Page 6 of Savage Obsession

What does he expect? My twelve-year-old daughter’s missing. My baby. Am I just supposed to carry on as though nothing’s happened?

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“Come back to bed. I can take your mind off it.” He wraps his arm around my shoulders and leans over to kiss me. “Neither of us has work today.”

I shrug him off, trying and failing to conceal my irritation. “No, I’m not in the mood.” I slam my mug down on the table in front of me. “I’m calling the police. Again. They need to do something, organise a search.”

“No, don’t do that,” he snaps, then collects himself and adopts his ‘reasonable’ tone. “She’ll be back when she’s ready. You know what kids are like, she’ll be sulking on some friend’s sofa. You don’t want to be making a drama out of this.”

“Sulking? Drama?” Has he not been listening? Lily is barely twelve years old, and no one has seen or heard from her for three days. No, four now. “It’s been days and not a word. I’ve phoned round all her friends. What if she’s hurt? What if?—?”

“You had a row, that’s all. Give her time to calm down.”

“Yes, I know, but… it’s not like Lily to do this. Why doesn’t she answer her phone?”

“She probably lost it. Or the battery’s flat. Do you have any eggs?” He peers hopefully into my fridge. “Could you rustle me up an omelette if you’re not busy?”

I bite back my rising anger. Gerek’s not the most sensitive of men, I knew that from the start, but this is beyond crass. “I had other things on my mind and didn’t get to go shopping. You’ll need to manage with cereals. Then you need to go.”

He strolls over to the cupboard and helps himself to cornflakes. “No, darling, I told you, I’m not working today. I thought maybe later on we could?—”

“No. You need to go. Soon.”

He pauses, the spoon halfway to his mouth. “Go? What are you talking about?”

“I… I phoned Baz. About Lily. He’s on his way.”

He frowns blankly. “On his way where?”

“Here! He’s coming here, today.”

“Oh, well—” He shrugs.

“You can’t be here when he arrives.”

He stares at me, paying attention at last. “Why not? It’s not as if you’re still married.”

“Yes, we are. We never divorced.”

He shrugs again. “Same difference. How long has it been? Five years? Eight?”

“Ten, but?—”

“If you think some thug of an ex-husband bothers me… I told you, I’m prepared to overlook all of that.”

“You don’t get it. Baz isn’t exactly reasonable at the best of times And, this is still his house.” He won’t be happy to find another man wandering around in his underpants.

“He can hardly expect you to live like a nun,” Gerek points out.

I don’t suppose he does, and I’m as certain as I can be that he hasn’t been exactly keeping his dick to himself in the decade since he walked out on me. Us. But all the same, I can’t imagine Baz warming to Gerek Debinbski.

Gerek is an architect, a partner in the practice established by his uncle. The company specialises in designing shopping centres, but Gerek prefers to think of himself as a consultant. He enjoys the sharp suits and flash cars but seldom goes anywhere near a drawing board. “Why buy a dog and bark yourself?” is his mantra. He does his share of the business on the golf course or over cocktails at his favourite club and maintains a penthouse in one of Warsaw’s smarter areas.

We’ve been together for six months, and right from the start he’s wanted me to move into his apartment. It’s true, the place is bigger than my entire house, and has access to a pool and gym, but I have more than just myself to think about. This house may be modest in comparison, but it’s Lily’s home, too, and she’s never really taken to Gerek. Not that she says much, I just…know.

“I can’t uproot Lily,” I tell him pretty much every week when he brings up the subject again. “There’s her school, her friends, and your apartment doesn’t allow for pets. What about Henry, our rescue terrier of indeterminate heritage?”

He just doesn’t get it. “She’ll make new friends. There’s a good school nearby, better than that dump she goes to. And the mongrel can go back to the shelter.”

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