It was my turn to wake up to an empty apartment the next day. I went downstairs. He wasn’t around. He had left a note in the same place I had left a note. It read, “gone out of the country. Will be back in three days.” That was it. It didn’t even state where he had gone to. I called his phone. Nothing. I sent him a text.
Where are you?
No response. Mind-blowing sex followed by epic ghosting. I could still feel the delicious soreness and the—I shook my head of the memories and came back to the present. His moods were difficult to interpret. He was hot one moment, then cold the next.
I showered and got ready to go to work. There was a ton of stuff to do at work now that we had a lot more money. We were even hiring more social workers to work on the ground. After I was done and ready to go, I checked my phone, there was still no response. It didn’t seem like he had read it. Another text popped up. It was Bryce again. Threatening the same thing. There was no way for me to get what he wanted. But then, Caiden was gone. For three days.
I replied to him.
I will try to get you something today.
I was feeling more and more against the idea of me helping my brother as time went on, but I figured I had to give him something to get him off my back. It didn’t have to be anything substantial.
The elevator dinged. Bailey walked out. He was wearing his regular black suit and white shirt with a black coat over it. “Good morning, ma’am.” He said in a thick Irish accent.
“Morning. Caiden is not here, he flew away early in the morning,” I said. God knows where he flew to.
“Yes. He told me ma’am. I’m here to take you to work.”
“It’s fine, I’ve been doing well on my own until now.”
“He left explicit instructions that I was to take you to work.”
I tilted my head to the side.
“And wherever you want to go.”
“Your services are not needed.”
“Ma’am,” he sounded a little impatient, “he was very clear on this. I really don’t want to lose my job if he finds out that I didn’t do what he told me to do.”
The thought that Caiden would fire him because I refused to let him do his job sounded preposterous, but at the same time, I could see it happen. The man could be ruthless.
An idea popped into my head. There was nothing wrong with a woman visiting her husband’s office and I doubt Bailey would see it as suspicious. I let out a deep exhale, “Fine. I need to go to KMVH first.”
His shoulders slumped, and he seemed to relax. I hadn’t noticed that he had been slightly stressed about it. During the ride to the offices, I leaned over and asked him, “why?”
“Why what, ma’am?”
“Please call me Hailey. Ma’am makes me feel old.”
“Sorry ma—I mean, Hailey.”
“So why did he insist you drive me around? He never cared before.” I said the last sentence to myself rather than to him.
“He said nothing to me. He only said that I should make sure you had transport.”
“Don’t you think that’s weird.”
“No.” He said it so definitively that it wilted my concerns and made me feel like I was over-analyzing.
I got out of the car and went over to his window, “I’ll call you when I need you. You can do whatever it is you do,” I waved my hands about, “you do when you’re not driving.”
“I work part time as a getaway driver.”
“No way!” I said in mock shock.
He chuckled, “Sure do.”