21. Worth

When I woke up, I felt rested and ready to face the day. When was the last time that had happened?

I stretched, reaching my arms over my head and pointing my toes. I could feel the way I'd used my body the night before, but it was the kind of soreness I was proud of.

I rolled over and realized Laurie was no longer in bed with me. I listened but didn't hear anything. He wouldn't have gone back to his own bed, would he?

Suddenly my optimism for the day faded. "Laurie," I called, heading toward the door of my room. Maybe he went to get dressed or shower in his own bathroom where his things were.

Somehow, though, I knew he wasn't there. The stillness told me I was alone.

I checked his room, the balcony, and went to get my phone. Maybe he went to get some breakfast. Don't panic. I was desperate to know where he was and that he was okay. What if he was regretting what had happened between us? How could anyone regret something that fucking perfect?

When I picked up my phone, I saw a text from Laurie. He'd gone to the pool or the beach. I couldn't tell anything else from the words on the screen. Had he just wanted to feel the sun or had he wanted to run away? What if he'd changed his mind. What would Beck do to me if he thought I'd pushed too hard and hurt Laurie? It wouldn't matter because Laurie had my heart. If he decided he didn't want me, he might as well crush it.

I needed to find him and reassure myself he was safe. I hadn't checked in with Miles or Carter again, I knew they would call me if there were new developments about the cartel and their potential pursuit of us, but it was always there in the back of my mind. I didn't think I was a target, but Carter seemed to think it was a possibility, which meant Laurie shouldn't be out on the beach alone.

I threw on a pair of swim trunks, grabbed a shirt, and rushed out the door, barely remembering my wallet and phone. I hurried to the pool where we had sat the day before, but he wasn't there. Heart pounding, I took the walkway to the beach.

I didn't see him at first. There were already a number of people out there trying to enjoy the cooler morning air. I looked at all the loungers, but he wasn't sunning himself. When I looked out over the ocean, I found him.

He had waded in up to his waist, and he was facing away from me, his wet hair making him less noticeable. I headed down the steps, ignoring the heat of the sand on my feet.

When I reached the cold water, Laurie must've sensed someone was moving toward him. He turned, and when he saw me, he smiled. Some of the tension drained from me, but I was still filled with concern for him and uncertainty at what was happening between us. "You shouldn't have come out here without me."

Laurie frowned at me. "What do I have to do to prove I don't need a babysitter? You were sleeping, and I wanted to get outside."

"You could've woken me up. I can think of plenty of things we could do if you were looking for exercise."

"I…um…I wanted some sun and fresh air."

"Laurie?"

He looked out across the ocean. "We should tell Beck."

"I know. Do you"—I swallowed, hoping I could get the words out—"regret last night?"

After a few tense moments, Laurie turned around and held my gaze. "No, but I feel like I should."

"Please don't. I want this to work. I want you to come to New York with me."

"Worth, I want that too. Who wouldn't want to be swept away by a prince like you to go live in your castle? But I'm not part of your world and that will be so obvious to you there. I won't just live off your handouts."

"I told you, I have more money than I can spend."

"I know, but I need to be my own person. I need to establish my own life, and I haven't been able to do that."

That was important to him, and I understood it. I needed to do that for myself, too, because drifting along doing nothing but entertaining myself hadn't made me happy and doing what my family wanted sure as hell wasn't any better. "What if we could find something new together?"

Laurie sighed. "Remember how I asked if we could take this one day at a time?"

I couldn't believe I was the one who wanted to push for more of a commitment, more certainty that he wasn't going to walk away when this ended. I would pursue him no matter where he went, but I didn't want it to be that way.

Because you expect everything to go your way.

This was sure as hell going to.

"Did you eat breakfast?" That was a subject I knew we wouldn't argue about.

Laurie shook his head. "No, and I'm actually really hungry."

"Let's walk back to the pool and get something to eat there."

I tried to stick to conversation that wasn't about our future, but I didn't last long. "We could always build a fashion empire. That would be a new start for both of us."

He stared at me. "Worth, you can't be serious about that."

"I'm very serious."

"I don't want you to just create a job for me."

Why wouldn't he believe I meant so much more than that? "If it were someone else asking, what would you say?"

"I wouldn't believe the offer was real."

I exhaled. I couldn't blame him. It wasn't something he should trust if it was a typical offer, but that wasn't what I was giving him. "I'm not just offering you a job, I'm talking about putting up the capital for us to create a company together. You'd have full partnership with no personal financial risk."

"Before we go any further with far-fetched ideas like that, we need to talk to Beck. I can't start planning to work with you, assuming you really aren't tired of me by?—"

I laid a hand over his. "I am not going to get tired of you."

"Considering your history…."

"Ignore what you've been told. That's my past. Things aren't the same with you."

"We need to tell Beck before we talk about this anymore."

"You're right." I pulled out my phone and scrolled to his contact.

"You're calling him now?" Laurie clamped a hand over his mouth, realizing how loudly he'd said that. "Here?" he whispered.

"You want it done. Let's do it."

Beck didn't answer. I left him a message, telling him to call me when he got a chance. I didn't want to say something that would make him worry.

We sipped on mimosas and enjoyed the beautiful morning for a little while.

"No call or text from Beck?" Laurie asked a while later.

"No. He's probably working."

"On Saturday?"

"He's a law intern. He's probably working twenty-four seven."

Laurie frowned. "Why would he do that when he has as much money as you do?"

"He wants to prove himself."

Laurie nodded. "I guess I get that, but I'm going try him again."

"No, let me. This should be my confrontation." I wasn't going to let Beck upset Laurie.

There was still no answer. We took a walk after lunch. I wanted to suggest we go up back to the villa, but I had a feeling Laurie wanted to wait until we talked to Beck before falling into bed with me again. We ended up sitting by the pool, reading on our phones, talking of things nowhere near as serious as those we'd talked about over breakfast. When the afternoon was coming to an end, we headed back to our villa. We still hadn't heard from Beck, so I texted Nicole to see if she'd talked to him.

She replied that she'd left him a message two days ago and hadn't heard back.

That made me start to worry. He had no reason to be annoyed with her, and she'd had a business question, which he was always keen to answer.

"How long has it been since you've heard from Beck?" I asked Laurie.

He scrolled through his phone and frowned. "He never answered the text I sent him yesterday. Do you think something's wrong, or do you think he's just angry with us?"

My phone rang, and I grabbed it, expecting it to be Beck. When I saw Carter's number on the screen, I considered letting it go to voicemail. I could only deal with so many problems at once. But Carter knew I was on vacation, so he wouldn't call unless it was an emergency.

When I answered the call, Carter asked, "Have you talked to Beck recently?"

"I talked to him the day before yesterday."

"But not since then?"

"No."

"Do you know where he is?"

My pulse sped up, and my stomach churned.

"He should be at his internship at Stephenson, Lincoln, and Lincoln; at his apartment; or on campus. What's going on?"

Carter sighed. "He seems to be missing."

No. This wasn't happening. "What the fuck do you mean missing?"

"He called me saying he thought somebody was following him, asking me what he should do."

"Why the hell didn't he call me?"

"You won't like this."

"Fucking tell me, Carter."

"I asked him that and he told me he didn't want to talk to you right now."

Fuck! I hadn't thought he was mad enough at me not to reach out when he had an emergency.

Carter continued, "I sent two of my best guys, but when they got to his apartment, he wasn't home. He didn't show up to work yesterday or today, and no one knows where he is."

"Where else have you looked?"

"We're tracking down friends to see if he decided to stay with someone, but he's not answering his phone."

Laurie was staring at me, wide-eyed. "What's wrong?"

I pulled him to me. "I'm not sure yet." Then to Carter I said, "What else do you know?"

"Nothing else, but we're working on it. He did ask me to tell you to take care of Laurie if anything happened."

Oh my God. "Was he in some kind of trouble he hadn't told me about? Why the hell would somebody be following him?"

"That's the other bad news."

"Tell me right now, Carter!"

"We pulled up CCTV footage of the area around his apartment and along his routes to school and the law offices. I think we figured out who was following him, and they're from the cartel."

"No. Why would they go after Beck?"

Laurie pulled away. "What's wrong? Is Beck okay?"

"Carter, I'm going to put you on speaker. Laurie is here."

"Okay. Hi Laurie, do you have any idea where Beck might go if he needed a place to hide out?"

"Hide out? From who?" I hated the fear on Laurie's face.

"We're not absolutely sure, but he was worried someone was following him, and now we can't get in touch with him."

"Why would someone follow him?" Laurie asked. "I don't understand."

"It may be connected to me," I said.

"It's not your fault, Worth." Carter's words didn't reassure me.

""It's my fault he didn't think he could call me about this."

"And what would you have done? Called me in?"

I sighed. "Yes."

"So he just left out a step."

Laurie grabbed my arm to get my attention. "I don't understand why someone would be following him or wanting to get to him because of you. Is it for money?"

"I don't think so. Or at least not just for that."

"Then what?"

"Before we go into that," Carter said, "tell me if you have any idea where Beck could be."

Laurie thought for a moment before speaking. "I don't know. We hadn't been close for a while. We talked occasionally, but I didn't know much about what he did other than school. I'm sorry. I want to help."

"It's okay. We'll find him, I've got my team searching for him now."

Laurie frowned. "We should leave. Worth, you should be looking for him too."

"Not yet." Carter kept his voice low, I appreciated that he didn't want to upset Laurie. "You need to stay there until my men arrive. They'll escort you to the airport, and you'll use Miles's plane for the trip home."

"I should go back to St. Louis," Laurie said. "I can fly on my own."

"No." Carter and I spoke at the same time. Carter added, "Laurie, you need to stay with Worth."

I wanted him with me more than anything, but I had to ask, "Is Laurie safe with me? If the cartel?—"

Laurie's eyes widened. "What cartel?"

"I promise I'll explain." I didn't want to, but now I didn't have a choice.

"My men will contact you when they are on the ground," Carter said. "Stay vigilant until then, and don't leave your villa unless you absolutely have to."

"All right. Focus on finding Beck. We'll be fine. If they're after him, hopefully they'll focus on that for now."

"Don't count on it. Stay safe."

"We will." I might have taken a risk on my own, but I wasn't going to risk Laurie.