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"She's not here, Heath," Summer stutters out, her eyes nervously flicking to the other girl who shares the desk next to her.
I'm not going to take no for an answer today. It's been a week, and now it's getting ridiculous. I stride over to Millie’s office, pushing open the door. Summer is hot on my heels, having come around her desk trying to stop me. The door swings open, but her office is empty. Her desk has everything neatly stacked and in place, like it hasn't been used today. Summer was telling the truth. I turn back to her. "Where is she then?" I demand.
She bites her lip, looking over to the other young girl, as if for some support. Then her eyes come back to me. She brushes a curl behind her ear as she studies me. "I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you."
"You are," I tell her with certainty. I'm not playing games here. I'm getting more and more desperate by the second to know where she is.
She swallows anxiously. "She and the kids left for Paris a week ago, she's working over there for the next couple of weeks," she tells me, like she is unsure whether she was even allowed to.
I stare back at her, not believing the words that just left her mouth. The room around me feels like it's spinning as the panic of what this means starts swirling through my head. "Are you kidding me?" I ask her, serious. Surely, she has to be joking. Amelia wouldn't have left the country without telling me. Would she? This situation is getting more out of control by the day. Here I was thinking she was just lying low, trying to deal with what happened and avoiding my calls until she was ready to talk, but she has taken the kids and skipped town without so much as a word. And to go work with him, fucking Julian Blanchet, when she knows how I feel about him.
"An opportunity came up, and it was too good to refuse, plus she needed time away from California and the scandal." She walks back behind the main desk, like it's her security blanket.
I don't like the way Millie’s assistant looks at me, like she despises me for hurting her friend. She's loyal and she loves her boss, but I didn't do what she thinks. "It's not true, I didn't do what Elara said on that video," I feel compelled to tell her. This week has been a nightmare of explaining myself to all the people closest to me. I don't care what the media thinks or says, but it's the people like this that I know influence Amelia's life so much that matter, and if her assistant is looking at me like I'm the enemy, then no wonder she won't take my calls.
She shrugs, not like she doesn't care but like she doesn't have any say here anyway, so what I'm telling her won't make a difference. "Okay. But either way, Amelia's life has been turned upside down since you came into the picture again, and she needed to get away from it all. There were vans lined up in her street, she couldn't even send the kids to school for fear of what they would hear around the playground. She did what she needed to do to protect her and them. Can you really blame her?"
I hate knowing how awful this has been for her. I knew how bad it was at my place, but I stupidly hoped they were leaving her alone and concentrating their efforts on me. Summer is right, I can't blame her for wanting to escape the hounding. "No, I don't, but to take off to Paris?" The thought makes my stomach turn; she's upset with me, thinks I have done the dirty on her, and she's now spending three weeks with the man I know wants her for himself.
"You know he wants her for more than her design skills. Bit convenient he needed her the same week this story broke out. He saw an opportunity and took it." I know I sound like a jealous asshole saying it like that, but how else do you say it? And she has already been there for a week without me knowing; anything could have happened. I feel sick to my stomach. And I get the sudden urge to get on a plane and fly to Paris so I can make sure he keeps his filthy hands off her.
Her brow shoots up. "We don't know that," she says, defensive of her friend.
“We do. He told me last time I was there with her. He has had his eye on her for some time.” I run a hand through my hair, needing a release for all the tension now plaguing my body. Adrenaline is running through my veins, making me feel erratic. I stalk toward the elevator. I need to get to her, need to fucking make sure he's not up to anything.
"Don't do anything stupid and turn up there all ape-like, you will only make things worse if you do," Summer calls after me.
I turn to face her, rage building in me I'm not even sure I can control anymore. "What should I do then, Summer? I don't want to lose her to him," I shout, desperate. It feels like this is the end, and I have lost all control in getting her back.
She catches up with me. "Look, Heath, I'm probably overstepping the mark here, but I can see what she means to you, and I don't want you to do something stupid that might stop you guys from working things out. I know for a fact there is no chance of anything ever happening with her and Julian. This is a job for her, nothing else. It doesn't matter what he said, she loves you." She offers me a smile.
I stare back at her, hoping to God that's still the case. I try to calm my breathing. "What am I supposed to do? She won’t take any of my calls.” I run a hand through my hair, feeling desperate.
She glances over to the reception phone then back to me. "She’s going to kill me for this, but why don’t I call her for you?”
I look her over, surprised by her offer. “You would do that?”
"I can see what she means to you." She walks back to her desk and dials her number, handing me the phone.
"Hey, Sum, what's going on?" comes Millie’s sweet happy voice through the phone. I close my eyes, taking it in for a second before she realizes it's me.
"Millie, it’s Heath, don't hang up. I need to tell you something, and Summer tells me if I turn up in Paris acting like an ape you won't be happy. So please hear me out over the phone." It's all I can think of to try and convince her to stay on the line.
There is a long pause of silence, and I wonder if she put the phone down as soon as she heard my name. "Heath," she says softly.
"Please, just hear me out, Millie." I'm not beyond begging her at this point. I will try just about anything to make sure she's still mine.
"Okay."
"It was all Della. She didn't want me to leave the band to be with you and the kids, so she set it all up. She found out Elara was a little obsessed and gave her access to me whenever she needed. She was also messaging her as me so Elara really did think we were in a relationship and that I was going to leave you for her. It's all in the messages on their phones." My voice is desperate, I know it is, but with the adrenaline coursing through my body, I feel like this is the most important conversation I have had in my life.
Silence again. And I know it all sounds like bullshit, some elaborate excuse to get me off the hook, but she has to believe me.
"Please say something, Millie. I miss you like crazy, I need you back in my life."
"I miss you too." Her voice cracks over the words.
"Are you coming home? I need to see you and the kids.”
