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Placing Ava down on the ground, she runs off to torture our poor pup that darted up the stairs. I turn to look at Skylar and frown.
“You’re upset,” I state as if it wasn’t obvious.
“Of course I’m upset, Finn.” She wipes her hands on her dish towel before facing me, hands on hips. “I don’t want to fight with you, it’s just hard. I miss you.Wemiss you. For the last month we have been a second priority because of Declan. It’s getting fucking old. I don’t know if we can keep this up any longer, I didn’t marry you to be a single parent.”
“I miss you guys too,” I reply. “Do you think I like not being home until you guys are already asleep? Missing Ava’s bedtime story?” The frustration in my voice is clear as I run a hand through my hair. “I fucking miss you guys more than you know. Things are just hard right now. I’m trying here, Sky. I’m fucking trying.”
“Well, I’m glad that your family comes second to Declan’s wants and needs.” She walks to the bottom of the stairs, “Ava! Come eat!” She yells, and I hear the pitter patter of our daughter's tiny feet running across the hardwood floor.
“For fucks sake, Skylar.” I mumble before sitting down at the table. “If I were searching for you, don’t you think that Declan would be helping just like I am? You don’t think he would try to be with me ninety percent of the day to scour over security footage, bank statements, cell phone records? You don’t think that we wouldn’t tear the world apart, burn it to the ground, to find you too?”
When Ava bounds into the kitchen, Skylar plasters on a smile and picks her up, ignoring my question altogether. “Are you hungry, love bug?” She asks, and Ava nods.
I know I’m upset with Skylar as she is with me, but I can’t help but smile at the two of them. Unfortunately, my mind instantly goes to a place I don’t want to be right now. I can’t stop thinking about if the roles were reversed? What if Skylar and I were in the same position? The thought of losing her or Ava makes me physically ill.
Not knowing where she was, if she were safe, or if I had already lost her. Skylar has brought me back from the edge so many times. I definitely wouldn’t be as sane, for lack of a better word, as Declan has been. He’s definitely not sane, but he’s kept his cool more times than I would have. Fuck, I’d rather die than be without Skylar and Ava. They’re my world. My empire. I would crumble without them.
Understanding creeps in, along with more worry.AmI doing everything I can to help Declan? There has to besomethingI haven’t thought of.
Skylar’s beautiful voice snaps me out of my thoughts. Clearing my throat, I look up from my plate to her. “I’m sorry babe, what did you say?”
“I was asking if you had made any progress on finding Natalia,” she repeats as she places food on the tray of Ava’s high chair. Although she asks about Natalia, she doesn’t seem too concerned. In fact, I’d say her tone was rather irritated.
“No, all dead ends. I feel like I’ve tried everything. She doesn’t want to be found, so she’s gone off the grid essentially. I can’t find someone who doesn’t want to be found,” I explain and begin to eat.
She sighs and pushes some of her food around on her plate. Natalia was her friend too, although they didn’t get to spend nearly enough time with each other. Maybe once Natalia comes back,if she comes back, we can get them together. Hopefully that will help them both with these constant late nights, buddy system. Even though Natalia is a boss herself, she doesn’t work as late as Declan does half the time.
After a few moments of eating in silence, Skylar looks over at me. “Have you tried seeing where her flight from Philly was headed?” She asks with a raised eyebrow.
I open my mouth to tell her we had. When a thought dawns on me… We hadn’t. I curse as I clatter my silverware down. “Babe, you are a genius.” I smile at her. I can feel my face falter slightly, and I immediately pick my fork back up, not wanting her to think that I was blowing her off again.
She smiles sheepishly at me and takes another bite before waving her fork at me. “Go,” she urges. “I know you’re dying to look over the footage again.”
I raise my eyebrow at the sudden change in her mood, all the anger from earlier seems to have dissipated significantly and for that I am thankful. I make a mental note to take a day off to watch Ava and give her a spa day. I don’t question her, instead I push my chair back, grab my plate and kiss her cheek. “I love you.” I walk over to Ava, who is making a mess with her mashed potatoes. “And I love you, princess.”
“Yeah, yeah. Love you too.” She smirks as she gives me a dismissive wave, shooing me up to my office. Ava doesn’t reply, simply continues to squish into her potatoes.
Practically sprinting up to my computer room, I barely set my plate down before I’m pulling up all the security footage from the airport once again. I watch what terminal she goes into and write down the timestamp.
Pulling out my phone, I make a few phone calls. Having some connections at Philly’s airport makes this that much easier. There is so much red tape that I can just waltz through with this last phone call. As they say, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
“Well, if it isn’t Finny Boy,” Jack chuckles into the phone. Jack is a close family friend who has been around since I was Ava’s age, a confidant for my father and now myself.
Playfully rolling my eyes at his nickname for me, I clear my throat. “Hey, Jack. I need a favor.” I get straight to the point. “I need to know where a certain plane was headed last month.”
“Of course, just give me the date and flight number.” He doesn’t hesitate to agree, knowing that I only use this connection when it’s absolutely necessary.
After giving him all the information I was able to pull from the extremely grainy photo of Natalia, he finds all of the details within minutes. Soon he’s rattling off all the stops it made, along with where it landed and the other possible flight connections that may be similar to it.
Thanking him profusely, I end the call with a happy dance.
“Hell yeah!” I shout, practically jumping for joy. It’s not an exact answer, but we at least have the closest state. Best lead thus far.
I have a lead.
Not long after I send the text to Declan, I see his bubble pop up as he types.
Where?
