Chapter 4

            One year later . . .

            The day of her almost wedding Lacey had gotten on a flight to Atlanta, Georgia. It was tough there. She couldn’t get a job in her major or minor. So, she had to take two part-time jobs working at fast food restaurants. There was no way she was going to call home to ask for money. For one thing, her father didn’t have any. Her mother had plenty being from a wealthy family, but she didn’t want her mother to know where she was.  Lacey just wanted to be left alone for a while to make decisions about her own life – not someone doing it for her.

              She didn’t know what had become of her father’s financial situation. She just needed to get away and stay away.

               After three months, Lacey was able to get a job with All-Time Language as an interpreter. She minored in French at The American University of Paris. Her professors gave her glowing recommendations. The best thing about the company was the pay was twice more than working in fast food and she could work from anywhere in the world. The company sent her a telecommunications kit and she was in business. She could also make her own hours. The company’s interpreters were available twenty-four hours a day seven days a week.

              Lacey had thanked her lucky stars because Atlanta wasn’t cheap and that included the rent no matter how deplorable the neighborhood was. And she didn’t have many expenses other than rent, utilities, a burner phone, and art supplies. She majored in fine arts at the university. Lacey had put some of her work in art shows before she saved enough money to get out of Atlanta.

               Despite the art scene and diverse culture, the city hadn’t been for her. The crime was unnerving. So, she had packed up her clothes and got on a bus to New Orleans.

               Lacey had loved New Orleans and she probably would have made it her permanent home, but once again the crime was a big deciding factor. Thankfully, she wasn’t there long enough to need an apartment. She was staying at a Budget Inn.

              Being able to afford a one way plane ticket at this point, she headed back to New England after a month in the Big Easy. She had ended up in Philadelphia. Before she could get her feet wet there, a P.I. had shown up at the motel she was staying at. Lacey had been watching from the bathroom. She had just cracked the door open when the P.I. told the clerk her name and showed her picture.  Lacey kept watching from the cracked bathroom door. She had gone in the bathroom and the clerk wasn’t at the desk. She waited until the P.I. left and the clerk was distracted with a customer before leaving the bathroom. Lacey suspected her mother had hired the private investigator. Who else would look for her?  She figured her father was still and forever will be furious with her for not going through with that unholy wedding. So Lacey waited until the shift change and checked out of the motel.

             While she had been at the motel she was able to get discount flight to Maine – Portland, Maine. Before Lacey had boarded her flight she convinced, some say conned, a stranger in letting her use her cell phone. She had called her mother’s cell. She hadn’t picked up so she left a message.

             “Mother, it’s Lacey. Just letting you know I am fine. No need to worry or look for me.”

              Lacey had gotten on the flight to Portland and hadn’t looked back again.

                                                                              ****

            “That girl loves to bounce around, but she finally settled down in Portland,” Chris Robinson said over the phone. “She lives in a condo on the second floor of a renovated townhouse.”

            “She better still be there when I get there, Robinson. I don’t want to fly to another city for nothing,” Blake said seriously. “I’m a busy man.” When Robinson had picked up her trail in Atlanta, Blake had flown there on the family jet. She had been long gone and she had stiffed the landlord on the last months rent. Blake hadn’t blamed her for that. The place was the biggest shithole he had ever seen in his life.

            “She’ll be here. I talked to some of the art stores and gallery owners. She had already met with them and showed them her portfolio. She’ll be here for a while. Now, in a month? I don’t know. If you don’t wait, you’ll catch her.”

            “All right. Anything else I need to know?”

            “Just the address of her new home.”

            After Robinson gave him the address, they ended their call.

            Finally. I got you now you ungrateful wench.

            Lacey Stevens had humiliated Blake in front of New York’s elite. When the announcement had been made that the wedding wasn’t going to take place, the coordinator had just said there was an unforeseen problem and left it at that. But, somehow word had gotten out a few days later. Blake hadn’t known if it was the employees at the club or some of his own family members. Some of them couldn’t stand him and vice versa.

            For months, Blake couldn’t go anywhere without seeing suppressed smirks or looks of pity. The only good thing that had come from the embarrassment was the women. Ladies practically flung themselves at him.

            “Blake, I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how you feel. If you ever want to talk . . .” they would say.

            Blake had taken half of them up on it. The ladies were useful for a sexual release and some were even acceptable marriage material. But, he couldn’t move on to another bride until he dealt with Lacey Stevens. He just couldn’t let it – or her go. He had spent the past year finding out everything he could about her. Blake had hired Robinson two months after the wedding that never was to find out where she had gone.

           At first Blake had thought her parents had sent her away. Thanks to Robinson, he discovered that wasn’t true. It sounded like she had ran straight to the airport from the country club and left New York.

           Blake had to settle some things at the office before he could go to Portland.

           You’re in my sights, Lacey. And I’m not letting you go until I’m ready.