Chapter 14

Alistair was sure he was going mad.

He was going to strangle the childishness out of his first daughter the second she was found.

It was a little after nine now and his phone was buzzing. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. How did one have a wedding without a bride? They'd even gone as far as printing the wedding in the New York Times.

The Prices, on the other hand, hadn't even called. He found it strange seeing as they should have been at the church by now. He thought of calling them but what would he say? This entire thing had been in planning for a little over ten years. How was he to explain that his daughter ran away?

He racked his brain for a solution. Grace wouldn't do; she was too young and possessed even more eccentricities than her older sister. It had to be Jane or none other. God. He ran a hand through his hair. He could feel his lifespan shortening.

The company needed this. Jane knew that. How could she be so selfish?

"Dad, you need to calm down."

Alistair faced his son. "This is your entire fault, you idiot. You sat here and watched her leave and you did nothing. I should have you dress up and be the bride instead."

From one corner, he heard Grace chuckle.

The private detector he'd hired had completely gone off the radar. Though the man had made it clear that he wasn't to be contacted and that he was going to be the one doing the contacting, it didn't stop Alistair from calling him. Not that he expected anything more; the man hadn't answered. He'd been instructed to send a text message if it was anything important.

He'd never been so frustrated in his life. This was one of the reasons he hadn't wanted kids but then there would've been no one to take over his legacy when he was gone. Children always found a way to fuck up your life.

"Where's your mother?"

He directed the question at Grace and as just as she opened her mouth to answer, his wife stepped into the room.

The look on her face was one of utter wonder. She held her chest in one hand and her phone in the other. Their eyes met, and her lips formed a small 'o.'

"What? Why do you look like as though you just saw a ghost?"

Selene walked closer to her. The entire room was at alert now. When she didn't say anything after a few seconds, he almost shook the words out of her.

"Apparently, the groom's missing too." She whispered.

Alistair's blood ran cold.

"Shit," Matt muttered.

Grace burst out laughing.

***

Sebastian had been sour all day. It showed, boy, it showed. From the tone of his voice to the permanent scowl he'd plastered on his face. He'd even scared away one little boy who'd tugged at him for some reason. All through this, he'd kept his distance from her. Jane wouldn't minded on a normal day—she had no interest in being on the receiving end of whatever foul mood he was in—but recently, she'd found herself wanting to be close to him.

It was her traitorous body, she was sure.

He'd given her cold looks all day whenever they were in close proximity, like he didn't know who she was. Hell, if the past few days hadn't happened, she might've even believed him.

A few minutes to closing, she walked to Tower Three to catch up with him.

She saw him stacking the rafts atop one another, enjoying the way his arms flexed from the back under his swimsuit. He still had a frown on his face but it didn't make him any less handsome.

"You know, if you keep scowling like that for a few more hours, you're going to look like my great aunt, the ugly bitch."

His head snapped to her and he gave her a look. She stood there staring back at him. When he finally chuckled, she returned the laugh.

"There we go," she murmured, still smiling, though a voice in her head was wondering why it mattered that he laugh at all.

"Are you done?" she inquired. "I was thinking we could head home together."

"Yeah, just give me a minute," he said just as he flung the last raft on the stack. "I'm surprised you're here anyway. Don't you have a date to get to?"

"How do you know about that?" The surprise was evident in her tone. She could've sworn he'd been too far away from them to have heard their conversation.

He paused then turned around to face her. "It's not rocket science. He found again today and I'm pretty sure it wasn't because he'd lost his sister again, though I wouldn't be surprised."

"Oh," She let out. He had a ridiculous intuition. "Well, yeah. He asked me to go out with him."

"Hmm," He hummed and then after a while, "And what did you say?"

"Why does it matter? What is this, the Spanish Inquisition?"

"Just curious. If you were that desperate to be asked out, you could've just said something."

Jane saw red. "What did you just say to me?"

Sebastian turned his entire body in her direction. "You don't even know this guy, Jane, and now you want to go out with him? I mean, he's not even a local here."

Her blood was boiling. The audacity of the man was unnerving. "I don't know you any better than I know him. What makes you different from him?"

"Don't be ridiculous. We've been practically living together for days now."

She shook her head in wonder mixed with amusement, staring wide-eyed at him. "What's it to you? Why do you care who I go out with?"

He hesitated. Jane knew he'd been about to say something but he'd hesitated.

"I don't care. Just think you should be more careful. It's a terrible place out there."

With that he walked away, leaving her standing there wondering what the hell just happened. He'd been about to say something, she was sure of it.

What had he wanted to say?