Turning the lamp on her bedside on, she begins to clean her already clean room. Anything to distract herself from the chaos currently in her mind.
By the time her alarm goes off for work, Scarlett only slept for three hours. The bags under her eyes are dark, the whites of her eyes are red, and her head is still pounding as if she has a hangover. Pulling her hair into a ponytail and putting on a simple black dress, she grabs her purse and heads out.
Her heart drops when she doesn’t see Alexander’s car. She starts to feel foolish for thinking he would continue to pick her up. After their ‘date’ last night he probably realized what a bore she is. Especially compared to the other beautiful women who would easily bed him.
He didn’t even ask her to come over after dinner.
Well she did have a migraine.
A car horn beeps and Scarlett jumps, startled. Across the street is silver Mercedes Benz—a more sleek design than Alexander’s intimidating black one.
The window rolls down and in the driver's side is Liam with a boyish smile on his face. “I’ve come to pick you up.”
“Where’s Alexander?” She crosses the street walking over to the other side, sitting in the passenger seat.
Liam shrugs. “All I know is that I beat him to it,” he steps on the gas zooming through the street.
Scarlett grips the underside of her seat as Liam speeds. “But if Alexander is going to pick me up and he’s waiting and I don’t come out—”
“Don’t worry about my brother.” He gives her a flattering smile. “How was dinner last night? You look exhausted.”
“Dinner was nice. I couldn’t sleep.”
“Couldn’t sleep?”
She knew what he was getting out. “He dropped me off after dinner because I had a migraine.”
“Oh,” he seems pleased with that. “If you’re feeling up to it, how about we go to the club tonight?” She opens her mouth to decline his offer but he quickly elaborates, “As friends. Just friends hanging out.”
“I’ll tell you what, if Jo wants to go to the club tonight, I’ll see you there.”
“You know, you’re not like other girls I’ve met.”
She raises her eyebrows.
“Girls act differently when they know my last name or my net worth. You seem unbothered by it and it’s refreshing,” he points out.
When they get to work, Alexander isn’t in his office. Scarlett starts to get nervous that Alexander is waiting outside her apartment building. She texts Jo asking if a black Mercedes is out front, but she replies no.
He must be running late then.
Liam hangs out around Scarlett’s desk waiting for Alexander and making conversation with her. She pays no attention to him as she scans the calendar on her desk noticing that her boss has a meeting in five minutes.
“Are you sure Mr. Novak isn’t in his office?” Scarlett asks.
Liam knocks again. No reply. He jiggles the locked handle on the door. “Alex?” He calls out.
No reply.
“That’s weird,” he murmurs to himself. “Alex has never been late a day in his life.”
“Do you think there was an accident?” Scarlett stands up feeling worried herself.
Liam pulls out his phone and calls his brother. “Voicemail,” he presses the end button and begins to pace.
“I’m going to go to his apartment, see if he overslept.”
“I’ll have to call and cancel his appointments,” Scarlett sits back down and begins dialing numbers.
***
Alexander is so happy that he could leap with joy. Years of dead ends are over with three simple words
We found him.
His private investigator found Gaviin in record time. The old fool made a drastic mistake and before he realizes and relocates, Alexander will be there and when he gets his hands on him—
Alexander’s phone rings as he sits aboard his private airplane waiting for take off. Liam. He sends the call to voicemail. He doesn’t need a lecture nor does he need anyone trying to talk him out of this. Nevada is close to four hour flight. For four hours he will be plotting all the ways he can ruin Gavin’s life. All the ways he can make him suffer for as long as possible. To ruin his life ten times worse than he ruined Alexander’s life.
In his wallet is a picture of Ellie. Her first grade picture, one of his favorites. He remembers the day so vividly. She was nervous about what to wear, Alex was in high school at the time and she looked up to him, trusting his every word and opinion. Running into his room crying, she was holding three different dresses. He consoled her and ended up missing his first period class.
Her hair was always crazy curly, her tight spiral curls make it look like she had an Afro sometimes. She begged him to straighten her hair—he couldn’t say no. He burned his finger twice but anything to make her happy. It took longer than he thought, but she was so happy with her new straight hair that she kissed him on the cheek. The green dress he picked out looked nice on her tan skin and matched her bright green eyes.
Ellie looked adorable but what made his heart soar was how wide her smile was. Alexander puts his siblings above everything, cherishing his family. Then everything fell apart. Gavin ruined everything. He ruined his family and Alexander vowed that day to do the same.
That day…
Ellie begged him for ice cream. Their father was busy at work and their mother was out with her Olive shopping for a homecoming dress. Alex was the only one with his driver's license at the time and the rest of his siblings were too busy playing video games.
He grabbed his car keys and even let her sit in the front. She was under the weight limit for the passenger seat, but he couldn’t say no to her begging puppy-dog face.
He was careful. He was so careful driving. He wasn’t even that careful the day of his road test. He would never purposely put Ellie in danger.
He didn’t see the car.
The car, the rundown ugly brown station wagon ran the red light—full speed—and t-boned his $200,000 car. Time stayed still. The accident seemed to happen in slow motion. Her screams pierced his ears. He wanted to reach out and protect her, he wanted to switch spots with her.
The impact was so much.
His car turned over.
Everything went back.
When he woke up, paramedics were standing over him yelling. His only thought was on Ellie.
Where is she? He continued to ask but no one would answer.
He looked around. And around. And around.
A blood stained white sheet is covering a small body.
Ellie? His heart broke. That can’t be Ellie.
But it was.
Alexander was never the same. His heart never healed and his mind became fractured—the only thought occupying him was revenge. He became distant from the family he was so close with. Guilt ate him alive along with nightmares that stole his sleep. He got into drugs and drinking and started taking girls to bed frequently. Anything to distract him. His obsession only grew spending copious amounts of money to find the bastard who killed his little sister.
***
CHAPTER FOUR
“He isn’t at his apartment and he isn’t answering my calls,” Liam says to Scarlett.
Four hours have passed since Liam left to check Alexander’s apartment. Scarlett called to cancel the rest of her bosses meetings and appointments. Liam came back to the Novak office building and even talked to his father and other siblings. No one has seen or heard from him.