Page 102 of Bared Betrayal

“I didn’t come here to fight,” he sneers. “I came here so you can help me find her.”

“And I will.” I step back, my chest about to explode because Kallie is about to walk into a shitstorm out there, and my son is worried about making a fucking statement? Jesus Christ.

I take a breath, trying to calm myself. I’m not going to accomplish anything if I can’t think straight. It’s been four hours since I last saw her. She could be fucking anywhere.

“Was her phone off right after you left?”

“Yeah. I dunno. I tried calling her about half an hour after—” he swallows “—after she broke it off. I wanted to apologize, but—”

“And you said all this broke about an hour ago?”

“That’s when I started getting calls about it, yes.”

“Okay,” I say, trying to think clearly. “Maybe she doesn’t know about this yet.”

I grab my phone just as Alexius’ name starts flashing on the screen.

“Alexius.”

“You saw?”

“Just now, yes.”

“It’s a fucking frenzy,” he remarks. “And it doesn’t help her being engaged to your now famous son.”

“Yeah, I know.” I rub my temples. “But now she’s missing, and I don’t know where she is.”

“I’ll get my guys on it.”

“Thanks.”

“Listen, we found Victoria. She’s not a customs agent.”

“How did you—”

“Davian couldn’t find anything on her. He was worried she could be FBI or Homeland, so he came to us. Turns out she’s a sleazy, albeit highly recommended private investigator. I’m texting her address to you now. In the meantime, I’ll have my guy do a search on Kallie. See if we can find her.”

“Thank you, Alexius.”

“I’ll let you know as soon as we find anything.”

I hang up, opening the text with Victoria’s address.

“Who’s Alexius?” Sebastian asks, and I don’t even look his way.

“None of your fucking business.”

He scoffs. “You know what, fuck this. I come to you for help, and you treat me like shit.” Then starts toward the elevator. “I never should have come here.”

“Sebastian,” I call, and he stops, glancing over his shoulder. “If you so much as whisper a single word about Kallie or any of this to anyone, by this time tomorrow, your career will be over. I’ll make sure of it.”

* * *

The address Alexiussent me leads me to a high-rise apartment building that is clearly trying to be something it’s not. Classy. Sophisticated. A hot spot for rich fuckers. But this damn place doesn’t even have decent security, and I walk right past the doorman, into the elevator, and straight to her apartment without raising a single eyebrow.

I bang on the door and hear her heels clicking across the tiles as she heads to the door. She opens it, and I don’t miss the dumbfounded look on her face when she sees me—but she only takes a beat to recover, plastering on a fake smile.

“Mr. King,” she purrs and puts her manicured hand on the edge of the door as she leans against it. “Coming to my apartment is very unethical. You should have called. I could have changed into something more…comfortable.”