Yeah, I need a cigarette, too.Isabella had just offered up the perfect child to a European family willing to hold on to their heir’s future bride.
When she put it like that in her own head… it sounded so surreal that it was a far cry from what she thought her life would be like when she was a girl.Please be okay, Abby.Monica almost collapsed into more sobs as she thought of her little girl trapped in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by people she didn’t know, realizing that nobody was taking her home…
It had only been two days, she told herself. There was still time.
Once Eva and Gerald had an address and some tangential confirmation of an address in Thailand, it was decided. Or at least it was in Monica’s mind.
“With what plane?” Eva asked when Monica announced she was leaving immediately. “And I’m coming with you!”
This time, Monica put her foot down. “No. You need to stay here and keep an eye on your father. We also need someone here to relay messages and potentially speak with the police. In themeantime…” Sighing, Monica held her phone up to her ear. A ringing sound purred in the background. “I know exactly how to procure a plane at the last minute.”
She only felt a slight caress of relief when Ethan answered his phone. If his plane wasn’t available? Monica had a laundry list of people who owed her large favors. She’d go down that list until she was on a plane to the other side of the world.
What was privilege for, if not saving her daughter?
Chapter 14
Ghosts
She was somewhere over the Great Plains in Ethan’s plane with a staff she no longer recognized. All they knew was that she was flying to Phuket and it wasprivate business.The NDAs she piled on them before boarding were par for the course, but this time with an extra sense of urgency.If you tell anyone – anyone – it’s possible it will get back to the Beaumonts.Monica couldn’t afford Isabella discovering that someone was directly on her tail, let alone that her husband had sold her out.
Keeping Eva back at Warren Manor was the hard part, but Monica’s points had stood. Someone needed to mind the place in case Abigail suddenly came home or the police had news. It was bad enough that Henry was currently in France meeting a dead end. What if Monica was also about to face her own wasted time and sanity?
“Would you like anything else to drink, ma’am?” The single flight attendant, whose name Monica never remembered,checked in on her as the cabin lights dimmed. “I’m about to go on break for the evening if it’s all right with you.”
She had almost forgotten that Ethan intentionally employed more casual employees for his private plane. Such candidness was unheard of on the Warren plane. “That’s fine. No, I’m more than perfectly prepped for the evening, thank you.”
The flight attendant disappeared into the front portion of the plane while Monica remained hunched over a table, massaging the back of her neck. Eventually, she gave in to the notion that she shouldtryto get some sleep. This plane wasn’t too dissimilar to the Warrens’ Gulfstream – if Monica wanted to rest, she should hit up the queen bed in the back. No matter how decadent such a thing felt right now.
But what else could she do? She had run out of people to call. She had exhausted her books on Thailand she had brought with her. Nothing on her phone brought her comfort or joy.Quite the contrary.The fact that she hadn’t heard from Henry in hours wasn’t settling well with her, either. There was wi-fi in this plane. If nothing else, he could call her through an app.
Only Ethan and Eva had communicated with her since she took off. Ethan promised to look into a few things on her behalf and asked that he be informed if something was wrong with the flight crew. Eva claimed there were no updates, but would pass along info if Gerald remembered anything else. She then went quiet, and Monica assumed her sister-in-law finally passed out for the night.
How long have I been up?Monica dressed down to a single nightgown she had thought to pack. Without her underwear, especially her bra, she felt dangerously exposed to the world. It didn’t matter that soft cotton covered her body and the covers of the bed devoured her petite form. She wason display.Everyone she flew over in Nebraska, Colorado, Idaho… they saw all of her faults as a wife and mother.
“How could you let that witch take your child?”
“What do you even think you’re doing? What are you accomplishing?”
“Do you really think you can touch down in Thailand and simply find your daughter?”
“Henry…” Monica pitifully said her husband’s name into her hands, the same ones covering her face in the darkened airplane bedroom. She knew that when they crossed the Rocky Mountains there would be turbulence and busied her hands with securing all of the caps on her water bottles. Yet it wasn’t enough to make her weary enough to sleep.
She was tired, though. Bone tired.
Monica nearly leaped out of her skin when her phone rang.
“Henry?”
The only reason she thought she must have finally fallen asleep was because she heard her husband’s voice in her dreams. “Monica. Finally. I was worried about you.”
She held her other hand to her forehead as her phone shook against her ear. “I’ve been worried aboutyou!You only checked in when you landed. What’s happened?”
“Forget that for a moment. Is it true Ethan gave you his plane to fly toThailand?”
Catching up to speed wasn’t as easy as it should have been, considering Monica had been there for every development. And considering she completely skipped the part where she and Eva went to Jackson’s to get information from him… it was easier to say that she got the info from Ethan, who had already agreed to corroborate her story if anyone asked.
I don’t deserve these people.What right did she have to be surrounded by men and women who only thought of her best interests?
