Page 54 of The Billionaire and the Nanny

I shook my head.

“I’d give anything to be proved wrong right now, Aunt Fee.”

“Then, take a leap of faith and see what happens. Maybe it will lead you straight to Tia and Maddie. I’ve said my bit, and now I’m leaving you to do whatever you need to do. Please keep me updated,” she said softly, searching my eyes for something.

I don’t know if she found it, but she nodded and left the room.

I paced up and down the room, as Luke’s team tried to trace the car and Tia’s mobile signal. Was Aunt Fee right? Had I not loved Tia at all? But if that was true, how did she explain this gnawing misery in the region of my heart? I wanted both mygirls back. Even if we got Maddie back safe and sound, my life was never going to be the same without Tia. I would exist for my daughter’s sake, but you wouldn’t really call it a life. She had taken all the joy and color in my life when she drove off with my daughter.

But why did she do it? Her brother had a motive, for sure. But Tia had no reason to betray me. She was far too strong to be her brother’s pawn. So why did she get into the car willingly?

An idea began forming in my head, but if we pursued it, we’d have to give up on the leads we had so far, and that might prove fatal. What if my idea led us to a dead end, and we had to start all over again? By that time, Tia and Arjun could have taken my daughter out of the state, and we’d never find them.

It all came down to this. If I believed in Tia’s innocence, I could divert the rescue efforts in a bid to prove it. But it was a huge leap of faith? Did I dare to make the leap? Did I love Tia enough to give her a chance?

I walked over to where Marcus and Luke were talking quietly and cleared my throat.

“Guys, call the cops. Make sure they send in their best team to work with us. And secondly, suppose we believe, even for a minute, that Tia is innocent?”

“We do,” replied Marcus immediately, shaming me with the conviction in his voice.

That should have been me. I should have been the one to believe in Tia more than anyone else. But I was scared. Terrified that it would all turn out too good to be true. I had never been lucky enough to find love, so why would the fates favor me all of a sudden? After years of being alone, why would I suddenly find the perfect woman? And that too, in my enemy’s house, so to speak.

But maybe that was what love was all about. Challenging fate, risking everything on a single throw of dice. Maybe it was time to roll the dice. To take a chance on love.

“Alright, if Tia is innocent, then what would make her get into her brother’s car?”

My brothers thought hard for a minute, and then, Luke replied.

“Maybe she didn’t know it was her brother’s car. From what he found out about her three years ago, they aren’t very close. He hardly ever visited her home. And she stayed away from his house even during the holidays. Essentially, they led separate lives. She had nothing to do with the business either. So it is possible that she didn’t recognize the car as belonging to her brother.”

“Even if that’s true, why would she get into a strange car? Why wouldn’t she come back to the chauffeur who was waiting for her?”

“Maybe she didn’t see him. Let’s look at the footage again, Leo,” urged Marcus. “See? Right there, after she speaks to the man who approached her, she looks around. Maybe she’s looking for the car, and can’t find it.”

“The chauffeur says a cop came along and asked him to move the car because an emergency vehicle wanted to park there. He had to go back seven blocks to find a parking spot,” said Luke.

“Even if Tia didn’t see her car, why would she get into a stranger’s car? That is what I cannot understand,” exclaimed Marcus. “Why didn’t she simply call the chauffeur?”

“What if he wasn’t a stranger?” I asked slowly.

The only way any of this made sense was if Tia knew the man who spoke to her. And thought it was safe to go with him. She knew we were paranoid about Maddie’s safety. She knew her brother was looking for her. She would never have gone with astranger, I realized with a conviction that was getting stronger every second.

“What do you mean?” asked Marcus sharply.

“That man is someone she’s familiar with. I bet he works for us. Find him,” I ordered. “Find out which staff members called in sick suddenly, and didn’t show up for work. Whoever he is, he won’t want to be around today, lest we identify him from the footage.”

Luke began to comb through the footage trying to match him against anyone who worked for us. Meanwhile, Marcus went off to speak to the head of security about anyone who had taken a day off. He was back soon, with a list in his hand.

“There are three people who called in sick today. One of them is Eddie Lee, who is in hospital with a burst appendix, so we can rule him out. The second is Eva Heller from housekeeping. She’s ruled out too, because the person who approached Tia is clearly a tall, stocky man. That brings us to Rico Chavez. He’s new to the security team. Good references, but a walk-in hire just before Christmas. He matches the description.”

“Would Tia recognize him as part of our staff?”

“I think so, because he has been part of Maddie’s security detail since he joined us.”

The bastard was working for Arjun Monani all along.

“Fire the fool who hired him,” I snarled.

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