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One week after I’d gone to see the doctor, I got an email I never expected to get as a professional nurse. I was being probed by the New York State Board of nurses, and I was going to face the council in less than two weeks.
Chapter 29
Christian
Neverdiditoccurto me that Vanessa would leave. I did not know what I saw in her eyes the night before she packed her bags and ran away from me. But if I interpreted it as her giving up and fleeing, then…
I would have probably prevented it.
The second I realized she was gone, I immediately asked Ethan to send the Jet, and I was back in New York City in less than twenty-four hours. After berating poor Roger, whom I almost fired on the spot for driving her to the airport without asking me about it first. Alba interceded on his behalf, which was the only reason he still had a job.
In hindsight, I was probably a little harsh on him, because there was no way he would have held Vanessa against her will if she wanted to leave. In my anger, I’d been too blinded to see that.
When I arrived back in the city, the first thing I tried to do was find her. I only just found out that her address was not in her application. The address in the background check I carried out on her was her old address. The one she shared with her mother. Her most recent address was nowhere to be found and when I asked her old landlord, they did not know as well.
It was both frustrating and disgraceful on my part that I did not know where the woman I had been sleeping with for the past few months lived here in the city. All that was left was for me to go door to door in search of her. That was impossible, but I was seriously contemplating it.
I had not informed my parents that I was back in the city, but since I used the private jet, they were bound to find out. My father had tried to call me a few times already, all of which I ignored. I could not stop thinking about Vanessa’s allegations that my mother had something to do with the tabloid.
She was the only one crazy enough to do something like this. My father was more conservative, and if he wanted to ruin Vanessa’s reputation, he would do so without ruining mine. My mother did not care about my reputation, she cared about hers. And she knew it would benefit her more for me to marry Thea Wright than a woman she would consider a nobody.
I was in my penthouse, trying to concentrate on work but to no avail, and a PI I had hired was on the lookout for Vanessa, though I was yet to hear anything from him. I was getting frustrated, and it showed in the deadlock I was currently facing at work.
There was someone at my front door. It could not be Ethan, because I’d banished him from coming to my apartment until he could find me something solid on Vanessa.
I expected it to be one of my parents, but it surprised me to see Daniel when I looked through the front monitor from the security camera.
I opened the door and turned right back into the house without looking at him. I knew I looked as shitty as I felt, so it did not surprise me when Dan pointed it out.
“Even though it feels good to see you back on your feet, I have to say you look like shit.”
I did not respond to his comment because he was right. The last time I remembered feeling like this was soon after the accident when Gigi broke up with me. Though I did not remember it hurting this much.
Dan must have sensed that I was in no mood to make jokes because he sobered up immediately and he sensed the mood.
He was the only one of all my friends that had reached out since the news came out, I never had many expectations from my other friends, even though, I thought that at least, of the other four, Elaine would be the one to reach out.
“I saw the news man. I’m sorry.”
I did not know what he was apologizing for; if he knew about my split from Vanessa, or if he thought I was angry about the news in the tabloid. I was not mad at Vanessa for her past; I was mad at the press and whoever leaked information like that to the news, knowing well that it could ruin her life and her career.
“It’s not your fault. You did nothing wrong.” Dan said to me.
It's been two weeks now since the story leaked and the press had moved on to other salacious news since neither of us gave any comment on the tabloid. There were still some news outlets that peddled a few other fake news, like how Vanessa was carrying my baby and how she’d tried to trap me into marriage.
I knew all those were lies. She would never keep something like that from me, even if we were no longer together.
I was drowning my sorrows in scotch and though I was not yet drunk, I was close. It was only eleven am, and I had taken small sips from the bottle of scotch since I woke up and all day.
Ironically, the same alcohol that had been responsible for Vanessa’s troubles at her former workplace had become my solace. She was all I thought about and thinking about her hurt a lot. I tried to work but could hardly concentrate.
The drinking eased the pain, but I knew I could not seek comfort in it for long. I did not mind indulging once in a while, but not enough to make me lose control of myself.
“How much progress have you made on the house?” I finally asked him.
“Eighty percent of it is done. The painters are currently working on the interiors. They would finish it before the end of the week.”
“And the entire house?”
