by Joyce Jordan
Moira had tried to eat, but had kept thinking about the havoc she had created by running away. So she had only nibbled on snacks. Once they were over the Atlantic Ocean, Moira had finally slept and had been grateful for the bed. She had stretched and slept peacefully. Her lack of sleep from the previous night had probably helped too. When they got to London she knew she had to eat something for the sake of her baby. After the plane had been refuelled, they took off again she had been served a light breakfast. And then arrived at her destination in about two and half hours.
When she got to the bedroom, Flora had another dress on the bed for her. “Something wrong with my choice, Flora?” she asked.
“The Lord and the Lady are here. So I gathered that if you will be meeting them you may want to dress up,” she quickly said.
“Lord Henry and Lady Jane are here?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“I thought they are usually at the country house around this time,” she said. “It’s not that I don’t want to see them, but I just needed some time before I had to face them.” Moira thought about Antonio’s parents. The sweetest people you could ever meet. It would be hard telling them her troubles. “Okay. Thanks Flora.I guess that’s why Antonio insisted you help me out. I wouldn’t want to do something wrong, and embarrass myself,” she added.
She helped her get dressed, then escorted her to meet up with Antonio. He was in his study, on the phone. But as soon as he saw them, he hung up and told her to come in. Moira thanked Flora then entered the study. “You know, I could come back another time. You don’t have to drop everything for me,” she told him guiltily.
“It can wait,” he told her. He guided her to another room adjacent to the study and led her to a small table with food. “You can tell me everything while you eat, then have an early night and tomorrow we will start making plans.”
Moira took a seat and when Antonio poured her some wine, she thought that was her perfect opening. “I’m pregnant,” she said as she pushed the glass away.
He grinned. “A baby? I get to be an uncle?”
Moira nodded and grinned back.
Then he hugged her tight. “Congratulations, Moira.”
Moira hugged him back, saying, “Thanks Antonio.”
“Is that why you ran away?” he asked sitting opposite her.
“Not exactly. The father of the baby wants me to marry me,” she told him. Moira lifted her fork and knife and started eating, watching Antonio trying to grasp what she had said.
“And that is bad because?”
“He is forcing me to marry him for the baby.”
“Ah, you want him to marry you for love,” he said smiling.
“Yes. Wouldn’t you want to marry a woman because you loved her rather than because she became pregnant.”
“Yes. But sometimes for a man it’s a matter of honor. What does Sam say? He must have blown a gasket when he found out you were pregnant,” he said and laughed.
Moira smiled. “Actually not then. But he did blow that gasket when he found out about my relationship with the guy.” She laughed remembering the day. “Sam went to his office and punched him in the face. He was black and blue for a couple of days.”
Antonio roared in laughter. “Ah Moira! And who is this rascal? Someone worthy of you, I hope?”
“You probably have head of him since you do a lot of business in Miami. His name is Conrad King. He runs…”
Conrad sneered. “I know who he is. I’m sorry you are going to have the child of a business enemy of mine. But you and me will always remain friends.”
Moira was surprised at his anger. “What happened to make you enemies?” she asked.
“He snatched some property I had been eyeing for years. Right from under my nose,” he growled and banged the table with his fist. “But I returned the favor a few months later,” he continued but gloating this time. “But since then we have been playing that game. And besides, I knew him back at college. He had a friend he was inseparable from. Don’t remember his name now,” Antonio told her.
“Lucas Corinthos.”
“Sounds like it. Anyway, go on with your story.”
“Well so we have been kind of dating under the radar. Since February,” she said and continued it. “Anyway, a few days ago, I found out I was pregnant and then he stated insisting on marriage.”
“And did you tell him you were not ready?”
“I told him I didn’t want to get married. And that he could just be the baby daddy.”
“I take it he didn’t take it very well?”
Moira shook her head. “No, he went ahead and arranged everything. Today is supposed to be my wedding day,” she said with a slight laugh. “Nobody knows where I am, so I need another favor from you.”
“You need to let them know,” he guessed.
“Yes. I need to at least just tell Sam and my friend Sere that I am fine. I can’t tell them where I am because I know they will be forced to tell Conrad.”
“Don’t worry, you can use the secure line in my study. It will bounce your call all over the world it will take months for them to find the origination,” he said laughing. “Man, I sure wish I could rub that into King’s face.”
“You may still get your chance,” she told him. “I’d like you to be my baby’s godfather” she told him.
“It would be my pleasure,” he said grinning.
“And I guess the fact that Conrad is the father won’t be a problem,” she asked.
“On the contrary, do you know how much pleasure I will get from spoiling the little boy…”
“Or girl.”
“Yes, or girl. As godfather I will have certain rights that even the father cannot deny me. Sorry to get joy out of your misfortune, but this is sounding better and better every minute,” he told her. “So when is my godchild due?”
“Tentatively 3rd week in November.”
“I’ll work around my schedule and try to be there for the birth. I’m usually in the states around that time anyway, so it won’t be any hardship.”
When Moira was done Antonio gave her privacy to make her calls. She made two calls. The first to Serenity and the second to Sam. After that he took her to greet his parents, then she retired to her rooms.
π
“What the fuck do you mean you can’t find her?” Conrad shouted.
“Boss, she told me to go and put her packages in the car while she browsed for a wedding dress. When I came back the ladies in the store told me she was only in there for a minute or two then she left,” Shawn said.
“Keep looking. I’ll try her phone and will be there shortly.”
Conrad tried Moira’s phone several times and it kept rolling to voice mail. He took his security team and they met Shawn at the mall Moira had last been seen at. On the way, he called Sam and Sam told him he hadn’t talked to her since the night before. He explained to Sam what Shawn had told him then he hung up and called her friend Sere.
Sere was getting ready to leave for the airport when Conrad’s call came through. She told him she had last talked to Moira this morning, and everything had been fine, except that she hadn’t sounded like herself, but she had just choked that down to nerves. “The minute she calls you, let me know,” Conrad told her.
“I will,” Sere replied. “But I’m coming there.”
Thirty minutes later, Conrad, Lucas, Sam, Shawn and Mitch were viewing the mall security camera’s. They went back to the time that Moira and Shawn had parted ways. They saw Shawn leave and he pointed to the bridal boutique across that Moira had said she wanted to go into. Sure enough they saw her enter the boutique and after exactly two minutes she came out walking fast but she never looked back. They had to switch tapes a few times, but they followed her progress until she got into a cab.
As they all got into their cars, Mitch called the cab company and asked to see the guy who had ferried Moira. The manager assured them he could have the guy available at the office in an hour. With the promise of m
oney, he said he would try and see if he could get him to come in sooner.
The five of them trickled into the manager’s office. Mitch did the questioning since they realized Conrad and Sam would probably scare the cab driver away. Once he was told he wasn’t in trouble he told them where he had dropped her off. “But I did hear her on the phone, making arrangements to meet someone. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” he said.
“No, no. You did good,” Mitch said.
“I’ll have my assistant send you a check on Monday,” Conrad told the manager then they left.
They all piled into Sam and Moira’s apartment. Mitch tried to call in favor’s to see if they could check the street camera’s but nothing seemed to pan out.
“If she hadn’t left on her own free will, I would have thought one of my enemies abducted her. So she obviously went somewhere she is familiar with, someone had to help her. If Sere wasn’t on her way here, for the wedding, I would have thought she was in Orlando. So who else would she run to?” he asked himself.
“Boss we’ll find her,” Mitch said. “I sent Shawn back and he and all the boys back at the office are calling the bus, train and the airlines. If she bought a ticket, we will find her. The car rental companies too,” he added.
“Let me call her friends here in Florida and see if I can get something. I’m not sure if she has contact with anyone outside of Florida. But maybe Sere will be able to tell us that once she gets here,” Sam said.
“Let’s try and retrace the events from the last 24-48 hours,” Lucas said to Conrad. “Tell me everything that happened. Did she seem herself? Was there anything that seemed odd in her behavior.”
“I don’t even know where to start,” Conrad said with defeat.
“Look. You want her back, you have to think hard. We already know she didn’t take anything. So maybe she withdraw a large amount of cash. The bank won’t give us those details, but I know someone who can. I’ll call them later,” he said. “But for now, let’s start with what happened yesterday morning.”
Conrad sat and dropped his head into his hands. “You know she had been adamant about the wedding? I never thought about it, but before we left for work, she suddenly relented. I guess I was just too excited that I wouldn’t have to resort to extreme measures.” He stood and paced, thinking about what happened next. “That afternoon she went shopping with Janet, but I’m beginning to think that was just a ruse. She told Janet she didn’t find anything she wanted and insisted she would do the shopping alone the next day.”
“Okay, that’s good. Maybe Janet can shed more light,” Lucas said.
“I doubt that. Knowing Moira she carefully planned this to the T.” He laughed harshly. “Oh God, she played me real well. You know I offered to take her shopping and she told me how it was bad luck for the groom to see the dress before the wedding day.”
Sam laughed. “That’s Moira,” he agreed.
“Then she also tried to fight me about Shawn, but I finally won that round. I guess she didn’t want to appear too suspicious. It doesn’t matter who would have gone with her, she would have found a way. And I bet you that the clothes she bought, she didn’t really need. She was just trying to find a way to be separated from Shawn. And I chewed Shawn’s ass yet he didn’t stand a chance against her.”
“So it’s safe to say we probably won’t find her unless she made an error that she isn’t aware of, or run’s out of money,” Lucas asked Conrad.
“You are right, so I think our best bet is to find any errors she made. And since she is not a professional we should be able to find a few that will lead us to her hideaway. And when I find her, I’ll keep her under lock and key,” he told them.
Lucas shook his head. “No, you won’t, because she will just run away again and the next time you may never find her again.”
“You are right. And I shouldn’t have forced her. She would have come around if I had just been patient. I love her and I can’t see my life without her in it. I tried to ignore the symptons, and fought against them. Everybody kept telling me I had already fallen for her, but I thought it was just the incredible sex. She …”
Sam cleared his throat loudly. “You do realise I can hear you right?” he asked.
He gave a sheepish smile. “Sorry. But it’s just like you said, she runs me in circles. I hate it, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
When Sere came they quizzed her but realized she was as in the dark as everybody else. She made some calls to some of their common friends but they were all a dead end. Conrad booked her into The Miami until Sunday. He told her he wanted to sleep in her bed in case she came back before the weekend was over.
Later that night they got disappointing results from all fronts. Lucas’ guy had found no more than two thousand dollars withdrawn. Her checking account was sitting with about five thousand and another fifty thousand in her savings. She had a couple of investments that had no more than two hundred thousand. So wherever she had gone to would have to be somewhere cheap to survive on a couple of grand, or if she intended on using her credit card, then they would catch her.
The bus, train, airport and car rentals brought zilch. “How can she disappear into thin air?” Conrad asked. “There must be something we can find. Can that fellow try and hack into the street camera’s?” Conrad asked.
Lucas said he would ask.
The next day, everyday was back and their search for Moira was continuing. Mitch had set up a machine to trace calls if one of their phones rang. Any calls that didn’t have anything to do with Moira, they quickly ended them because they needed to keep the lines free. Each time a call came through everyone was silent. Finally later that afternoon, the call they had all been waiting for came through. Sere answered the call. The caller ID said it was a private number.
“Sere, it’s Moira. Where are you?”
“I’m in Miami, where are you?”
“I’m safe. I can’t tell you where I am. But I just needed you to know so you wouldn’t get worried. I didn’t want to put you in the position where you either had to lie to Conrad or be forced to give up my location.”
“So when are you coming home,” Sere asked.
“I don’t know. I just need to think about what’s good for Little Bo Peep. Tell Conrad I’m sorry. I just…” They heard her cry and everyone looked at Conrad. “Anyway, bye Sere.”
When the call ended Mitch shook his head saying, “That call was bouncing so fast there is no way we can ever trace it. It would take months.”
“Who the fuck does she know who has that capability?” he asked.
“There is only one guy I know, but I asked him and he told me he didn’t have her,” Sam said.
“Are you sure he was telling the truth?” Conrad asked.
“Yes. He would never lie to me.”
Ten minutes later another call came through. Sam picked up his phone with his hands shaking.
“Sam, it’s Moira. I’m sorry I had to get away, but I am safe. I just wanted you to know so you don’t get worried.
“It’s a little late for that Moira. Where are you? I’ll come and get you.”
“I’m not having an arranged marriage, Sam.”
He swore as he rubbed his shaved head. “Look, I’m sorry about that. Conrad is too. There won’t be any wedding until you decide you want to. Please talk to him. The fucker won’t even go to his own penthouse.”
Moira laughed. And then she heard people snickering in the background. “I hear people in the background. Is he there?” she asked.
“Yes. Please just talk to him.”
“Okay, she said.”
Sam passed the phone to Conrad. He almost dropped it in his excitement.
“Baby, I’m sorry.”
“Conrad. I can’t come back. Not now anyway.”
“Okay. Tomorrow?” he asked.
“I don’t know when. But I’ll try and take care of Little Bo Peep.”
“Moira wait. Please tell me what you need a
nd I’ll do it. I promise I won’t force you into the marriage. I’ll be the best damned baby daddy to Little Bo Peep, but I just need you in my life.”
“I just need time. I have to go.”
Conrad looked at Mitch as Moira hung up and he shook his head again. “It was bouncing like a tennis ball. Whoever she is with, is a pro.”
“Find her. If she is not back after a few days, I’ll go to her. If I have to plead, that’s what I’ll do. But I am not having her live far away from me.” He threw Sam’s phone and it shattered against the wall.
“Get a grip man,” Lucas said to Conrad. “We all want her back, but breaking one of our means of communcation with her won’t help us one bit. If she calls back, that call will just roll into voice mail. So why don’t you cool off while making yourself useful by getting a replacement phone.”
“I’m sorry,” he said then he was out of the door. He wasn’t even sure where to get an Apple store and replace Sam’s phone. At least he knew the service provider because it was the same with Moira’s so he went looking for an open store.
Chapter Twenty Eight
“Moira, it’s been two weeks and you have kept yourself secluded, but now I insist you accompany me to all the boring dinners I have to attend. I think you have grieved the father of your child enough,” he said.
“He is not dead, Antonio.” Moira looked up from the book she had ben reading, in the library.
“Well, he may as well be,” he said with a grimace. “Sadly you love the fool, but that should not stop you in enjoying Rome.”
“Okay, when is the next dinner?” she asked laughing.
“Tonight. It’s an intimate dinner of just about eight people. Most of them are boring, so I’ll be counting on you to liven things up,” he told her.
“I’ll see what I can do,” she told him.
“That’s my girl. In the meantime, I’m taking you out for the morning. No, no excuses,” he said. “Be ready in thirty.”
Moira went to her room and changed into something presentable. She wasn’t even sure where he was taking her, so had no clue what to wear. He came to fetch her, thirty minutes to the second and they left. He had his driver drive them around and he pointed points of interest to her, explaining the history of some of the places they saw, different from what they had seen on her first trip. They stepped out of the car briefly when they got to Piazza Navona and watched some people performing on the street. It was entertaining and Moira realized she had been missing out. She was glad Antonio had forced her to leave the castle. Their next stop was the Campo de' Fiori, but this time they didn’t get out of the car. Moira thought that it would have been fun to mingle and maybe buy some exotic fruit to taste.