Page 2 of The CEO's Revenge

“He’s a fool who doesn’t realize what he has.” Robert’s voice was soft, but he was watching me blankly, his real thoughts masked.

I swallowed, feeling suddenly nervous under his intense, unfathomable stare.Keep your focus, Savannah. Find out what’s really going on. “What’s the problem that called for the emergency meeting? Is it the software again?”

“Ummm. Not quite.”

“Well? What is it then? It has to be something important to make Max forget even my damn birthday.” I felt the heat in my words. Angry tears were stinging my eyes.

He looked away, but before his gaze swung away, I detected pity. “It may be best to hear it from Max himself.”

“I would gladly do that if I could only get a hold of him. I’ve texted and called. No response. And now to hear that he left the office hours ago… and he still hasn’t shown up. For?” I stop suddenly. My anger collapsing instantly and horror replacing it. “Oh, Robert! What if something’s wrong with him? What if he’s had an accident? Or he’s been mugged? What if he’s lying hurt in an alleyway somewhere, and here I am bitching at him for being late?” I could feel my voice rising hysterically, but I couldn’t help myself.

The thought of losing Max filled me with terrible, terrible fear. I loved him with all my heart. He was my first love and I was convinced he would be my last. I placed my hand on Robert’s arm. “Robert, please help me find him. I feel so silly and childish for behaving like this when he needs my help. Yes, he’s stood me up before, but he has always called and explained. Always. He hasn’t called tonight and worse I haven’t been able to reach him either so something must be very wrong. Please, Robert!”

“Savannah, calm down.” Robert patted my hand soothingly. Even in my agitated state, some distant part of me realized his fingers were lingering on the bare skin of my forearm.

“Max is a big boy. I’m sure he is fine.”

I leaned back, dislodging his fingers. “But what if he isn’t? You have to help me find him. Please, Robert. I have this terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. Something is wrong. I know it.”

And that was no lie either. When I woke up this morning I felt as if something was not right, but I dismissed it as nothing, and when all the e-cards and birthday wishes started coming into my phone from my circle of friends the sensation dissipated slightly. Later, I put the unease down to Max not calling. Now I know it was my intuition, a premonition, warning me of some impending doom.

I stared deep into Robert’s eyes, not hiding the tears and fear in mine. I saw him soften a bit.

“Okay. Let me see what I can do. Let me call Lillian. She might have some idea where he might be.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket, dialed, and placed the call on speaker.

I waited impatiently for Max’s secretary to answer the phone.

“Hello?” Her voice was clear, but cold.

“Lillian, I’ve got Savannah with me. We’re trying to find Max. Have you seen him, or know where he might be?”

“I haven’t seen him since he left the meeting, Mr. Channing. Maybe he went back to the office after I left.”

“Well, he wasn’t there when I left fifteen minutes ago. But you may be onto something there. Thanks, Lillian.”

“Sure.” His secretary ended the call abruptly, which was weird because she was always very warm and chatty with everyone.

Robert looked at me and smiled apologetically. “Everyone’s a bit on edge with this latest issue we’re having, but she made a good point. What do you say we swing by the office to see if he’s gone back? And even if he didn’t, we can check his desk to see if there are any clues as to what’s going on with him. He has been acting weird for weeks. Have you… er… noticed anything?”

I frowned, puzzled. “No, nothing out of the ordinary. What do you mean by ‘weird’?”

“Oh. Just not his usual self, you know. At first I thought it was the new software he was working on. You know how intense he gets with his projects. But when he finished that job, he was still on edge all the time…”

He allowed his words to fade away and I felt raw panic take hold of me. Whatever was going on with Max was more serious than I thought. How had I not noticed any signs? I thought back to when I’d seen him two days ago. We had hung out in my apartment, and he’d seemed his normal self. We finished a big tub of ice cream whilst watching four episodes ofBillionsback-to-back, then we played a video game until something I did triggered him, and he carried me off to bed like some marauding caveman. The things he did with my body showed him to be very normal. He left after breakfast, smiling at my reminder of my birthday dinner.

I stood abruptly. “Let’s go.”

Robert left a few bills on the table and led me out. A million thoughts raced through my head as we headed to the Stein-Bart Innovative Software office. The dashboard read a little past nine, and though I was doubtful that Max would have gone back to the office at this time, it did not hurt to start by ruling that option out. If he was not there, I would go to his apartment next. I would not stop until I found him. It cut me to the core to think that he was in some kind of trouble and had kept it from me. Ever since we’d been seeing each other, one of the things I had been truly happy about was how open we were with each other. And now to find that he had been hiding something from me just did not sit right with me.

I was out of the car before Robert could attempt to assist me. I rushed to the entrance and waited impatiently for him to punch in the security code to let us into the building. He nodded to the night watchman and we went into the elevator. I stared at the panel as we rose up the floors. At the fourth floor the doors swished open and Robert walked ahead of me down the corridor to the room where Max had his office. There was no light within. Robert switched on the light and the room illuminated. I must have been hoping to find him here, because my stomach flipped to find his chair empty.

“Damn. He’s not here. Let’s check his desk to see if there’s anything there that could give us a clue. A name. A number. Something.”

As I stood over him, anxious and full of dread, Robert began to open the drawers and look through the papers. Nothing seemed out of place as everything was neatly arranged, as was Max’s style. Everything except –

Robert reached for a blue folder that seemed to have been hastily shoved underneath a pile of papers in the bottom drawer. As he opened it, I felt my knees grow weak. I groped for the chair as spots swam before my eyes. I blinked several times. I had to be dreaming. Robert snapped the file shut and tried to put the file back into the drawer, but I snatched it off him.

“Don’t, Savannah,” Robert implored.

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