by Joyce Jordan
Groaning, Ana had disappeared while he was still otherwise occupied. She had passed by her overnight bag, still on the floor right next to the front foor from where Gabe had dropped it the night before. She had pushed it to the side, and gone to meet Tim downstairs. Ana had walked slowly making sure she didn’t show her discomfit.
She monitored Nate and Rafe’s arrivals and smirked as Nate showed up at noon and wondered why Rafe even bothered to show up. It was almost two by the time he strolled in whistling some happy tune. Ana smirked, wondering how many hours Kelly would manage to sleep before she went back to work again.
The next day was slightly better. Her gait was almost back to normal, but she was still throbbing. She had taken an hour after work to soak in the hot tub beside the pool, then also soaked in the tub with some bath salts.
Gabe had held her through the night, made love to her breasts in the morning then showered with her and taken her to work. Today her mind was more focused and she intended on catching up on the work she should have completed the day before.
She was two hours into her work when she got a call from Jes. “Hey Jes,” she answered. “How is it going with Evelyn?”
“Ana,” Jes breathed into the phone. “I can’t find Evelyn.”
“What do you mean? Weren’t you together?”
“She was on her way to come and pick me up, when she called saying she had a flat and was going to call AAA. I told her it would be faster if I called Alesandro, but when he got there she wasn’t there,” she answered.
“She drove with a flat or she had changed the tire?”
“Neither,” Jes told her. “Her car was there, but she wasn’t. My car broke down again, yesterday. Damn car. Anyway, Alesandro came to pick me up and we’re both here next to her car. It’s locked and even her bag is gone.”
“Do you think she walked?”
“I doubt it, although she was just about two minutes away from her house, but she’s not at her house too. Her phone just rings and no one answers.”
“Have you called Nate yet?”
Jes groaned. “Oh, God, not yet. It’s my fault she’s gone missing. And I’m dreading that call. But I’m not sure if I should call the police first?”
“You can’t report a missing person until after twenty four hours. Besides, we don’t know if she’s missing or not,” Ana answered her. “Listen Jes, call Nate and I’ll call Gabe. Then I’ll see if I can track her phone. I’ll call you later okay?”
Jes nodded, then realized she was on the phone. “Okay. Thanks Ana.”
Ana hung up and called Gabe. As she talked to him she went to see if Nate was in his office. He wasn’t, so she went to look for Rafe. Neither was he. Apparently both were in a meeting on the first floor. Ana left Tom instructions on what to work on for the rest of the day, then grabbed her laptop and went to look for the brothers downstairs.
“I’m trying to locate Nate, then I’m heading home. I’ll see if I can trace her phone,” she told him.
“Is Jes sure?”
“I think so. I’ll only be a few minutes at home, then I’ll head over to where Jes is.”
“Wait for me at home. I’m right behind you.”
“Gabe…”
“Ana, we’ll go together. If my sister is missing then we need to add security back on. I’m not taking any chances.”
Ana almost ran into Nate and Rafe as she walked out of the elevator on the first floor.
“Ana,” Nate said grabbing onto her arms. “Can you find her?”
“I’ll try. If whoever took her didn’t ditch her phone.”
“Where are you going?” Rafe asked her.
“Home, then Gabe is meeting me there and we’ll both go to join Jes.”
“Keep us posted, please,” Nate asked her. “Rafe and I are heading out there. I just tried calling Mitch, but his phone keeps ringing.”
“We’ll send someone to his office and apartment,” Rafe told her. “You go and do what you can do to look for her.”
“Are you going to tell Eva?”
“Oh God. Her baby,” Nate groaned. “We need to call Manuel and discuss our strategy with Gabe. If she just took a walk, we don’t want to alarm her unnecessarily.”
“Right, let me go and get busy then.”
Tim was already waiting for her. Apparently Gabe had already talked to him. As he drove, Ana powered up her laptop and started working on finding Evelyn. When she arrived home, she went straight to her office and picked up some equipment she thought she might need.
Her heart beat faster as she saw the beep of Evelyn’s cellphone. “Gabe,” she said as he walked in. “I found her.”
He paused for a moment then took the last few steps to reach her. “Really?” he asked. “Sorry, I’m not questioning your powers, but you found her…”
Ana nodded and showed him the blinking light.
“Where’s that?”
“That’s the part that’s making me question myself. She’s in The Hamptons. Does she know anyone there?”
Gabe looked closer. “Not that I know of. Maybe clients.”
“She was supposed to be with Jes, so why would she ditch her just like that? It doesn’t make sense,” Ana told him. “She was excited about shadowing Jes this week before she went back to her own work.”
“Let’s go. Maybe we can find some answers in her house or her car. I’ll have the chopper pick me up there and go bring her home.”
Ana closed her laptop and placed it in her bag then threw it across her body. “Has anyone reached Mitch yet? His men are more equipped to rescue her.”
“Not yet. Nate left a message on his cellphone. But I think I’ll see if I can reach Gordon.”
“Who’s he?”
“His right hand man. You’ve never met him because he was away. He just came back recently.”
“Oh God,” Ana said as they reached Evelyn car. She hit her forehead hard and scrambled for her laptop.
“What, baby?”
“Why didn’t I think of it?” she asked herself.
“Think of what?”
“I’ll tell you. Maybe it’s nothing,” she said. “Nate and Rafe are here.”
Gabe opened his door and climbed out, then held his hand for her.
Ana saw Gabe hugging Jes, so she went to greet the guy she assumed was Jes’s ex. As she rushed over to Jes’s side she couldn’t help but notice the tension within Nate as Jes watched Gabe introduce himself to Alesandro. “My, my, my,” she said as she grabbed Jes and took her back to her car.
Tim who had driven them and was standing outside, helping Alesandro change the tire. Gabe had given him Evelyn’s spare keys and instructed them to drive the car to her house.
“You’ve got to tell me about that dishy ex of yours. I didn’t know he was so cute,” she said. “But now I need to see if I can trace Mitch’s phone.”
Other Books by Joyce Jordan
Strong Young Women Series
Seduction - Book 1
Seduction - Book 2
Seduction – Book 3
Miami Heat Series
Miami Hot
Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number Series
Nora & Elijah
Fiona & Bradley
Olivia & Cooper
Note from the Author
This is my fourth book in the Strong Young Women Series. I surely hope you enjoyed it like you did the first three books. I did enjoy not only writing about Ana and Gabe continuing the stories of Kelly and Rafe, Evelyn and Mitch and finally introducing Jessica and Nate. Now that both Ana and Gabe plus Kelly and Rafe are on their way to their ‘I do’s’, I look forward to seeing how the stories of Evelyn and Mitch plus Jessica and Nate turn out. And let’s not forget Stefano and Manuel. I had planned on book 4 being the final book, but I felt like I was rushing Evelyn’s and Jessica’s stories. So watch out for the fifth book, where all will be revealed.
Please feel free to contact me via my e-mail address: [email protected]
You can view all my books on my website: www.joycejordanbooks.com
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All the best,
Joyce
