Max pulled out the keys from the ignition after leaving the Harley outside the office. His hand pulled out
his phone to check for the calls. His steps were fast, his cowboy boots walking on the white marble
floor of the building almost silently.
Shawn had been of more use than he looked like. But the thing was that he did not know what to think
of Hope getting kidnapped. He did not know what condition she was in with Varys. His fist clenched
tight at the thought, a vein in his jaw jumping at the mere thought. She was his responsibility. And it had
been days since he had been unable to find her! Varys had planned out each move very smartly and
left a clean slate behind, with no trace of Hope anywhere to be found.
He pulled out the phone from the back of his pocket, his fingers flipping it around to straighten the
screen when suddenly it slipped and fell down on the ground from his hands, crashing against the floor
and cracking open. Its back fell a bit away from the phone.
"Damn it." he gritted under his breath and bent down to grab the damn thing.
Picking up the phone and its back case he turned it up and sideways to see any damage. There was
none so he put the case back, but then instantly pulled it apart again. His gaze shot to the mini black
thing on the top of the camera. His fingers immediately fumbled to pull it out, it seemed stuck with
super glue. But after a couple of attempts, he was able to pull it out.
It seemed too small to be a camera, but as he rolled it around in his hand. His fingers clenched around
the thing and it looked like he was taking a whole lot of effort not to explode right there and then. He
started storming inside the building towards his office. Passing the receptionist in the office, he passed
by his own office and went directly to the surveillance room.
"Mark!" he barked out, his eyes scanning around the area of the surveillance room.
There were multiple computer screens with listening devices in the room to make sure that his men
were in contact with the office at any and all time twenty- four seven. This was the job that his men
detested the most, but they had to take shifts to watch over surveillance. Men in his team preferred
action, on the field job instead of being cooped up in the room for a whole day.
His eyes met Mark's and motioned for him to follow behind. Mark followed Max's glance and direction,
his body immediately going into alert mode. Mark was a guy with a buff body and sharp gaze. His long
hair stick to the back of his neck, his pale skin casting an immediate reflection in the otherwise
darkened room.
As they reached the dark holding room, where they kept hostages when needed, Max extended his
hand to hand over the small thing to Mark to observe. Mark took once look at the device, his body went
taut, his hand fishing out his phone. He moved his thumb over the screen to type something and
handed it over to Max.
'It is a mic.' the message read, 'Listening device.'
Max snatched the tiny thing from Mark's hand, stormed over to the washroom, and dropped the
listening device in the toilet, flushing it.
"Fucking Varys." he blasted out in anger. He had been careful in his search but only Varys would have
known that he was looking for Hope. And since Ethan was not looking for his wife, at least not for now,
Varys would have been the only one concerned with trying to track Max's every move.
He stormed out of the washroom, and went back to the surveillance room,
"Anything on the name I texted you about?"
Mark's gaze fleetingly swung from the computer to Max as his fingers quickly typed over the keyboard,
looking for something,
"There!" he stopped and motioned at the computer screen to show Max a picture, "This is Stella. She
left North Carolina the same day as Hope and went to Petersburg, Virginia. She is working as a jewelry
designer for a local company."
"Book my flight that is leaving within the next two hours." Max ordered and snatched the printout of
Stella's information before turning around to stride out.
He heard Mark murmur as he left the room,
"Will have to hack the system to book you in, no worries."
******
6 Hours Later
Putting the shades up his nose Max crossed the street to take a seat on the chair of the sideway
restaurant. The night lights, bright red and blue and green and everything that made Virginia shimmer
and come alive with happiness blinked against the darkness of the sky.
His sharp gaze was stuck to a jewelry shop across the street. It was almost ten pm, the people inside
seemed to be wrapping up everything as a person came out to turn the 'open' sign to 'closed'.
A waiter came to take his order and was back with a glass of beer in his hand almost immediately.
Ten more minutes passed, Max's shoe clicking against the floor conveyed his impatience. And just as
he decided to drop waiting and enter inside the shop to meet his target, a woman in a red knee -length
dress and bellies on her feet came out. Her black hair and pale skin shined under the yellow glow of
the glow sign board of the shop. Her face was devoid of any emotions and her eyes focused on
climbing down the stairs. The woman looked like the epitome of arrogance, her demeanor expressing
boldness. Max's eyebrows roused up in surprise. He was shocked that Hope was best friends with
someone like her. Guess friendships really rise in the wonders.
As he watched her walk towards the parking with a key to the car in her hand, he stood up, put the
empty beer glass on the table, and started to follow her. Her black Swift was not parked too far away
and as she neared the door to enter the car, he was in front of her, blocking her view and way.
A second passed by and then two, and then before he could judge what Stella was thinking or doing,
he found a heavy purse being thrown in his face as she took off like a bullet train, leaving him
flabbergasted.
"What the fuck?!" the words slipped out of Max's mouth, his hand rubbing the spot that the heavy purse
had hit like a brick, and then he ran after her. For a girl in a short dress, she was pretty fast. This girl
either ran miles in the morning for exercise or was blessed by God and still needed to realize her talent.
"Wait, Stella!" he shouted, nearing her as she turned into an ally where there were barely any people
and lights.
"I will not!" she turned her face and snapped while running at the same pace, "It is not my dying age. I
still need to live for fifty more years damn it!"
She had barely finished speaking when Max's hand reached out, her eyes widened in shock, and then
he grabbed her arm from behind, almost falling on the ground with her but managing to just get close
and corner her against the wall forcefully.
Stella's arm flew wildly in an attempt to shake him off herself. Her breathing was ragged, uneven, while
Max looked like he was silently watching a kid throw a tantrum.
"For fucks sake, STOP!" he snapped, frustration lacing his words, "what the hell is wrong with you?"
Stella stilled in her spot as a tremor ran down her spine, mostly in anger, but more in disgust, "I am
never going to sleep with that fucking shitface man!" she forced the words out, "and I sure as hell do
not know where Hope is, so tell Ethan to throw the fantasy of getting anything out of me out of his pea
sized brain."
Max growled in frustration and put his hand over Stella's mouth to shut her rant up and snapped, "I am
not working for Ethan! What the hell is wrong with you, woman? Ranting on and on about
fucking?"
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda