Page 35 of Blind Attraction

“I don’t want to discuss this over the phone. When you get home we can sit down and talk about it.” Her mother was adamant, the previous panic overridden by determination.

“Mom...” Alana swallowed over the gravel in her throat. “Just tell me this. Are my grandparents still alive?”

She heard nothing but the rush of cars and people talking in the distance as she waited.

“I don’t know,” her mother whispered.

“You don’t know?” she echoed in a soft voice. All the years she’d hoped for family to connect with, something outside of the secluded life on the retreat, and she’d been told they were alone. That the only person she had in her life was her mother. “You don’t know?” she repeated louder. “You told me they died. You told me since childhood that I had no family.”

“Alana, please. Come home and we can discuss it.”

Home? Home wasn’t a place surrounded with lies and deceit.

“No.” She rubbed her forehead to relieve some of the tension. “I don’t think I’m coming home at all.” Alana had her own money. Not a lot, but it would be enough to keep her in Richmond for a while and give her the opportunity to figure out what she wanted for her future. “I’ll speak to you later.”

“No! Wait.”

Right now she didn’t think her mother deserved a hearing. “Bye, Mom.” She removed the phone from her ear and pressed at the screen numerous times hoping to hit the disconnect button. Now she had no way of getting in contact with Kate and didn’t know how to find Mitchell.

Fantastic.

Pushing against the wall to her feet, she shook her hands, trying to dislodge the vulnerability that caused her limbs to shake. She could do this.

A male cleared his throat a few yards away, the closest sound she’d heard since hiding around this side of the building. On alert, she snapped her head in the direction it came from.

“Alana, I’m sorry.”

She released the breath restricting her lungs. The elderly man had more determination than she anticipated.

“I didn’t realize you were visually impaired when we first approached you in the coffee shop. I didn’t mean to scare you into fleeing. I just followed you to make sure you were all right.”

“It’s fine.” She tried to smile. The man who may very well be her grandfather was her only ally in finding Mitchell or getting in contact with Kate. Thank you, fate.

In the distance, the women screamed louder, more hysterical, chanting a mass of indecipherable words. Her panic returned. Reckless Beat’s interview must be finished and the band was probably in the lobby or leaving, causing the crowd to go wild.

“Can I help you get to where you need to be?” His voice approached.

She nodded and blindly stepped forward. Mitchell couldn’t come outside to search for her. It would be suicide…by groping. His bodyguards may even encourage him to leave and go back to the hotel without her.

She knew he cared. He’d already made that obvious. He just wouldn’t be able to roam the streets when there were screaming women and fans willing to push him to the ground in an effort to touch him.

“Yes. Please. I need to hurry.”

* * *

“Mitch, I couldn’t find her.”

Leah’s eyes held a hint of panic that seeped under his skin and kicked his heart into overdrive.

“What do you mean, you couldn’t find her? She’s in the coffee shop downstairs.”

She swallowed and shook her head. “Alana’s not there.”

He increased his pace down the radio station’s hall, and Leah struggled to keep up.

“What’s going on?” Blake asked from behind.

“Alana’s gone,” he spoke over his shoulder, not stopping his momentum. “I’m going to find her.”

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