30. J.W.

Chapter 30

J.W.

J ames tapped his chair, looking down at his phone.

Why is she ignoring me? It seemed to go perfectly well?

He wracked his brain, trying to find the moment that everything went awry with Yara.

But he couldn’t. Their chemistry had been unreal, but maybe that was the point.

She sold him a fantasy and he had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.

Well, if she didn’t want him, he would accept that. But he needed to have a conversation with her first. He needed closure. He rubbed a fist across his chest as anxiety and grief burrowed into his heart.

He couldn’t have another woman he cared about disappear from his life without a trace.

He hadn’t hurt like this since his daughter was taken from him in the dead of night. James did everything he could to find her, but it became clear that her mother had covered their tracks. He had sunk so much money into his search that his company had fallen to near bankruptcy. He would have lost it, too, if it weren’t for–

“Knock, knock.”

James looked up from his phone. Speaking of…

“Steve? What are you doing here?” James was surprised to see his partner in person. They had only met on a few occasions, conducting most of their business through phone calls and emails .

“You going to go on another discretion package with the CEO?” Steve walked into the office, shutting the door behind him and leaning against it.

There was something just a bit off with his tone, but James couldn’t pinpoint it. And he wouldn’t be questioning it, either.

Steve sought him out when he was at his lowest, offered him the funds needed to get his feet under him again.

James shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He had originally lied about why he was meeting Yara, he decided it best to follow through on the lie. “Yeah, couldn’t find the right fit and we had a bit of an argument. I’m trying to get in touch with Yara to apologize and to find another match.” The lie tasted bitter as it left him, but even more so?

James couldn’t deny it, Steve had a weird interest in this entire encounter.

James hadn’t thought much of it before, too wrapped in his own anxieties, but now he watched Steve with careful eyes.

“Hmm, Yara? She reminds me of a doll, except she needs to be put together a bit better.”

“Doll?” The word caused sharp pangs of anxiety to hit him directly in the temple.

And the familiar tone Steve spoke in.

Did Steve know Yara?

Steve stepped further into the office, shadows following him until he stopped right in front of James’s desk. Directly on the other side.

The lamp on it lit up his face eerily and shone directly on his bright cerulean eyes.

“Yes, a doll.” Steve smiled, his face warping into the typical mask of emotionlessness that James was accustomed to. “Best to meet back up with her again. Let me know how it goes, will you? ”

Steve reached forward and it took everything for James to not flinch back, but Steve just grabbed the frame from his desk. It was a picture of James’s little girl on his shoulders.

“Isobella was so pretty here, so sad you lost her all those years ago. I wonder where she is now?” On those ominous words, Steve set the frame down, spun on his heel and left the office, shutting the door behind him.

It took James a few minutes to calm his nerves, and even longer to realize something.

He had never told Steve his daughter’s name.