“We’re looking at an ETA of eighteen forty-five,” the pilot replies over his shoulder.
“Fine. Good. Thank you.”
I crack my knuckles as I walk out of the cockpit. The flight attendant gives me a practiced smile as I pass her and take up pacing the cabin again. She answered the same question for me ten minutes ago. I didn’t want to ask her again for the fifth time this flight, so I went straight to the pilots. They probably think I’m losing it. If this were my regular crew, they’d know I was. I sit down and work on flights. I don’t stalk up and down the aisle like a man possessed.
I take a deep breath and let it go slowly, but it does nothing to ease the tension that’s commanded my body since reading that email. I’ve tried Maddy. But I can’t reach her. Then I called Dad in the hope the jet hadn’t been grounded yet, along with other assets. But it had. Spencer came to the rescue by chartering this one for me. I swear he’s a changed fucking man since Gabrielle’s talk with him. I guess it put things into perspective for him. He’s getting what he wants. Just not in the way he originally planned.
I pace more as I look at my watch. I wasted time after reading her article. I sat in my car wasting precious minutes, reading it a second time.
I knew what it was the first fucking time I read it.
A lie.
Another one of her fucking lies.
“Fuck,” I mutter, pushing my hands back through my hair.
Where is she? Drew told me she flew to Rome. I sped across London to her boss’s house. She told me that Maddy asked to work remotely for the foreseeable future.
She isn’t planning on coming back.
“Hurry up, come on.”
I drop into my seat for the first time since we took off and look out of the window. I didn’t even pack a suitcase. Just got on the plane as fast as I could. She’s running. From me. From us. It’s all she’s ever done. But I can’t bring myself to stop chasing her, no matter how hard she’s tried to push me away.
Pushed because she loves me.
I pick my laptop up and read the article again.
The real one.
Eve sent it after I went to her house.
She said I get to see it first and approve it. It won’t be going live for a while. But I won’t change a single thing. It might be about me, but these are Maddy’s words. It’s her work.
“Resisting Mr. Rich: A man with a big dream and an even bigger heart.”
I link my fingers together on the back of my neck and lean my elbows onto my knees as I read it for the thousandth time. She can’t hide behind her words.
Not her real ones.
I don’t know what the fuck she was thinking. She had to have known that I’d see this eventually. Maybe she figured she’d be long gone by then and it wouldn’t matter.
But everything about her matters.
Including her final words. The real ones.
She’s done more than write an article about me and Project Vex. She’s written an apology. In her own way. For the first time, she’s been completely honest with me, in the only way she thought she could.
It’s when we are on the brink of losing everything that clarity sometimes comes, sharper than ever. And we know beyond doubt what we must do. This project was never about money. To him, it’s a dream, a new future. A better way of doing things. Something sustainable. Something true…
It’s not what we’ve done in the past that matters. It’s what we do now. And Logan Rich is a shining example of the future of environmentally friendly solutions to a world with a need for technology and growth. He is a pioneer… Whether this project takes off soon, or not, he’s one to watch and never to underestimate. One month with him changed my outlook on life, and now he’s about to change the world. It would be easy to hate him. He’s successful, wealthy, and handsome. But this man and his evolutionary designs are exactly what our planet needs. It’s impossible to feel anything but gratitude at the name, Logan Rich.
I pull in a slow breath as I reach the end of the article. Eve said it’s Maddy’s best work. Everyone in her office is talking about it, and she isn’t even there. She deserves to hear it. To know just how incredible she is. I’m so damn proud of her.
“You’re flapping those wings, Butterfly,” I whisper. “You’re fucking soaring.”
But where are you, baby?
I close the laptop and press my finger and thumb into my eye sockets as I balance on the edge of my seat, ready to bolt up at the slightest movement, to the tiniest clue about where she could be. I’ve got the boys on high alert back home. They’re all trying to find out where she is. I’d have my own security team working on it too if we hadn’t had to let them take up other assignments while the shit with the business gets sorted.
That nightmare might soon be over.
But if I don’t find Maddy, then I’m stepping from one straight into another. A worse one.
“Mr. Rich? It’s time to strap in for landing.” The flight attendant smiles, and I move back in my seat, scrambling to click my belt together.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I pull it out, clicking into Dax’s message. It’s a video of the sunset over the ocean posted from Maddy’s book account. Nothing else. No words, no explanation of where she is. I zoom in on the silver railing at the bottom of the screen. This isn’t taken from land. She’s on a boat. She’s near Rome, on a boat.
Hope explodes in my chest.
I know where to find her.
