Conrad
I am still in London. I decided to stay longer than planned. It was making things a little easier because all of Maya’s things didn’t surround me. I haven’t stopped looking for her. Everyone back home is still looking, too. No one has had any luck yet; it doesn’t mean I am giving up. It is nice being away from New York for a while. I will return home eventually when I am ready. I have been staying with my sister, but I think I am going to book a hotel soon for the remainder of my stay. I don’t want to impose on her and Adrian. I am sure they are missing their alone time. I try to stay out of their way the best I can, but they insist I eat all my meals with them unless they are going out for dinner or at work.
I am in my room, well, Chelsea’s spare room, trying to get some work done. I have fallen so far behind, but thankfully, I have people helping me out, and my father has hired someone to take care of the office in my absence. I have been too distracted by my pain and missing Maya. I wanted to get caught up and take some of the pressure off my employees. I have been a terrible boss recently. I feel bad for it, but I have had too much going on. When I return to the office, I will make it up to them with a bonus. It is the least I can do after all their hard work.
I decided to check my personal email account. I haven’t looked at it for weeks. I delete hundreds of junk mail before checking my inbox. Most of it is rubbish, so I go through deleting them too. One catches my eye. It is an email address I don’t know, and the subject line reads: I MISS YOU.
Could it be? Could it be Maya? I quickly opened the email, and the second I read the first line, I realized I was right.
“Maya,” I whimper, the tears brimming in my eyes.
I take my time and read through every single word, not wanting to miss anything. She tells me she is okay and how much she misses and loves me, but she refuses to tell me where she is. Tears roll down my cheeks as I read it over and over. I have been so worried about her. She really thinks I would have moved on. Surely not; she knows me better than that.
After reading it about ten times, I rush downstairs.
“Chelsea,” I say, barging into the living room.
“Conrad, what is wrong? Is everything okay?” she asks, concerned.
“Maya.”
Her name is the only word I can get out.
“What about her? Is she okay? Have you found her?”
I handed my laptop to her so she could read the email. I am in no fit state to read it to her. She takes her time scanning through it and smiles up at me.
“At least we know she is okay. She seems to be missing you as much as you are here. This is a good sign, Conrad, that she has finally reached out to you after nearly two months.”
I sit next to her on the sofa and sigh, “But I still don’t know where she is. Why won’t she tell me?”
“Because she is still trying to protect. Everything will be okay.” She encourages and pats my back.
Adrian comes up, “What is going on?”
Chelsea hands my laptop to him to let him read it. I need to reply to her because she may think I am ignoring her since she sent me it a couple of days ago.
“I could maybe help you out on finding here.” He says, looking over at me.
“Wait, what? How?”
“I could ask the company’s tech specialist to trace where the email was sent from. We may not get an exact location, but we may be able to narrow it down to which town.”
“Will you not get into trouble for doing that?”
He shakes his head, “No. It will be fine. He can be trusted, and he knows I wouldn’t ask unless it was important. Do you want me to ask him?”
I nod eagerly, “Yes, please. I need to know where she is. Whatever place comes up, I will go there and search every inch, place and town until I find her.”
“Okay. He is out of the office right now. He will be back in a couple of days. Do you think you can hold onto then?” he asks.
“Yes, I can wait. I have waited nearly two months, a couple of days. Thank you so much. I owe you one.”
I jump from the sofa to hug him. He hugs back, “We will find her, Conrad.” He promises.
“Now, go and reply to her before she thinks you have moved on,” Chelsea exclaims.
I nod, take my laptop back and rush upstairs. Knowing she is safe and okay, I am a little more at ease now. I wonder why she chose now to reach out to me. I don’t care the reason; I am happy to hear from her.
I hit reply and started to type.
**Maya,
God, I have been so worried about you. I am so glad you are okay. I miss you too, more than words could ever say. I am sorry I took a couple of days to reply. I just saw the email today. I could never forget you or move on. The last two months have been hell. Life isn’t right without you. Please tell me where you are. I will come and get you. We don’t need to return to New York; we can go wherever we want.
Not having you with me has been the hardest weeks of my life. Callum has kept his promise and stayed away, but sadly, he hasn’t been caught yet.
I know you left to protect me and my family, which is such a selfless thing for you to do, but I promised to protect you, and I didn’t. I am so sorry, my love. I need you to come back to me Maya. I beg you. You should be with me, not somewhere all alone.
Can we at least have a video call or something? I need to see your face and hear your voice. I am eagerly waiting for you to come back. I carry your engagement ring anywhere I go in case you appear. It shouldn’t be on me but on your finger, and we should be planning our wedding, not apart.
I am in London with Chelsea and Adrian right now. Are you anywhere close to here? Are you still in the States? In another country? Please, tell me something. I haven’t stopped looking for it. I won’t stop until I can have you in my arms again, and I promise you everything will be okay.
I hope you reply and give me another way to contact you that isn’t email. I want to see your beautiful face and try to make you smile. I miss your smile every single day.
I love you, Maya, with my entire heart. I will be waiting patiently for your reply.
Conrad xxxx**
I send it and relax back on the bed, sighing. I have no idea when or if I will get a reply. Since I don’t know where she is, I don’t know how much of a time difference. I need her to give me a number or something. I want to see her and hear her voice. I won’t tell her I have a way of finding out where she is in case she goes on the run again. I can’t lose her all over again. We are one step closer to seeing each other than we were yesterday.
Her email was the hope I needed.