Perfect Bastard (by Mary D. Sant) novel Chapter 89

Perfect Bastard

Chapter 89: Tormented

ETHAN

Rosie had not been able to find out anything in her attempt to reach

Ellie. After seven long hours on a flight back to New York, I was nearly convinced that all of this might be related to Charlotte’s

presence in my apartment.

But it would be too much of a coincidence for Ellie to have seen her.

And how would that even be possible if she didn’t even know who

Charlotte was? Fate must have been playing a cruel joke on me.

I was exhausted, and she still wasn’t answering any of my messages,

leaving me increasingly desperate. It was late afternoon when I

landed in New York and went straight to her apartment. But when I

knocked on her door, she didn’t answer, and a fresh wave of

frustration hit me.

I knocked for several minutes, wondering if she might be ignoring me,

but it seemed she really wasn’t home. Where the hell could she be? I

had to turn to the last option I had left.

If anyone knew where she was, it had to be Anna. I dialed her number,

still standing in front of Ellie’s door.

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“What do you want, Morgan?” Anna answered, sounding annoyed.

Of course, she was mad at me too.

“All right, I know you must be angry at me right now, but I need to

know where she is.”

“And why would I tell you?”

“Please, Anna,” I begged.

“I don’t know exactly what’s going on between you two, but maybe

now isn’t the best time.”

“Please, just tell me where she is.”

She sighed on the other end of the line, seeming to consider.

“Santa Barbara. She texted me earlier but didn’t explain much. She

just asked me to let her work know. Do you have something to do with

this?”

“Not that I’m aware of. Do you think something happened to her

parents?”

The possibility made me worried.

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“I don’t know. She just stopped answering me.”

“All right, thanks.”

“Whatever’s going on, Morgan, fix it,” she said before hanging up.

Damn it. Looked like I had another long flight ahead of me. I was starting to get really worried. Why would she go to California so

suddenly?

As I headed back to the airport, I sent her another message, begging

her to tell me what was going on.

At the airport, the fastest flight I could get was to Los Angeles, which meant a few more hours of driving once I got to California. The jet lag was already leaving me disoriented and exhausted. The fact that Ellie wasn’t responding was driving me crazy. I had lost track of how long

I’d been awake.

I landed in Los Angeles after eleven at night, and after about two more hours on the road, I arrived in Santa Barbara in the middle of the night and went straight to her parents‘ house. But again, no one

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answered when I knocked on the door.

Damn it. I was completely exhausted, and out of ideas. Once more, I

had to resort to the last option I had left. Grabbing my phone, I called

her mother.

Mrs. Brown picked up quickly.

“Mrs. Brown, it’s me, Ethan,” I said as I heard her breathing on the other end. “Is everything all right?”

“Oh, Ethan! Hi! How are you?”

“First, I’m sorry to bother you at this hour, but I just got to Santa Barbara and no one answered at your address. Anna told me Ellie would be here, but I haven’t been able to reach her. It seems like no

one has, actually.”

“Oh, I see. Please forgive her; she’s going through a difficult time

right now.”

A knot formed in my stomach, and I felt my worry grow tighter in my

chest.

“What happened?”

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“It’s a sensitive matter; maybe it’s better if she tells you herself,

okay?”

I had to take a deep breath to keep myself from exploding, trying to

summon whatever patience I had left.

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