It wasn’t what I wanted to hear but I had been half expecting it. She put on the air of being a hippy but there was something positively not free-spirited about her. Bobby’s words echoed in my head. She had a stalker, a bad one. She had run.
Of course she had changed her name.
“She bought a share in our bar, she must exist.” My eyes narrowed on the younger man. “Follow that paper trail, Cyber.”
I knew he wanted to get back to his little family, but he also had a job to do. They didn’t call him Cyber for nothing. There was nothing that he couldn't find online if he put his mind to it. Unfortunately for me, his mind wasn’t with me. It was with the pretty English girl who was pregnant with his kid again.
My thoughts sounded bitter even in my own head, and I quickly pushed them away. Cyber had every right to be happy. As did Havoc. I sounded bitter because I was.
I craved what they had.
What had been taken away from me.
What I still could have with Gypsy if I could just find out who she really was.
“I’ve followed the trail, Prez, of course, I have.” Cyber rolled his eyes, and my fist clenched by my side. “And it sure as hell doesn’t lead back to anyone called Gypsy Rose.”
“Who does it lead back to then?” I was getting tired of his grandstanding. If he had found something out then I wanted to know.
“Ice Entertainment.”
He said the words like they should have meant something to me. And if I was honest, the name did sound familiar. I just couldn't place where I’d heard it.
“Run by the multi-millionaire Daniel...”
It hit me then, Ice Entertainment. They were in the news a lot. A chain of bars and restaurants. All upper-class places that wouldn’t even let someone like me in through the swanky doors.
“Why would a multi-million dollar organisation want our little bar and why the hell would they then give it to Gypsy?”
Cyber shrugged. “I have no idea, maybe she worked for them and it was a gift. Maybe she was boning the old man?”
I growled out a warning at his words. It kind of made sense but I had a feeling that wasn’t it.
“What’s his family situation?”
Cyber’s fingers flew over the keys. “Well, shit.”
“What?” I was off my chair in a second.
“With his third wife, he had one daughter.” Cyber’s head lifted as I hovered over his shoulder. “One daughter Daniella. Studied medicine, no one has seen her for years though. Not since she was involved in a real nasty stalker case involving an ex who killed himself. A daughter who looks a lot like Gypsy.”
It all clicked into place. Everything I had suspected was right there on the laptop screen in black and white. My sunflower’s smiling but serious face stared back at me. Her hair had been short then and a non-descript mousy brown. There were no brightly coloured tattoos flashing on her body, just plain scrubs.
It was like looking at a stranger but one I knew well. She was my sunflower but different. Young, professional. A woman with the whole world at her feet.
There were no demons in her eyes.
* * *
I wantedto go to her and tell her I knew everything, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Hell, I couldn't bring myself to even get off my bike and go to her. I could see her plain as day from my place in the alley.
She was doing some sort of stretching in the little yard that backed onto The Drunken Otter. Her body twisted in ways that made my cock jump against my zipper. She looked totally serene even with the grotty metal barrels surrounding her and her giant dog running in circles.
Letting myself sit back, I studied her. The bright turquoise of her yoga pants and top did nothing at all to hide her curves from my view. But I knew she hadn’t worn them to get attention.
Gypsy was totally in her own little world.
Daniella, I reminded myself. Not Gypsy.
