Yours Completely(62)

Ella pressed her lips together and turned on her heel. She wasn't about to press the woman who was making drunken threats. Delores couldn't fall asleep soon enough. Ella would get that wine and whatever else Delores demanded. This wasn't the end of the world. Delores just wanted her to feel as miserable as she did.

Ella opened the door to the cellar and made sure to prop the door with the brick before turning and picking up several boxes of wine to bring back up to the bar. Her back was turned to the door when she heard a creak and a thud.

Turning around, Ella found the cellar door closed and locked. Delores's faint laughter filtered through the thin wall before fading away.

She was trapped.





Chapter Twenty-Seven


“Sir, it's time to go.”

Jace sighed and glanced around the empty hotel lobby. He checked his watch, even though he knew it was long past when Ella should have arrived. Especially after all those text messages. Yet, still, he had hoped she would show up. The time was only two minutes and fifteen seconds different than the last time he had checked.

This isn't going to work out.

I can't lie to you anymore. I have someone else.

You aren't special.

You were going to find out eventually, so I'll just spare you now. I don't want this.

I'm not coming tomorrow.

You need to leave.

The text messages still burned on his phone. There were more, but just looking at them made him want to cry. They seared into his soul. He had missed the first two he was so busy working. He'd immediately messaged her back, begging her to let him come see her. She'd said no, that it would only hurt them both.

This weekend was magical. But magic isn't real. I don't want to hurt you. Please, just leave me alone. Go back to your real life.

The messages had come all night. From her phone. There wasn't anyone else who could have sent them. The woman of his dreams was just that. In his dreams. It was over.

The lobby was empty. Most of the guests from the wedding were either already checked out, or still sleeping. It was far more peaceful now than the first time he had seen it. Without the celebrities, their entourages, and mass amounts of security, the place was calm and welcoming. He could see himself coming back to visit if it was like this.

“Sir?”

He wanted to see her one last time, to smell her hair and feel her pressed against him. He wanted the text messages to be a figment of his imagination. He wanted her to walk into the lobby and fall into his arms, telling him that not a single one of the messages real.

“Just a minute more,” Jace told his driver. “The plane will wait.”

Just a few more minutes, he thought. He checked his phone and his watch again, hoping that time had slowed. As much as the plane would wait, his business would not. He couldn't stay here forever. This isn't how he wanted to end things with her.

“Sir? Are you ready?” The driver stepped forward, ready to usher him to the waiting car.

Jace didn't see her anywhere. Maybe she was waiting for him to come somewhere else? Somewhere private?

“I'll be right back,” he told the driver as he headed to the front door. Jace's steps were fast and sure as he hurried along the path to the gazebo.

His polished leather shoes squished gently on the dewy ground as he ran up the dirt path to the small gazebo. His thoughts were on their conversation there, the way the sunlight had sparkled in her hair....

But the structure was empty. Somewhere, a lonely bird called out across the water.

The barn. She had to be at the barn. If she wasn't at the gazebo, she would be at the barn. He smiled, turning quickly and heading back down the path. He could just see her smile in his mind's eye as he walked in and found her grooming one of the white horses. She'd be so pleased.

But the barn was empty except for the two horses.

Commander popped his head up over the stall door and huffed a hello. Jace walked over and patted the gentle giant's nose. The grooming tools were all neatly stacked away and the stable was clean, but there was no sign of Ella.

His heart sank and he felt like he might fall to his knees. For the first time since he was a child, Jace felt like crying.

She was gone. The woman he had fallen in love with was gone. She had meant her messages and there was nothing he could do to change that. If she wasn't here or at the gazebo, then she didn't want him to find her.

Anger bubbled up in his chest. If she couldn't do the right thing and just say goodbye in person like a grownup, then he was better off without her. What she was doing was rude. He didn't deserve to be treated like this. He was Xavier Connor, CEO of Connor Conglomerate and worth more than a billion dollars. If she was going to throw his feelings away so callously, then he didn't need her.

He would leave and never come back.

It was what his father would do, and for the first time in his life, his father's decisions made sense.