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And once he had that information…
He grinned.
It wasn’t hard to imagine what his handiwork would eventually produce—Connor alone and grieving. It would be the perfect time for Trey to swoop in and rescue him. And why not? No one deserved Connor more than Trey, no matter what.
Trey expected someone to call after him. “Hey, that’s my bike, asshole!” But no one did. And traffic was so snarled and slow that Trey had to pause at times to let Connor and Miranda catch up to him.
Unbelievable.
The two or three miles to downtown passed by relatively quickly.
He would have thought Connor would have had more imagination than to pick the Westin. It was one of the more iconic hotels in the skyline, with its twin corncob towers rising up against the often gray and cloud-choked skies. Staying there was like hiding under the bed: the first place a baddie would look.
He straddled the bike and watched as they stopped in the portico and exited the car. It was driven away by a valet. Another smiling hotel employee opened the door for Miranda and Connor.
That should be me. I should be with him. Not that bitch. All she’s ever been is a sponge.
Trey was seething with jealousy and rage.
After they’d gone inside, he crossed the street and, keeping a discreet distance, followed them up the escalator and through the lobby. He took a seat in one of the chairs near the bar and observed them as they checked in, just to be sure.
The lobby was pretty much chaos due to the disaster just a few miles north. Trey wasn’t worried they would see him. Even if the lobby hadn’t been mobbed, Connor and his daughter were in their own little traumatized bubble.
Little did they know things were about to get even worse.
And then, with Trey’s grace, better. Eventually.
But Trey wasn’t thinking too hard about any of that. He was considering how he could pull Miranda out from under the bed, so to speak.
Connor hadn’t lost everything…yet.
Once he had, who would be waiting to comfort and console? Trey would.
It was perfect.
He rose and slipped quietly from the lobby into the busy downtown streets surrounding the hotel.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
WHY HADN’T SHEturned off her phone? Peace would forever elude her!
Sleep seemed like something reserved for other people. Miranda thought she’d never succumb, but once she climbed in the bed at the Westin, with Daddy in the other bedroom in their suite, she’d found herself drifting. The drawn drapes kept out the afternoon sun, and the tiny sliver of light where the curtains didn’t quite meet was hypnotic. She stared at it until it faded to darkness when her eyelids fluttered closed.
Her slumber was deep, the kind of sleep she thought she’d left behind in childhood. And even her dream was a blessing.
A simple memory of being with Daddy and Steve when she was a little girl and they’d all visited Chicago for a book fair. Back then, trips like that were common and, even though they weren’t typical, she felt like such a loving family unit. Daddy had managed to escape his publisher’s booth at McCormick Place one afternoon, and they’d all gone off to Navy Pier, where they wandered its length, laughing, eating, and drinking in the view surrounding them—Lake Michigan, shimmering and a Caribbean shade of aqua, surrounded them on three sides. To the west, the city’s iconic skyline rose up. In her dream, the three of them were once again on the Ferris wheel at the end of the pier. They gaped at the stellar views.
And then everything changed as the Ferris wheel began to topple. It crashed over on its side, into the water, and the gondola they were in went under.
But there was no fear. The gondola detached and took off on its own. All of the carriers did. They were jellyfish, swimming in all different directions. People inside pressed against the windows, marveling at the underwater views of Lake Michigan, the sunlight spearing through the murky water.
It was beautiful.
And she was not afraid.
What should have been a disaster was exhilarating.
At one point, she thought she could see the long-lost city of Atlantis in the distance, but it turned out to be the condo building she and Daddy had lived in, looking eerie and serene in the emerald water.
