Too Late for Sorry, Mr. Billionaire (Chasing my Wife Back) novel Chapter 69

SHANTEL’S room was arranged like a war table.

More photographs of Amelia clipped to a board. Notes written in careful ink. Timelines mapped out with arrows and question marks. At the center of the desk lay her jotter, opened to a fresh page with bold letters at the top:

TUESDAY – 2PM – RESORT CAFÉ.

The one she had underlined twice.

Every Tuesday, like ritual, Amelia Harlow spent her afternoon at the café inside her very own resort. Same corner. Same order. Same time frame. She knew this info at the tip of her fingers.

Predictability was comfort to some people. To Shantel, it was leverage.

She glanced at the clock. 2:03 p.m.

Her alarm chimed softly at 2:05.

She dropped her pen immediately and picked up her phone.

No call. No message. Her brows drew together. That was unusual, unexpected.

Her informant had been instructed to text the minute Amelia stepped into the café. A simple: “She is here.”

Nothing.

“It is still early,” she muttered to herself, setting the phone back down.

Perhaps Amelia was running late.

At 2:10, the second alarm went off.

Still nothing. Now her fingers hovered over the phone longer.

Her jaw tightened slightly.

By 2:15, when the final reminder chimed, her patience snapped. She grabbed the phone and dialed.

It rang once.

Twice.

Then clicked.

“Hello?”

“What is keeping you?” Shantel whispered sharply, pacing away from her desk as though someone might overhear her irritation.

“Ah… madam,” the young man replied, his voice low and cautious. “That is why I wanted to call you too.”

“What do you mean?” Her steps halted.

“I haven’t seen her.”

A brief silence.

“Excuse me?”

“She hasn’t come in today.”

“That is impossible,” Shantel said immediately. “It is Tuesday. Right,” she added the “right” as though she wasn't sure what day it was again.

“I know, ma. I have been stationed close to the café entrance since 1:40 like you said. She hasn’t walked in.”

Shantel’s fingers curled tighter around the phone.

“Did you check the VIP parking lot?”

“Yes. Her car isn’t even there.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“What about the main entrance? Maybe she used a different access point.”

“I asked one of the security guys casually. He said he hasn’t seen her either.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” she muttered under her breath.

Every Tuesday.

Without fail.

“She didn’t cancel anything, did she?” Shantel pressed.

“Cancel what, madam?”

“Her reservation. Her usual corner.”

“There was no even a reservation logged for her today.”

That made Shantel go very still.

No reservation?

Amelia always had that corner cleared.

Always.

“Are you sure you are not missing out something?” she asked coldly.

“I’m sure. I even casually walked in and passed by the admin office. She hasn’t stepped into the building today.”

A flicker of unease slid through Shantel’s chest.

“That is strange,” she murmured.

“Maybe she is coming later?” the man suggested weakly.

“She doesn’t come later.”

“Maybe she is busy?”

Shantel exhaled slowly through her nose.

Busy doing what?

She tapped her fingers against her thigh.

“Did you see her driver? He drives her sometimes.”

“No.”

“Her assistant?”

“No, ma.”

Another pause.

The silence between them thickened.

“Okay,” she said at last, her tone smoothing out deliberately. “Stay alert. If she walks in, you text me immediately.”

“Yes, ma.”

“And don’t look obvious. Blend in.”

“Sure. I'm not a dunce.”

She ended the call without another word.

The room fell quiet again.

Shantel returned to her desk slowly.

Her eyes dropped to those underlined words again:

TUESDAY – 2PM – RESORT CAFÉ.

She picked up her pen and hovered over the page.

Amelia had broken routine.

Why?

A woman like Amelia didn’t move randomly. Everything about her was structured and intentional. Calculated.

She had studied her long enough to know.

Which meant this wasn’t an accident.

Shantel’s lips curved faintly.

“Interesting,” she whispered.

Either Amelia was sick. Or she was elsewhere.

And if she was elsewhere…

Where?

Her pen finally touched the paper.

She drew a line through 2PM.

Then wrote beneath it:

Change of pattern?

Her gaze darkened thoughtfully.

If Amelia wasn’t at the resort café today, then something had shifted in her schedule.

And if something had shifted…

Shantel needed to find out what.

And immediately.

***

Charles paced the length of his small room like a caged animal.

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