Just Before My Wedding: Trapped By My Ruthless Boss novel Chapter 23

16:30 Thu, May 21 MM.

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

OCEANS.

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We waited for the door to be answered. It took a while, almost like Mr. Gerald was taking his time to decide whether to answer the door or not.

The door pulled open a second before I lost my patience, and the man I’d see in the footage showed up looking a bit older. But he was dressed smartly. Just like in the footage. Button- down shirt. Pressed trousers. Good shoes. He was a man who had a knack for looking good when he was younger, I could tell.

I had taken Reeves‘ advice about the clothes. No suit. Dark fitted trousers, a simple black shirt, nothing that announced anything or gave up my real identity. Not because I was ashamed of who I was looking for or why, but because the fewer people who could connect Ocean Stark to a six–year–old shooting investigation, the cleaner everything stayed. My name attached to this search tended to produce more noise than information, and noise was the last thing I needed right now.

Plus, Oceans Stark, CEO of Stark Soverign Capital, couldn’t be looking for another woman this desperately when he was set to marry the daughter of one of the leading business moguls in the country.

My reputation remains intact. At least, for now.

We sat in his small living room, which gave nothing away about his personal life. No family portraits. Nothing. Just furniture that had outlasted several decades.

I listened to the man narrate the same story he had told Reeves yesterday. There was always something in the second telling of a fabricated story that the first one always missed. A detail that surfaced once the formality of the initial account had worn off. But this man’s story stayed consistent. Meaning, he was telling the truth. But something in my guts wasn’t satisfied.

“Why are you looking for her?” he asked. “After all this time.”

“She saved my life,” I said. “I want to repay that.”

“After six years.”

“I’ve been looking since the night it happened,” I said, keeping my voice even. “This is the first lead that went anywhere.”

He was quiet for a moment, turning that over. “That’s some persistence,” he said finally, in a tone that sat somewhere between impressed and suspicious. There was something sitting behind that remark that he hadn’t attached words to yet. I listened, hoping he’d say more, but he didn’t.

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16:30 Thu, May 21 MM ·

Chapter 23

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“What was she like?” I asked. “Is she a citizen? An immigrant? Was that why she didn’t want you to call the police?”

“Tell me about her.” I said. “What was she like? Her accent, her age was she a citizen? An immigrant? Is that why she didn’t want the police involved?”

He studied me for a moment before answering.

“Young,” he said finally. “Nineteen, maybe. Could have been younger. Hard to tell when someone is in that kind of state.” He paused. “She spoke well. Clean English. No accent I could identify as foreign.” He folded his hands in his lap. “Whether she was a citizen or not, I couldn’t tell you. She didn’t volunteer much, and I didn’t press. She was hurt, and she was frightened, and pressing a frightened, hurt young girl for her papers didn’t seem like the priority.”

I watched him as he spoke. He was giving me enough to seem cooperative without giving me enough to do anything specific with, and the balance of it was too precise to be accidental. This was a man who had decided exactly how much of this conversation he was willing to have before I knocked on his door.

“Did she say anything about herself?” I asked. “Where she’d come from? Where she was going? Anything about her life before that night?”

He considered that. “She said very little. She was more focused on making sure I understood what she didn’t want – no hospital, no police, no attention of any kind.” The faintest something moved across his face. “She was very clear about that for a girl who could barely sit up straight.”

“Did anyone come looking for her afterward? Anyone at all.”

“No one,” he said simply. “She left alone. And no one came to me asking questions.” He paused, and his eyes moved over my face. “Until tonight.”

I leaned forward slightly. “Mr. Watts. I need you to understand something.” I kept my voice level. “Someone else is looking for her. Someone who found her before I did and who doesn’t have the same intentions I have. She’s in danger, and she doesn’t know it. Whatever you remember, whatever you’ve held back tonight because you weren’t sure who you were talking to – I need it. It could be the difference between finding her in time and not finding her at all.”

Gerald Watts looked at me for a long moment. Then he said, very calmly, “How do I know you’re not the danger?”

I stilled.

“You have my word that I am not the danger.”

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Chapter 23

Gerald studied me as he could somehow see through me and get whatever truth he was looking for.

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“Okay.” He said, standing up, “If I ever recall anything else from that night, I’ll be sure to give you a call.”

I didn’t need to be told. That was my cue. That was him telling me that I’d overstayed my welcome.

PARGA

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