Page 73 of The House Guest
Authorities in Turkey are searching the Aegean Sea for the bodies of tech billionaire Dorian Vanderbilt and a business associate after the luxury boat they were traveling in was found empty and unmanned about thirty miles from shore. Local authorities, along with the Turkish Coast Guard Command, have been searching the waters for the past forty-eight hours after a member ofVanderbilt’s staff reported him missing. According to Vanderbilt associates, while on vacation, the tech mogul went out on a leisurely ride, accompanied by longtime family friend Benjamin Crane. Neither Crane nor Vanderbilt have been seen nor heard from since. It’s feared that the men may have gone swimming off of the boat and drowned. At this time, there are no indications of foul play.
I felt the walls closing in as tears rolled down my cheeks. I looked at the date of the California newspaper article, and my stomach sank. It had been published a year or so after I’d left California.Yearshad gone by, and I’d been worrying about all the wrong things. All of this time Dorian had been dead? Or missing? I didn’t know which. But I didn’t want to keep looking. I couldn’t bear to see that he and Benjamin had died. I wasn’t ready for that.
Oh my God. Poor Dorian.
I didn’t care what he’d done to me. He didn’t deserve to drown. AndBenjamin.
Feeling a violent churning in my stomach, I ran to the bathroom off the kitchen and vomited into the toilet.
Presumed dead.
Presumed dead.
Presumed dead.
I vomited again.
When there was nothing left, I sat in a corner of the bathroom, huddled on the floor. All I felt in that moment was love—love for a man I’d vilified for being honest abouthis feelings. Love for a man who’d been through so much after the loss of his father, only to be...presumed dead. Drowned.How could this have happened?
Maybe I could find the courage to keep searching for information. But not today. Today I wasn’t ready to hear that the love of my life had died. And yes, it was now clear to me that the love of my life could also be the greatest heartbreak of my life. Dorian Vanderbilt was one and the same.
CHAPTER 20
There was only one time of day when I could get things done: the three hours in the morning that Rosie was at preschool, and she only went three days a week. I’d drop her off shortly before eight and pick her up at eleven. The time always flew by. Usually, since I was already out, after dropping her at school, I’d treat myself to a latte from the café, bring it home, and enjoy twenty minutes of me time before tackling whatever household things were on my long to-do list—anything from bills to laundry to cleaning up the mess my daughter had made the previous night. But those twenty minutes sitting in the sunroom with my latte, closing my eyes occasionally and letting the sun from the windows beat down on my face? Heavenly—and much needed. Although, as of the last six days, my breaks hadn’t been as relaxing as they once were. My time alone was now consumed by an urgency to go online.
It was a constant battle to stop myself from seeking the information I wasn’t ready to handle. I knew eventuallyI’d give in. It was only a matter of time. But I wasn’t ready to face the truth. As long as I was ignorant, there was a chance Dorian was alive. And I needed him to be alive, even if it was just an illusion.
This particular Wednesday morning after my relaxation time, I’d turned the living room upside down, vacuuming under the couches and washing the windows. Anything to keep from going online.
When I looked at the time and saw that I only had a half hour before I needed to go get Rosie, I started to move faster. Once she came home, I’d make her lunch. We’d do some activities together, and then before I knew it, I’d need to start preparing dinner so it would be ready when Casey got home. Whoever said being a mom wasn’t a full-time job needed their head checked.
The doorbell rang, prompting me to shut off the vacuum. Sometimes the mailman would ring the bell if he left a package at the door. No one else came by at this time of the day, so I assumed it was him.
But when I opened the door, the predictable day I’d imagined before me no longer existed.
Timeno longer existed.
If I hadn’t felt my heart pounding, I might’ve doubted I was still alive—perhaps I’d died and gone to some twisted version of the afterlife. A place where everything you’ve suppressed suddenly meets you on the other side, forcing you to face it.
Am I dreaming?
Hallucinating?
“Hi, Primrose…”
I managed to utter his name. “Dorian…”
“Hi,” he said again.
“You’re…alive…” My lip trembled.
“Yes.” He reached out to cup my face, a look of wonder in his eyes as if he were also in a dreamlike state.
I willed my foolish heart to stop beating so fast for him. But I’d thought he was dead. Regardless of what he’d put me through, I was ecstatic to find out Dorian was alive.
But then fear took over, and my protective instincts shut everything down. I pulled away. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“I know this is a shock.”
