Page 90 of Fractured (Not Quite a Billionaire)
“Thanks.” He was one of the few men I’d actually have trusted to do it. Not in any kind of competition with me, and as deceptively sharp in business as he was apparently easygoing. Not to mention somebody who understood the double-edged sword that was celebrity.
“Hey,” he said. “What are friends for? Catch you later, then. Hang in there.”
He took off, and I headed back to my office, where Josh materialized, as usual seeming to appear out of nowhere.
“Simon called from Marketing,” he said. “Saying that Hope quit, and she’s gone.”
Hemi
I rang Hope. No answer, so I left a voicemail. “Call me,” I said, then tried to think of what else, but couldn’t.
I realized only then that I had three missed calls on my phone, and my heart leaped for a moment, then settled down. Two from Karen. One from Inez.
Inez? Inez never called me. Inez didn’t have questions. She thought she knew all the answers already. For that matter,Karennever called me.
I tried Karen first. No answer there, either. What was going on?
My feet wanted to carry me out the door and straight home, but I couldn’t do that. For one thing, I didn’t even know that Hope was there. For all I knew, she’d walked out of here and down the street to McDonald’s and applied for a job, just to show me that I couldn’t tell her what to do.
Couldn’t she see that I just wanted to look after her? Didn’t she know that I needed herhere?It wasn’t like I hadn’t told her so. She said I didn’t share? I’d shared that. I’dexplained.I was sure I had. And she hadn’t listened. So much for sharing.
There was another reason, too. I had responsibilities, and despite what Hope might think, it wasn’t just about money. Thousands of employees paid their bills with Te Mana paychecks. Their children went to the doctor on Te Mana benefits. If I was juggling all the time, it wasn’t just my own future or my own fortune I was keeping up there. And that was before you talked about my mother, my father, my sister. Koro. And Karen.
And Hope.
Focus, then.
I didn’t. I rang Inez.
“Good,” she said when she picked up, not even bothering with a hello. “You have called at last.”
Was I going to get it from every direction today? Apparently so.
“What is it?” I asked.Oh, bugger,I realized.Karen. Something with Karen.
“Hope has left the apartment,” she said.
“For where?” So shehadgone home, and had left again. So?
I heard her sharp sigh. “You are not understanding. She has left with her suitcase.”
“For where? Where did she go?” I stood in front of the bank of windows and looked at Manhattan, but I didn’t see a thing.
“She didn’t say.”
I closed my eyes and swore silently, then opened them again when Inez said, “But Charles might know.”
Charles? Why Charles? She wouldn’t run away from me and ask my driver to take her. I knew Hope better than that. This was all some ridiculous, over-the-top declaration of independence, and she’d have taken the subway for it. I was surprised she’d even packed. Probably took only what she’d brought with her. That suitcase probably held her horrible afghan, her cracked vase, and Target’s spring line. From a year ago.
I focused on that. I didn’t go any further with it. I’d solve this. That was what I did.
“When I saw her packing,” Inez said, “I called Charles to come and wait outside. I thought you would want that. He did not call me back, so I am thinking he found her.”
“Right,” I said. “Thanks,” I added belatedly. “What about Karen?”
“She would not go with Hope. No suitcase. She went to the Y.Afterher sister made her change her clothes.”
Next thing. Do the next thing.I rang Charles.
