Page 116 of Scandalous Secrets

And after everything she had been through with her own stalker, Monica must be absolutely terrified right now. I hated myself for it.

“Yes.” I nodded slowly, wiping at my eyes with the back of my hand.

Kathy put her hand on my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “What can I do?” she asked, her eyes intent.

“Call for a helicopter, and hurry.”

She nodded and rushed back into her office. I watched her as she picked up the phone and dialed quickly. I looked back at my phone, feeling helpless as the blip on the screen moved further away from the city. I heard the click of the phone on her desk. That was fast.

“I was able to get one of your father’s in the next twenty minutes down to the pier at the East River. You have to leave now,” called Kathy after she hung up the phone.

“Thank you,” I said with a nod.

“Be careful, Troy,” she said softly.

It was probably the nicest thing she had ever said to me. I stepped into the elevator and rode down to the lobby, thinking about how different I had seen this day play out. If only I had gotten here sooner, then I could have stopped Veronica’s plan. There were a lot of things I could have done sooner, like cut Veronica off from me and my family a long time ago. Or quit this job. Or stand up to my father. Or fight for Monica from the very beginning. The woulda, coulda, shouldas wouldn’t help me now. I shook my head free of them and headed out the open elevator doors.

As I strode for the heavy glass doors that Monica had just passed through not even half an hour before, I felt the receptionist at the front desk eyed me warily.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Veronica? It should have been the first thing you said when I walked in this morning,” I said, turning on her.

“I-I…” She looked sick with unease.

“I thought we had security measures in place!” I said gruffly, barely slowing down.

“Mr. Gunner, I tried to stop them. But Monica…”

“Monica what?” I asked, softening my voice. Maybe she had some sort of clue about where they were headed. Anything would help.

“Monica left with her. She seemed willing…” she shrugged.

I wondered what Veronica had said to her to convince Monica to go anywhere with her. I was sure she came up with something diabolical and unfortunately Monica fell for it. I couldn’t blame her. Veronica was a conniving woman.

“Well, do you have any idea where they were headed?”

She shook her head.

“Did they say anything at all?”

“N-no, sir.”

“What direction did they go?”

“I-I don’t know.”

Useless. Completely useless. I sighed frustratedly.

“That woman is dangerous. I should have you fired. And you…” I pointed at the security guard at the door who looked down at his feet.

I didn’t have time to waste here anymore. I strode out the doors and hailed a cab, then clambered inside and gave him the address to the pier. It wasn’t far, but the traffic added on minutes. I kept a careful eye on my phone screen and my watch, fretting as the minutes ticked by and the miles grew between Monica and me.

Thirty minutes later, we arrived at the pier. I had the cab drop me off as close to the landing platform as possible, which was busy with traffic from other helicopters. I ran across the runway, the wind from other crafts deafening as it whipped through my hair. I searched frantically for the sleek, black helicopter belonging to my father. Finally, I spotted it at the end of the runway.

I picked up my pace, ignoring the warning yells from the other pilots and runway directors. I didn’t care about anything but getting to Monica. I spotted the pilot inside the helicopter, rushed in doing his safety checks. I knocked on the window, startling him.

“We have to go!” I yelled through the window.

He hopped out of the helicopter and rounded to the other side to pull open the heavy door. I slid inside and pulled over my seatbelt and put on my headphones.

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