Princess's Secret Baby(77)

                He went to the drawer where she kept all her cash and passport                     and even without opening it he knew they’d be gone.

                He asked his driver to take him to The Harrington and when they                     told him about their confidentiality policy, one look at his murderous                     expression and they reneged. ‘We haven’t had anyone by that name check in.’

                ‘By any other name?’ James said, and perhaps it was more his                     anguish than anger that produced a small shake of the receptionist’s head.

                James called Manu and told her what had happened and asked her                     to park herself in The Harrington’s reception just in case Leila did arrive.

                ‘I will explain what happened to her if she arrives,’ Manu                     offered, and James thanked her.

                She wouldn’t go there though, James knew it. Leila would surely                     know that it would be the first place he would look.

                It was the worst evening that turned into the worst night                     ever.

                His driver drove around for hours as James’s eyes scanned the                     busy streets but all to no avail. They went to the Middle Eastern restaurant                     where she had worked, but no, they hadn’t seen her either though they promised                     to let him know if she did show up.

                James rang Spencer and asked him to be on the lookout.

                He went to JFK airport where she had stood tasting snow on the                     night she had arrived here and he actually didn’t know what to do.

                He had her phone and he even considered calling her parents,                     and asking them if he could be put through to Zayn, but James knew the                     pointlessness of that.

                It had finally happened, James thought, when, like some drunk,                     he found himself calling out her name in the alley where Zayn and he had                     fought.

                She’d made his wish come true because here he was at rock                     bottom and it looked as if he had lost them both.

                Leila could well be on her way back to the cold of her family,                     to live a life of shame for the street bastard she had produced, and he thought                     then how her family would be with his daughter.

                James looked up at the sky that might be carrying them both                     away now and there were no stars tonight. There would be no more stars without                     Leila, but then, as easily as that, he knew where she was.