Page 10 of Slow Burn (The Boston Beauties)

‘After you shower, I need you to join my staff and the family, there’s going to be a lot happening. The police will be back, you will need to give a statement.’ I looked up to him.

‘But…’

‘But nothing, you love her, do you not?’

His question caught me off guard. I didn’t know we had been so obvious, but I wasn't going to lie. Me loving his daughter was the least of his worries at the moment.

I nodded and my heart broke as my resolve completely crumbled. ‘So. Much,’ I sobbed, as he pulled me into his arms. ‘This can’t be happening.’ I was gasping for air, and I felt him hold on to me tighter.

‘I know, son,’ his voice was broken. ‘I know.’

I held on to him, as I wasn’t sure if anyone else had been there for him for however long I’d been passed out. He couldn’t bear the weight of the whole family alone. I needed to be there for him, just as he was there for me now, and had been behind me, supporting me this entire time.

‘It’s not fair,’ I huffed, trying to catch my breath. ‘How’s Colleen?’ I asked, pulling away, looking around.

He wiped his eyes, looking to the ceiling, as if for strength. ‘She’s taken a sedative,’ he sounded hopeless. ‘I didn’t know what else to do for her.’

‘Can I go check on her?’

He tried to smile at me. ‘Thanks, later, she’s out of it now. Now, I need you to go shower, people will be arriving soon. Zoe is going to be heartbroken; I’ve asked the team not to mention anything to her yet, not until she’s here.’

‘Can I be the one to tell her?’ I offered, trying to lessen his load.

‘I was hoping you would,’ he offered a half smile, clearly grateful for my offer.

‘It’s just…’ I run my hand through my hair. ‘What do they mean by missing? Is Matt missing also and where were they last seen?’

Steve took a deep breath and shook his head, clearly not able to answer.

‘Where can I go to look for her?’

Steve puts his hand on my shoulder to stop me from mentally spinning, ‘Andrew, we’re going to get through this.’

‘She’s not missing,’ I willed in a whisper. ‘She can’t be.’

I walked back into the room to gather my boots and took the pills, not knowing and not caring what they were. I had a wicked headache and hoped they would help.

When I returned to the house with a small bag of my essential things, Breton and Deb were already there. Breton was in Josh’s old room and Deb next to the Cahills’. I assumed she would be helping Steve with Colleen. It killed me that this was happening to them again.

I shook my head. It wasn’t real.

I was clearly still in denial, wasn’t that a stage of grief?

The doorbell rang, and I knew the first people from Steve’s team were here. It was a good thing I had an empty stomach, or I might have vomited again at having to tell Zoe. Why did I volunteer for this?

I saw Zoe enter the living room with a guy I’d seen at Cahill Global’s offices a few times. She looked around, finding me first and making a beeline towards me.

‘Drew, what’s going on?’ she asked me, sounding as worried as she looked. ‘Is everything ok?’

I couldn’t even fake a smile; I took her by the arm in a gentle gesture, ‘Let’s go upstairs for a second.’

‘Drew, you’re scaring me,’ she said.

I led her to the room I woke up earlier in, and the one I assumed I could stay in. ‘I don’t know much at this point. Steve’s going to fill us all in a bit, I think he’s on the phone now getting updates,’ I told her, leading her to sit down on the bed.

‘Updates about what?’

I took a deep breath and sat next to her. ‘Jessa’s missing.’

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