing up there, and she didn’t want other children to face the same difficulty because of lack of resources.

“If you don’t come back immediately, I’ll stop every donation to that orphanage you love so much,” I said; my voice was firm and fueled with determination.

For a long while, there was silence on the other end of the phone.

I started a countdown in my head, bracing myself for the apology to come.

“Suit yourself.” She said finally, then immediately… the call disconnected.

“Shit!” I yelled, almost smashing my phone against the floor.

My hand quickly danced across my screen as I searched for Detective Mason’s number. One of the top detectives in the whole of St. Claire City.

“I sent you the details of someone.” I said immediately after he answered the call. “Make sure you find her within the next 24 hours!”