Page 39 of Her Billionaire Hero
There was no way in hell that I could have a nice day until I knew if Sloan was okay. “Thanks, you too.”
Leaving the building, I got into my truck. As I shut the door, I thought I might break down and cry. The last time I’d cried was when I found out that my parents were killed in the housefire.
I couldn’t let myself break. I had to keep up hope that I would find Sloan alive and well. Even if she had left me to get back together with her ex, I would still feel better than I did now.
Thinking about our one night together, I laid my head back on the headrest and closed my eyes. Her skin had glistened in the moonlight that streamed through the window. A thin sheen of sweat covered her body as we’d made love for hours. Her chest rose and fell with each breath. Her hands moved over my chest as she sat up on me. “I like riding you this way, babe. I can feel you deep inside of me.”
“I think you like the position of power too,” I had teased her.
Her expression went soft as she shook her head. “I like what we have, Baldwyn. Neither of us have power over the other. It’s a perfect balance that we have. This is what love is meant to be—shared, not lorded over the other person.”
I knew then that’s what Preston had done to her. He’d lorded over her, calling it love when it was nothing more than a power trip. He didn’t want to be in love with her, he just wanted to have her. He wanted to call her his and his alone.
From the way she’d talked, Preston had left her alone until he saw the two of us together. It wasn’t long after that when he come to find her and told her how he wanted her back.
She thought part of it too was to make him look good for the cops. But I had the idea that he didn’t want her with anyone else. And that told me that he might do something awful to her if she refused to get back together with him. And if she told him that she and I were in love, then he might do the very worst imaginable—he could kill her.
Opening my eyes, I wished like crazy that I would find her today. I couldn’t take another twenty-four hours of not knowing where she was or if she was safe. I had to find her today.
My cell rang and I saw a number I didn’t recognize but answered it anyway. “Baldwyn Nash here.”
“Mr. Nash, this is Lucy, Mr. Manning’s assistant. I haven’t spoken to him, but I just got a call from the police department in Elgin. That’s a small town about thirty minutes away from Austin.”
“The police contacted you?” My mind flooded with the reasons for that call.
“A nine-one-one call came in around five this morning from Mr. Manning’s phone number. The dispatcher heard a woman calling for help and asking to ping the phone as she didn’t know where she was. But they weren’t able to ping it because they lost signal almost immediately. They were able to do a reverse look up to find who the phone number belonged to,” she said. “Thank goodness that the phone is registered to Mr. Manning’s business. That gave them the office number to call. So, we’ve got some information.”
“Sloan’s dad is in Elgin?” I asked the wheels spun in my head, trying to figure out what this meant. “How much do you know about Mr. Manning’s personal life?”
“Not a lot.”
“So, you have no idea if he knows anyone in that town?” I found it hard to believe that his assistant knew so little about her boss. But the man had lived outside of the country for years.
“I have no idea at all. I’m sorry that I can’t be more help, Mr. Nash.”
“You’ve done all you could. If you find out anything else, let me know. I’m going to get my tech savvy brother in on this now. Can you give me Mr. Manning’s cell number?”
“Yes. I’ll text it to you.” She ended the call.
And I called Stone. He was the best researcher of all of us.
“Morning, Baldwyn. Whatchya got?”
“I need you to see what you can find out about Preston Rivers and if he has any properties in Elgin, Texas.” I had a hunch that he was at the bottom of Sloan’s dad’s disappearance too. It was too much of a coincidence. “I’ll need the addresses if you can find anything. And see if you can get the license plates of any cars he owns.” I was heading to Elgin as I spoke.
“Patton told me about what you said to him last night. I tend to think like you do, Baldwyn. I don’t think Sloan would up and leave like this,” Stone said.
If I had to drive up and down every street, bang on every door until I found Sloan, Preston, or Mr. Manning, then that’s what I was going to do. The Austin Police Department wasn’t going to help me yet, but the Elgin Police Department might.
It didn’t take long for Lucy to text me back with the cell number. “Okay, Sloan’s father’s assistant just texted me his number. The Elgin Police Department contacted her this morning to let her know about a nine-one-one call that came in from Sloan’s father’s phone around five this morning. The dispatcher heard a woman’s voice calling out for help, asking them to ping the phone.”
“Were they able to do that?” he asked.
“No, they weren’t. I’m about to call that police department to see if they can start doing a search. I know you can probably find information on Preston Rivers faster than they can. If they will even start to try to do that yet. There’s a two day wait for the Austin police, as the officer I spoke with didn’t seem to think there was anything to be worried about. But maybe a cop in Elgin will take this more seriously.”
“I’ll text you with everything I find. Text me her dad’s phone number and I’ll see what I can find out about that too. I might be able to see where it pinged last. That should help, right?”
“It should.” I knew calling Stone was the right thing to do. “I’m counting on you, bro.”
