“We need to find her. Now.” He grabbed Alex’s shoulder and shoved him toward the elevators. “Go check the roof.”
Alex nodded, looking increasingly worried, and jogged through the crowds. Tommy watched him go and started approaching people, asking if they’d seen her. Most people shook their heads and shrugged, but a group of women about Evie’s age looked very confused and asked who he was talking about.
“What do you mean, who?” He snapped, his anxiety about Evie’s safety making him short-tempered. He waved his arm around the room. “Evie. You know, who the birthday party is for? How did you get in here? It was invite-only.”
“We were.” One of the girls pulled out her phone, scrolled for a second, then showed him, looking nervous. “The invite was sent to all of Sloane Tech.”
“What?” Tommy was perplexed; he’d never sent the invite to Sloane Tech at all, besides to Tara and a few of the executive assistants he’d seen Evie talk to over the years. “Who sent it?”
“Uh. Hang on.” She pulled up the email. “It came from Kara, but she got it from an Alex Turner? Says he’s the Chief Security Officer of Sloane Security Services.” She showed him her phone again, and Tommy saw that Alex had asked Kara to send it to all departments.
“If you didn’t know who the party was for, why did you come?” He passed her the phone back, glaring at her and her friends, not understanding why they would come to celebrate someone they didn’t know.
“This club is really hard to get into.” She explained, her expression dropping as Tommy’s anger became clear. “It was an open invitation. We didn’t think it would be a problem.”
“It was a birthday party!” Tommy snapped, furious but knowing it was directed at the wrong person. Kara would be hearing about passing along things that didn’t come from him, and Alex was going back on probation. “Get yourselves home, ladies, the party is over.”
Walking over to the bar, he told the bartender to close it down immediately and to make sure they did the same upstairs. The house lights came up, and there was a chorus of boos and complaints as the DJ announced the party was over, but Tommy was past the point of caring. Pulling out his phone, he called Evie, swearing when it went straight to voicemail.
He left a message asking Evie to call him, then connected his phone to the Tower’s security system and contacted HELIX.
“Is Evie at home?” he demanded when the AI’s calm voice, modelled to sound like one of Evie’s favourite actresses, came over the line asking how she could help him.
“Yes, sir. She and Mr. Denton arrived at the Tower at eleven twenty-two.”
Tommy glanced at his watch, and his stomach sank when he saw it was almost three in the morning. “Is she okay?” He frowned when the AI didn’t respond at once. “HELIX, is she okay?”
“Evie instructed me not to give anyone any information about her until she said so.” The AI’s voice was apologetic. “She is my primary user; I can’t override her commands for anyone unless there is an emergency.” Another pause, and this time she sounded vaguely amused. “Much to Thorn’s frustration. All I can tell you is that she is home, locked down in her apartment, and does not appear to be physically harmed in any way.”
Tommy sighed, shoving his hand through his hair. “Great.” He disconnected, pinching the bridge of his nose for a moment as he struggled to get his temper under control. Dealing with the invite going out to all of his companies was going to have to wait until Monday, when he had much less alcohol in his system and had spoken to Evie. Right now, he had to find Nissa and Alex and go home.
**********
Tommy found Alex as he was coming out of the bathroom, looking almost wild with panic, and felt his anger soften a little as he approached him. The kid was deeply in love with Evie and meant well, but Tommy realized he should have reined him in a little with the party instead of getting caught up in his excitement.
“It’s okay,” he told him before Alex could open his mouth. “She’s at home.”
Alex’s cheeks flushed, a flash of anger crossing his face. “What? Since when? Why would she leave without telling anyone?”
Tommy shrugged. “She left around eleven-ish, I guess? HELIX said she arrived at the Tower around eleven twenty-two and would have taken between twenty and twenty-five minutes to get there from here. As for why, I’m assuming Thorn finally caught up to her and she told him off, because he left around eleven-thirty looking very upset.”
“Yeah, well, he deserved it,” Alex muttered, his face darkening slightly. Tommy had told him Nissa’s theory, and Alex had been pissed that he was getting snapped at for something Thorn had done.
“That’s not why she left.” Nissa appeared at Tommy’s elbow, followed by Paula, who looked very amused as she typed on her phone. “I mean, yes, Thorn caught up to her, and she told him to leave her alone, but she was already leaving when that happened.” She looked at Paula, tapping her lower lip like she was thinking. “I wonder why she would leave suddenly just before eleven? What happened that would have upset her, do you think?”
Paula chuckled, but Tommy felt his tenuous hold on his temper slip. “I’m not in the mood for this, Nissa, just spit it out already.”
Nissa rolled her eyes but immediately became more serious. “Fine, but the question is valid: what happened just before she left?”
“She cut the cake.” Alex cut in. “So what? What does that have to do with her leaving?”
“It was red velvet,” Nissa explained, like it was the answer to everything, but Tommy was still confused.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Red velvet,” Nissa repeated slowly. She looked between them and threw up her hands in frustration. “You know, probably the only type of cake she can’t stand?”
“What are you talking about?” Alex laughed, but Tommy closed his eyes as another sinking feeling came over him. “She loves red velvet; it’s her favourite.”
