Chapter 160 CHAPTER 160
Michael's POV
I read the note again, wondering who this woman could be. I could almost forgive him for his wickedness, watching him lying on the couch and breathing gently.
I cleared my throat loudly to wake him up. I had not forgotten why I had driven all the way to the company.
He stirred in his sleep and mumbled something.
I cleared my throat again. “Alpha Raymond.”
He squinted at me, frowned and then opened his eyes. He grunted as he pulled himself to a sitting position and wondered why I was standing in front of him.
Suddenly, he reached for the note on the desk and crumpled it into his fist.
“Why are you here?” He asked.
I knew he knew why.
“Why did you cancel the partnership we were drafting with Moon's enterprises?” I asked.
He yawned. “You couldn't wait for me to get home before you came at me?”
I crossed my arms. “When were you planning to come home? Seems you're locked in some sort of fantasy world here.”
He stretched. “Rosaleen called. She's in some sort of trouble. I had to pull out the deal.” He rose up. “She's part of us now and her mess is ours.”
“You don't get to pull the plug on a project I've been working on for weeks. Without even consulting me. We'll be reversing that. You can get another project for her boyfriend.”
“I didn't do this because I hate Evelyn Moon. I'm protecting our family.”
I began to say something when my eyes fell on a delivery slip. The address on it caught my eyes. I walked towards it and yanked it from the parcel. He moved towards me but it was too late.
My heart pounded in my chest. “Anna Trent?” I asked bewildered. “What the actual hell? You've been sending parcels and notes to Anna Trent? What's going on here?”
He looked at me like a kid that had just received some lashing.
“It's nothing,” he said, finally.
“Nothing?” I repeated. I felt an urge to laugh. The hypocrisy and sarcasm of the situation was enough to send me into a fit of laughter or anger. I was yet to decide which I felt. “Does she know? I'm guessing she doesn't.”
He grabbed the delivery note from me. “This doesn't mean anything. And this should stay between us.”
I looked at him incredulously. Never in a thousand years would I have imagined this. That Alpha Raymond who had sworn that nine tailed foxes were an abomination would have feelings for one.
Especially Anna Trent.
I collapsed on the chair and undid the top buttons of my shirt.
“When did it start?” I asked.
He grunted and walked back to his sofa. “I’m just exploring what this is right now. Maybe I'm doing it for fun,” he said.
I knew he was just embarrassed to admit that he was possibly in love with Evelyn Moon’s mother. I remembered that night in the hospital when I had first noticed his attention to her. I remembered when I told her she had said that he saw part of my mother in her.
I moved closer to him. “Is it because you feel Philly in her?” I asked.
He looked at me, confused. “What do you mean?”
I sat beside him and pushed my weight on my elbows. “She told me something that night when Evelyn was lying unconscious. When mother was dying, she asked her for a favour. For her fox to possess her body and take vengeance for her. Anna Trent mentioned that part of Philly never left and maybe, it is that part that draws you to her.”
He looked up suddenly. “She knows it’s me?”
I almost erupted in laughter. “No. I just told her that you were being nice to her and she said that it’s because you see part of my mum in her.”
He was silent.
“That's it, right?” I asked.
He nodded, slowly.
We sat in silence after that. I had not forgotten about what brought me to the office, but my mind was engulfed with the possibility that my father liked Anna Trent for no other reason than love itself.
His phone rang suddenly and he reached for it on the table.
“Hello?”
I saw the expression on his face change and his back straightened. “Since when?
“Have you checked the whole compound and the house? The staff house?”
“Alert the security. I’ll be there shortly.”
I looked at him, waiting for answers.
“Philly is missing,” he said as he stood up to his feet and scrambled for anything he could grab.
I rose up too, panic engulfing me.
“What do you mean missing?”
“The housekeeper said she hasn’t been found for almost thirty minutes,” he said, sprinting out of the room.
I walked briskly behind him, unable to keep up with his pace. I was thinking of the possible places she could be hiding within the house that would make her invisible.
I checked the library first even though I was assured that it had been checked. She was not there. Alpha Raymond was downstairs reviewing CCTV footage with the security head. There was only one footage of her heading to the garden. I combed through the garden, checking every tree and sculpture. But she was not found.
Rosaleen sat in the garden, watching the commotion in the commotion around her without asking what was wrong. Maybe she was relieved that she didn’t have to live with a monster again.
My phone rang and instinctively, I picked it up without checking the caller ID. It was Evelyn Moon.
“Not a good time,” I said. “I’ll call you back as soon as I can.”
“I know Philly is missing,” she said, her words stopping me in my path.
“How? Who told you that?”
“I was on my way here when I received a call from my mum,” she said. “She’s there with her.”
I looked towards the gate and I could see her car parked outside. I turned around and headed towards Alpha Raymond.