Page 32 of Rock Hard
Chapter Thirteen
By the time securitygot the situation under control, Alice was long gone.
A pair of big hands hauled Rex back into the elevator, not an easy feat, given his size. Then the man moved in front of him to block anyone else from entering.
Rex stared at the broad back, recognizing Chuck instantly. Along with Frank, the rhino shifter had been with him from the early days, but, Rex now realized, hadn’t been around much lately. They would be having a talk about that later. At that moment, Rex had bigger issues to deal with.
The ride up to the penthouse suite was quiet. Rex was still trying to process everything that had happened over the last couple hours. A few facts stood out in glaring detail:
One, Alice, the woman who had been by his side for years, wasn’t the fragile human he had thought, but alioness. A shifter, just like him. Talk about a mindfuck! How had she managed to keep that a secret for so long? And more importantly, why?
Two, while Alice had abandonedhim, she hadn’t abandonedhis daughter. Alice and Carly had kept in contact, meeting surreptitiously behind his back.
And three, Carly was missing, possibly for days, and he hadn’t even known. While foul play was a possibility, it was far more likely she’d snuck away on her own to do something he wouldn’t approve of. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time. His cub was smart, savvy, and had a fierce independent streak, just like her old man.
Something like pride welled up in his chest, but that didn’t make it okay. Nor did it excuse the fact that his overpaid staff had allowed a fourteen-year-old girl to pull the wool over their eyes.
That was a hell of a lot of WTF in a few short hours.
His first priority was to find Carly and get some answers. That was where he would focus his full and immediate attention.
Valerie looked up from the sofa when he entered the penthouse suite. She immediately stood, her expression morphing into one of concern. “Rex, thank God! Are you—”
He held his hand up, stopping her mid-sentence. “Save it. Where is my daughter?”
Valerie blinked, her face going curiously blank. “How should I know?”
“It’s yourjob,” he growled.
“No.” She sniffed, lifting her nose. “I amyourpersonal assistant. My job is to take care ofyou,not babysit an ungrateful brat.”
That never kept Alice from doing both. Rex clenched his hands into fists even as his blood heated. “Careful, Valerie. That is my cub you’re talking about.”
Valerie’s eyes narrowed, growing positively feral. “Maybe biologically she is. But let’s face it, Rex. You don’t want her around anymore than she wants to be here. Maybe it’s for the best if she does her thing so you can get back to doing yours.”
Rex’s vision went red as the implications became clear. “You knew she was missing?”
Valerie shrugged, moving close and running her hand up his arm in a seductive pet. The woman changed her moods like a chameleon changed its color. “How would I know? All she does is sit in her room all day and brood.”
He grabbed her wrists and pushed back far enough to put some distance between them. “When’s the last time you saw her?”
“I don’t know. A couple days ago?”
“Tell me.”
“She came to see you after the concert in Dallas. I told her you were busy and couldn’t be disturbed.”
Carly rarely sought him out, especially right after a concert. She hated the post-performance parties, and frankly, he didn’t want her anywhere near them.
“What did she want?”
“Some stupid school thing. An event or something she wanted to go to.”
“Details, Valerie.”
“I don’t know the details! I told her we couldn’t possibly interrupt the tour for something so trivial.”
Rex was livid, but the worst thing was, Valerie was parroting the same shit he had said to Carly months ago.
