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Trying to hunt down Fiona was going to be the equivalent of searching for a needle in a haystack. I knew that the odds of her having an active social media presence were slim, but it was possible if she’d gotten away from our captors like I did. At least, it was a place to start.
I pulled up a social media page and typed in her full name. A lot of profiles popped up, and I scanned them until I found one with a picture of my sister. I clicked on it and tears immediately filled my eyes as I saw it was last active four years ago. Before we were taken.
In the picture, Fiona was still a teenager. By then, we’d lived a hard life, but still had hope for the future. We were still innocent. Scanning her last few posts brought up old memories that made me want to laugh and cry at the same time.
I closed the browser without bothering to look up my profile, knowing that it would look the same. The past frozen in place on the screen.
Closing the laptop, I stood and paced the room, trying to sort through my turbulent thoughts and feelings. I was still determined to find Fiona, but it was obviously going to be difficult. I didn’t even know where to begin.
Sighing, I ran a hand through my hair.
A thick leather-bound book near the back of an empty shelf caught my eye, and I couldn’t resist reaching for it. Shock filtered through me as I realized it was dusty. The staff didn’t clean this? Was it not meant to be touched?
That thought should have made me put it back immediately, but I wanted to know more about Sebastian. I was almost desperate for any information about the man.
I dusted off the cover of the book, and discovered it was not a book at all, but a photo album. As I flipped through the pages, it fascinated me to see a side of Sebastian that differed completely from the one I knew. The photos must have been taken before the fire, because he had no scars. However, what caught my attention was the wide smile on his face, which was so different from the cold and distant expression I was used to. In the pictures, he was riding horses through the castle grounds in the summer and cooking with Charlotte in the large kitchen. They looked happy together, and Charlotte was stunning.
I swallowed down my jealousy and turned the page.
There were a bunch of pictures of Sebastian in a tuxedo at some sort of ball. He looked dashing, and as I studied the photos, I realized the ball took place here in the castle. I wondered what it was for.
In one picture, Sebastian was standing next to a guy that looked just like him. They had to be related. I carefully pulled the picture out and turned it over. All it said on the back wasBash and Nathan.
I put it back, wondering who the hell Nathan was. A brother, perhaps?
Continuing to flip through the book, I smiled even as my heart hurt. Sebastian clearly used to be a happy man. Finally, near the end of the photo album, I stopped at a black-and-white photo of Sebastian. He was shirtless, wearing torn jeans, worn boots, and holding an axe with gloved hands. Again, there were no scars on his body. It was a candid photo, so he wasn’t looking at the camera or smiling, but there was a peaceful expression on his face.
The sound of voices in the distance brought me back to the present, and I remembered I shouldn’t linger here too long. Without thinking about it, I took the candid picture of Sebastian out of the photo album and replaced it on the shelf.
I sneaked out of the office and tried to close the door quietly, only to be startled when a voice spoke behind me.
“Belle.”
Barclay was standing there, his face expressionless. It shocked me to hear him say my name for the first time. I shifted my feet and bit my lip at being caught coming out of an obviously private space, but he didn’t say anything about what I was doing in there.
“You should know that there are workers coming in to repair the marble flooring near the entryway.”
Swallowing down the lump in my throat, I noticed Barclay was staring down at my feet. Following his gaze, I realized I had dropped the picture when he startled me. Quickly picking it up, I felt like a complete idiot for taking it. When I straightened, Barclay was no longer there. Although I considered returning the picture to its place, for some unexplainable reason, I folded it and put it in my back pocket instead.
Chapter18
Sebastian
Idescended the steps of my private plane and made my way to the waiting car on the tarmac. A wave of relief washed over me. Breathing in the familiar air, I savored the feel of being back home. I didn’t like leaving the castle, but this trip was necessary.
From the start, I could sense that Belle was keeping something hidden. The sight of the vivid bruises on her back when she first arrived was unmistakable. I attempted to erase them from my memory, yet I felt compelled to learn more about her and what she was hiding.
I was so desperate to have someone to breed that I didn’t even think to have her properly vetted. I had Maxwell check into her background, but the results came back dry. She was a foster kid in Chicago, but it appeared as though she’d disappeared off the face of the Earth when she was seventeen. Ever since then,nothing.
It just didn’t sit right with me. Ihadto dig deeper.
My office was not the ideal place to gather the information I needed, so I had to hit the ground to get the answers. Fortunately, my experience in the armed forces allowed me to be acquainted with a few old friends who possessed exceptional skills in locating people. These were the kind of resources that could not be acquired with money. With their expertise, no one could hide from their search, no matter how hard they tried to erase themselves.
It worked. I found some much-needed information about the future mother of my child. Not everything, but enough to know that her presence in Europe wasn’t by choice. She’d spent the better part of the past three years under the thumb of some of the worst men in central London.
Despite her sad story and horrid past, I couldn’t bring myself to feel sorry for her, as my frozen heart wouldn’t thaw that easily.
No, I had to cling to something else, so I focused all of my energy on my disdain for her. She lied to me, and it was a great disappointment.
