His Nanny Mate (Moana and Edrick Morgan) novel Chapter 12

#Chapter 12: Missing
Moana

I felt my heart sink into the pit of my stomach at the attendant’s words.

“She left quite a while ago. Did you not pick her up?”

“Hold on,” I replied, walking away briskly and trying to stay calm as I dialed the penthouse phone number into my cell phone and asked the concierge to direct me to Edrick’s suite. This had to be some misunderstanding. Surely Ella was safely home. Maybe Amy or Lily got confused with the schedule and picked her up without letting me know.

“Hello?” Selina’s voice said on the other line after a few rings.

“Selina,” I said, trying to sound as calm and collected as possible, “did Amy or Lily pick up Ella from her training?”

Selina was silent for a few moments before responding. “No. That’s your job.” Her voice sounded stern and cold, but I could sense a hint of fear behind it as she seemed to put two and two together. I knew that Selina cared for Ella just as much as I did, and the last thing she would ever want would be for something bad to happen to Ella.

“f**k,” I whispered.

“Excuse me?” Selina growled, irritated by my choice of language.

“I’m sorry,” I responded. “I got stuck in traffic when I was coming back to pick Ella up, and… She’s gone.”

I could hear Selina gasp audibly on the other end of the line. “You weren’t there for her when she was finished with her training?”

I felt a knot form in my stomach. “I’m sorry, I just thought–”

“No excuses,” Selina said, her voice quivering with anger. “Find her.”

Before I could say anything else, Selina abruptly hung up the phone. The room spun around me as I stared down at my phone screen, but I knew I had to act quickly for Ella’s sake. Collecting myself as best I could, I ran out of the training facility and sprinted up to the car where the driver was waiting, climbing into the passenger seat.

“Took you long eno– Are you alright? Where’s Ella?” he asked, looking at me confusedly.

“She took off while I was gone,” I said hastily as tears streamed down my cheeks, trying to rack my brain as to where Ella might have run off to. Before I had left, I had mentioned to her that I was going to be at the orphanage…

“Take me to the orphanage in the Waterside District,” I said to the driver. “I have a feeling she went there to look for me.

Nodding solemnly, and with an angry look on his face, the driver stepped on the gas and peeled away from the curb. I quickly buckled my seatbelt and held onto the door handle for dear life as he sped down the road, passing other vehicles at dangerous speeds. As we flew down the city streets, all I could think of was Ella. Would I get to her in time?

All of a sudden as we were speeding through the city streets, I saw a familiar little head of blonde hair walking at an intersection a little ways away, all by herself… And at the same time, I saw a black sports car with tinted windows barreling down the road at breakneck speeds, swerving this way and that as a drunk girl stood through the sunroof, hooting and hollering like a maniac.

“Ella!” I screamed, pointing. The driver slammed on the brakes and came to a screeching halt. Without thinking, I leaped out of the car and started running toward Ella.

Everything moved in slow motion. I found myself running faster than I ever had before. I lunged into the street, my arms outstretched for Ella as she stood frozen in the middle of the crosswalk just as the sports car was headed directly for her…

I felt an impact. I shut my eyes as my body slammed into Ella’s, and together we tumbled to the other side of the street.