Page 7

Roman

Seventy-Two Hours Later

I pulled into the lot, excited to get the day started.

I want to get here before Zoriah so I can get our coffee started.

I know her routine in the morning, so I like to help by at least getting us coffee.

Usually, I just stop on the way, but she wouldn’t text me back with her order.

She hates not being able to work from home, so not letting her take her laptop home probably threw her off.

She needs to rest, though. She does so much and is always trying to take on more.

I guess I could fight her with that, but she seems to get lost in her work the same way I do.

Zoriah is a great woman and a hard worker.

I really lucked out having her as my assistant.

I get into the office and set my stuff down before going to the break room.

I find myself checking my phone every other second to see if she texted me back.

It’s not like her to ignore me, even when I piss her off.

It’s not like I go out of my way. I have gathered over the last six months of working this close to her that she has severe anxiety.

I am adjusting how I do things to make her more comfortable.

When I can tell that she is clearly triggered by something or stressed, I do what I can to help.

Sometimes I am a fucking idiot and say dumb shit, like I did on Friday.

I am usually always able to calm her down, but knowing she is afraid of me firing her has shown me that I need to be clearer with how much I appreciate her.

When I get back to the office and see she is not here, I call her.

It rings and rings, but eventually her voicemail picks up.

“Hey, Riah. It’s Rome… Well, you knew that…

Listen, I’m a little concerned that you aren’t here, and you haven’t texted back.

Just let me know you are okay,” I say before ending the call.

I tap my cell against my chin and stare at her desk.

She has a jacket here. All her personal items, and even her giant coffee cup her brother got her.

She didn’t quit because she wouldn’t have left that cup behind.

Also, she has a picture of her family before her mom died on her desk.

No way that woman would leave that behind either.

Something isn’t right. I can feel it in my gut…

I am trying to convince myself that I am just being dramatic because I am practically in love with the woman and would happily stalk her every move if I didn’t think she'd stab me in the eye with a letter opener.

Okay… Maybe not. She’d probably make a bratty comment.

I can see her interest in me all over her face.

I have jerked off thinking about her countless times, and I am constantly having to remind myself that she is my assistant, not a hooker.

I can’t just buy her affection. Although I know she is interested, I will not be the first to make a move unless I know damn well that she can see me as someone other than her boss.

I wouldn’t dare take advantage of her, and if she only sees me as her boss and not someone she can trust outside of this office, I have no business messing with her.

I pick up my phone and call Ben. He should already be in for the meeting.

He owns a tech company called Lawson Tech.

He is my biggest client and my best friend.

We’ve known each other since we were ten.

He knows about my feelings for Zoriah and has met her plenty of times.

He will tell me if I am being obsessive and if kicking her apartment door in is a good idea.

“Hey,” Ben says, holding his phone up. “You rang?”

“Riah isn’t here,” I say as I stand up. “She hasn’t texted back.

She’s not answering her phone. That’s not like her.

She doesn’t ignore me. I’m worried about her, and I want to go to her apartment, but I need you to tell me if I’m being obsessive.

Am I being obsessive? I am, aren’t I? She’s fine.

Maybe she slept in. Or got into a wreck. Who knows? She’s fine.”

“Hang on. Slow down,” Ben says. “How was she when she left Friday?”

“She got an attitude, and we kind of argued. I told her to sit and do her work, and she said, “Make me.” She panicked and thought I was going to fire her. I got her calmed down, and we were back to joking and her blushing when I smiled at her. She was fine. All her stuff is here,” I say.

“I’m going to be honest, man,” Ben says. “Even if she quit, she wouldn’t just disappear. She is not that type of person. Also, she has spare keys. She would bring those back.”

“So, I should kick her door in?” I ask.

“I mean, maybe knock first,” he laughs. “Come on. I’ll cancel the meeting, and we can drive to her apartment.”

“I feel like I’m going insane,” I say. “This isn’t me… or her.”

“Never ignore your gut. If something feels wrong, investigate. No harm in checking. So what if she gets mad? At least you know she is safe.”

“Right,” I sigh and grab my phone.

We go to the elevator, and Ben types around on his phone while we wait. I look at Zoriah’s contact and contemplate calling her again. “Don’t,” Ben says. “Let’s just go to her apartment. Call Corbin when we get into the car.”

“Why?” I ask.

“Because her phone hasn’t been used since Friday morning. Call her brother,” Ben says.

“Oh no…” I say quietly. “Ben…”

“Rome,” he says. “I know you are in love with her, and you are worried, but we need to take baby steps. Don’t rush into thinking the worst-case scenario.”

“Fuck,” I sigh. “Okay. Shouldn’t we call the police?”

“We both know it’ll be faster if we handle it, but we can let them know something when we know what’s going on,” he says as we step into the elevator.

As we ride down, I pull up Corbin’s number.

Zoriah doesn’t know that I’ve talked to him before or that he is how I know she has a history of panic attacks.

I reached out to him once because she had a panic attack, and I didn’t know how to help.

He explained that sometimes she just needs to slow down and breathe, and I need to remind her of that when she gets overwhelmed.

He’s a good man. Highly protective of her too.

“What’s wrong?” Corbin says when he answers. “There is no reason you should be calling me this early unless something is wrong.”

“Have you talked to Riah since Friday?” I ask.

“No. I’ve been calling her all weekend. Fuck…” Corbin sighs.

“My best friend, Ben, owns a tech company. I guess he did something sketchy because he said she hasn’t used her phone at all since Friday. We are on our way to her apartment right now.”

“Shit. Okay. I’m with our dad right now.

We will be there in a second,” he says. “Dad came here a few hours ago because he was worried that she hadn’t called.

They got into a pretty bad fight Thursday night, but even pissed off, she checks on him.

He didn’t want to make anything worse, so he came to ask me.

I thought maybe she was working, but… fuck I knew I should have checked. ”

“I made her leave her laptop at the office, so it meant she wasn’t doing anything that would require her to reach out. I just wanted her to take a break,” I say as we walk out of the building and go to my car. “We should be there shortly.”

“Okay. I hope to God she is just sleeping and gets mad at us,” Corbin says. “I could call her dumbass friend, but… I really despise that bitch.”

“Who?” I ask.

“Her best friend Haley. I’m friends with her brother, Huxley.

She and her parents are nuts. She is a terrible friend and is awful to her.

I try to be supportive, but I don’t exactly take kindly to people being mean to my sister.

She doesn’t even see it. Sometimes, Haley will get her to go out to a bar or club.

I’m afraid maybe something happened there. ”

“I didn’t know she was still friends with her. She said she hadn’t talked to her friend in weeks,” I say.

“Well, best-case scenario, she went home with some random dude,” Corbin says.

“That is not the best-case scenario,” I say.

“Oh. Right… You tell her you love her yet?” Corbin asks. When I don’t say anything, he continues. “I thought so. Just don’t force her into something because you are her boss. She’s had enough heartbreak to last a lifetime.”

“I would never force her to do anything,” I say.

“Unless she tells him to make her again,” Ben chuckles.

“That was Ben. We are driving,” I explain.

“She said that?” Corbin laughs.

“Yeah,” I sigh. “I told her to sit, and she got an attitude.”

“She’s good at that,” Corbin laughs. “I hope she’s okay. I worry about her so much.”

“I was hoping I was just being weird and obsessive,” I sigh.

“So, best-case scenario, Roman kicks her door in and she stabs him,” Ben laughs.

“She would definitely stab me first,” Corbin says. “We are just around the corner.”

“Pulling up now. See you in a bit,” I say.

I end the call, and we jump out. I’ve been here a few times before.

When she is sick, I make her work from home but bring her food and whatever else she might need.

She’s going to work anyway, so the least I can do is force her to be comfortable.

One time the roads were covered in ice, so I picked her up for a quarterly meeting.

We get to her front door, and I stop myself from busting it open. “Looking for Zoriah?” A woman asks from her doorway across the hall.

“We are. I am her boss,” I say.

“She has not been home all weekend,” she says. “Sounded like she got into a fight with her dad. He and her brother were here with that sticky-fingered friend of hers.”

“Who was here?” Corbin asks as he walks over. “I am her brother, and he is her dad. We were not here on Friday.”

“Oh, uh… no. These men were different. Had dark hair,” she says.

I turn and kick the door. On the second kick it slams open, and I walk in.

Right away I noticed that the lights are on.

Her purse is sitting on the coffee table.

One shoe is sitting by itself in the hallway.

Otherwise, everything looks clean. I go to her bag and start searching for her phone while the others search the apartment.

When I don’t find it in her bag, I look around her living room.

My heart sinks when I spot it face down in the corner of the room.

I pick her phone up and see all of the notifications. The battery is nearly dead. I know her phone password is her father’s birthday. When I get it unlocked, and I see that the last screen she was on was our text message thread, it makes some emotions sweep over me.

“Oh no…” I say as I read the message that she typed out to me but never got a chance to send.

SOS. I need you.

I hand her phone to Corbin and walk away from him. “What? What does it say?” Ben asks.

“SOS. I need you,” I say.

“Huxley would never hurt her. I don’t understand,” Corbin says. “His family is fucking insane. They are in this weird cult.”

“What’s their parents’ name?” Ben asks.

“Richard and Paula Fields,” Corbin says. “They go to The People of Christ temple.”

“It’s my fault,” her dad, Jim Kingston, says. “She wanted to drive me to rehab on Friday night, but I said no. She was so mad at me… If I just let her help me, she would’ve been driving me to rehab.”

“Dad, it’s not your fault,” Corbin says.

“My little girl… She’s probably so scared… I should have protected her,” he says tearfully.

“You still can,” I say. “We will find her, and we need your help.”

“What can I do?” He sniffs.

“We need to know everything about whatever cult this is,” Ben says, looking at his phone. “There is very little information online about it.”

“I don’t have a good feeling about this,” I admit. Something is wrong. I won’t stop until she has been found. I don’t care how much money I have to spend; I will find Zoriah.