The private detective my lawyer put on Fiona was useless. She had apparently changed her flights, having got off during the layover she had in Los Angeles and made alternative plans rather than seeing her flight all the way through to Atlanta.
From there, she dropped off the face of the Earth. No one had been able to find her since. Her parents - father and stepmother - were not cooperative. Her mother was also untraceable. Eventually, she would surface. I just had to hope that if she had truly been pregnant, and that baby was mine, that it had not come to any harm. I wanted a kid with my rapist as much as I wanted a bullet-shaped hole in my head. Still, I wouldn’t relegate any child to her care either, especially one that might share my DNA.
“Damn shame. Maybe she stopped breathing somewhere,” Nancy mumbled. I gave her a look, and she offered a shrug in return. “What? It’s not like that woman was really pregnant. We all know it was fake, that’s why she got out of here the minute you called her out and she hasn’t been seen since.”
A text pinged on my phone. I was surprised to see my cousin’s name pop up. We were working on repairing our relationship as best we could from this distance, but he hadn’t really ever been the one to initiate contact since he found out that I thought there was something going on between him and my wife.
Moreland: Is it true that you haven’t spoken to Violet since the night of your party?
Ridge: It’s true I don’t remember having a conversation with her that night, either.
Moreland: Fuck, man.
Ridge: ???
Mom: You need to get back home, Ridge.
Ridge (to Mom): Why?
Dad: Son, it’s time to come home. You need to cut the rest of your trip short.
Something was wrong.
Ridge (to Dad): What’s going on?
Aunt Gayle: Have you found her?
“What the fucking hell is going on?” I growled aloud.
“Not sure, but we need to go over this budget before the meeting with the builders today. The extra studio space is going to go way over our initial projections if we don’t get them under control,” Nancy intoned as she set up the conference room.
“I’ll keep that in mind. Right now, my family are all hassling me to get back home for some reason, but no one is mentioning why.”
“Is someone sick or hurt?”
“Not sure, since they won’t say.”
Nancy nodded and continued to set up. “Might not be a bad time to take a break and go home for a bit,” she reassured me.
“You literally just said we have to get the builders under control because the project is going over budget.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean you have to be the one to oversee things here.”
“Are you volunteering to stay?”
“I have all the numbers, the know-how, and my husband came over last week to stay with me for the duration since he retired from his job. I am not needed in the US, but it seems that you are. Maybe it’s time to stop worrying about Fiona, go find Violet, and fix what you broke between you.”
“Easier said than done,” I murmured as another text came in.
Moreland: It’s been six fucking months, and you haven’t spoken to your wife at all? Seriously, there’s time and space and then there’s basically ghosting a person and saying, ‘Fuck you, I never cared about our marriage anyway,’ you jackass!
Aunt Gayle: Hello?
I ignored my aunt and answered my cousin instead.
Ridge (to Moreland): Her mother told me not to contact her. Said that was a direct order from Violet. She was disgusted with me, didn’t want to speak yet, and said her daughter would contact me when she was ready.
Moreland: Dude, I don’t think that was true. Not sure why Vi’s mom would say something like that.
