REESE
Iwasn’t about to tell Thea she was right. She would demand I stay home another day to recover. I would have been willing to do exactly that if she stayed with me. Otherwise, I felt completely useless lying around and doing nothing. I was sore, not broken. And I needed to be at the tower for an A-lister who was interested in buying one of the penthouses. I was the face of the project. Even if said face was a little bruised.
“Thank you.” I shook the man’s hand. “I look forward to seeing you around. If you need anything, my office line will put you through to my assistant, who always knows where to find me.”
“Thank you, Reese,” the actor said. “I look forward to getting to relax and unwind here. It will be a nice retreat.”
After seeing him to the door, I took a moment to pat myself on the back. It wasn’t like anyone else was going to do it. Whenever I made another sale, it made me wish my dad was here. I wanted him to see the success. We were killing it. We would be at ninety percent occupancy in a month at the rate we were going. He would be very proud. Wasn’t that what every kid wanted? We all wanted to make our parents proud.
I delivered what I thought was a rousing pep talk for my staff at the tower before heading to the office. I had just barely gotten into my office when Clark called. I’d been waiting for his call for what felt like forever.
“Clark, tell me you have good news,” I answered.
“I don’t think I have good or bad news,” he replied.
“But you know something?”
“I know he didn’t make his flight in New York,” he said. “He didn’t check in, so he never made it to the airport. However, he did check out of his hotel. I tracked down the car service he was supposed to use. He did go to the airport. He had plenty of time to make his flight, he just didn’t get on.”
“Did he charter a plane?” I asked. “Change his flight and go somewhere else?”
“Not that I can find,” he said. “I’ve searched. He went to the airport and disappeared.”
I rubbed my hand over my face while being careful not to rub the bandage over my eye. “What does this mean?” I asked.
“It means he is missing.”
“Clark, tell me what you think,” I said. “What do you think happened?”
“I’m still investigating,” he said.
“What do you think happened?” I asked again.
He blew out a long breath. “I think he was grabbed before he ever made it inside the airport.”
“Grabbed?” I asked. “What does that mean? Are you saying he was kidnapped?”
“I think so.”
I scoffed and shook my head. “Who kidnaps a sixty-year-old man? Does that even happen in real life?”
“Our father is a very wealthy man,” he reminded me.
“Yeah, but he’s been wealthy forever,” I retorted. “No one has tried to nab him. Who in New York would even know who he was? It’s not like his face is splashed all over the internet. He’s rich but only people here know who he is.”
“People know him,” he said. “Certain people. He does business overseas and sometimes he does business with the wrong people. He might have gotten mixed up with them. Dad was always taking risks and doing stupid shit. He believes he’s untouchable. He might have tangled with the wrong people this time.”
My head was spinning as he talked. Everything he was saying rang true. I just never thought it would happen to him. To us. We were just businessmen. We invested in real estate. That wasn’t exactly prone to high crime. I felt nauseated. I couldn’t say if it was the devastating news or my head injury.
“What the hell?” I breathed. “How do we find out? What do we do? He could be anywhere.”
“I need you to get into Dad’s business,” he said. “You’re there. I can’t get there right away, and we can’t waste another minute.”
“Okay,” I said and immediately got to my feet. I was moving through the office on my way to the door.
“Where are you going?” Josh chased after me.
“I’m out for the day,” I said. “Clear the schedule.”