Everyone buckle up your seatbelts...
Third Person's POV:
Gareth kissed Harper's forehead lingeringly as she was still lying on the bed. "Give me a call if something happens, okay?"
Harper nodded her head in agreement and he pecked her lips before leaving for office.
She has been acting strange for the past few days and Gareth can't shake off the feeling that something is wrong and she isn't telling him.
He even asked her to not go for work for a few days but she refused saying she gets bored at home.
All the way to the office, his thoughts were stuck on Harper and what could possibly be wrong.
Either she is not feeling well normally because of pregnancy or that asshole Isaiah showed up again and she isn't telling him.
He has decided to confess his feelings tonight. Tonight he will tell her how much he loves her. Tonight. He felt nervous thinking about it. Maybe she will tell him then what's wrong.
Parking his car, his stepped out and walked inside the building, people greeting him as he acknowledged them all with a small smile and a nod.
Kyle met him at the reception with a file in his hand. "Your brother has asked for you signature on this, Gareth. It's urgent."
Gareth nodded swept his eyes over the page swiftly before signing his name at the bottom and entered the elevator with Kyle beside him.
Kyle cleared his throat. "Are you okay, sir?"
Gareth sighed deeply. "Yes, Kyle. Why do you ask?"
"You seem to be concerned about something..."
"Harper seems to be concerned about something and she isn't telling me."
"Oh... maybe...she is thinking of confessing her feelings to you and she is nervous..." Kyle suggested.
"No... it's something else..." Gareth thought about something and spoke again, his jaw clenching. "Make a call to Isaiah Abraam's office. I want to have a word with him."
The elevator opened and they stepped out. "Okay, sir." Kyle answered going off to his small office as Gareth walked inside his office.
Removing his suit's jacket, he draped it over his chair and sat down, rolling the sleeves of his shirt upto his elbows and loosened his tie running his fingers through his hair.
A minute later, his intercom buzzed and he pressed the button. "Yes, Kyle?"
"Sir, I called Mr Abraam's office but his assistant said he left for Australia for a business meeting yesterday."
His jaw clenched. "Fine. Thank you."
He leaned back in his chair, placing both his hands behind his head. Lifting his legs, he rested it on his desk, one on top of the other.
If Isaiah isn't here then what is troubling her?
A headache started to form as he rubbed his temples.
Something is terribly wrong. He could sense it.
An hour passed away, he was reading some file but couldn't concentrate on it, his thoughts wandering off to Harper every another minute.
Exasperated, he pushed away the file and picked up his phone called Harper.
It was switched off.
Nervousness started to kick in and he immediately called Diana who picked up a few rings later. "Yes, Gareth?"
"Where's Harper?"
"She left for work...like an hour ago."
"Okay." He hung up the call and next called Aeryn.
"Aeryn, is Harper with you?"
"No. She didn't come today. I was calling her but her phone's switched off. I was about to call you only."
"Damn it."
"Gareth... where's she?"
"I'll tell you later, Aeryn. Just inform me if she comes there."
"Okay."
Hanging up the call, he slammed his phone down on the desk. "Where the fuck are you Harper?!"
He tried calling her again but it was of no use. He called Kyle and asked him to track Harper's phone.
Half an hour later, Kyle had tracked her phone's location to somewhere near Aeryn's restuarant. That's it.
He dismissed Kyle and his phone buzzed and a notification went off. He opened it to see a message from an unknown number.
Not many people have his personal phone number.
He opened the message, his face paling on reading it.
Gareth,
I don't think I can continue this between us. It's too much for me. I am sorry but I am leaving. Thank you for everything, I appreciate whatever you did for me. But now, I am leaving.
Goodbye.
~Harper
For a minute, he stood frozen in his place, he couldn't move, he couldn't speak, he couldn't think, he couldn't even breath.
She left him?!
His hold tightened on the phone, the message repeating in his head over and over again and he threw the phone on the wall as it smashed into pieces.
After all the love I showered on her, she left me? He thought. Did she never felt anything for me? Was everything a lie?
His mind replayed every moment he spent with her. Her smile, her voice, her face, her touches, her kisses, her hugs, her words.
No. This can't be true.
His palm folded into a fist, clenching and unclenching, his eyes shut tightly, in hopes to silence the storm brewing inside him.
When it was too much to digest, he pushed his chair back and in a swift movement, swept all of the things of his desk furiously. His laptop among other things scattering on the floor.
Gripping his desk, he flipped it over. Eyes blazing with rage he continued to destroy everything.
Hearing the noise, Kyle came in and his jaw dropped on seeing the condition of the office. Gareth is a well organised person, he wants everything to be in place always. He never gets angry, not like this. He is usually a calm person.
So when Kyle saw him like this, he knew something has made him go mad. Not knowing what to do, he called Everette. "S-sir...your brother...he is very angry. He is throwing everything...he almost destroyed his office. Please if you could come down here."
"I'm coming." He spoke hurriedly and hung up the call while Kyle stood there not knowing what else to do.
What made him so mad?
As said, Everette was down there within half a minute and marched to his brother's office. Shocked to see him like this.
"Gareth, what the hell is wrong with you?" He yelled.
Gareth stood with his back towards him, his head hung low, hands at his sides, palms folded into fists.
Hearing Everette's voice, he slowly turned around, his jaw clenched and eyes red with rage.
Everette took a cautious step towards him. "Brother...what happened?"
"She left me." He spat. "She left me. That's what happened."
"What?" Everette stepped even more closer and gently placed his hands over his shoulders. "What do you mean by she left?"
Gareth's bottom lip quivered, tears welling up in his eyes, his voice cracking. Not full of anger like it was before. But a broken, soft voice. "She left me, brother." And he hugged Everette tightly as he broke down, placing his head on his brother's shoulder. Everette's heart broke on seeing him like this and he hugged him back.
"She left me, brother..." He sobbed. "She said she would never...yet she left me. She left me..."
Everette had no words to console his brother as his mind wondered why she would leave him when she loved him.
"I loved her..." He cried, his tears soaking up Everette's shirt. "I was happy. I fell in love with her...I finally found somebody to love and she left me...she promised she won't."
Everette pulled back and held his shoulders firmly. "Listen to me, brother."
Gareth's head was lowered, tears streaming down his face, and he refused to listen to Everette. His legs wobbled and he fell down on his knees, holding his head in his hands breaking Everette's heart further.
Everette crouched down in front of him. "Gareth...just for a moment...think. She loved you...why will she leave you?"
"She d-didn't..." His voice cracked. "She didn't...she never told me she loved me..."
"Did she give any reason as to why she left you?"
Gareth sniffed. "She...she messaged me...she said...that... it's too much for her...and she is leaving...she left..."
This didn't sound right. She loved him, didn't she? How can she leave? And why?
Everette grabbed Gareth's arm firmly and pulled him up and dragged him over to the couch which thankfully wasn't destroyed by him.
He made him sat down on the couch and he continued to cry as Everette pulled out his phone and dialled Aeryn's number.
"Aeryn..." He spoke as soon as she picked it up. "Can you come to our office? Right now?"
"What happened?"
"Please...just come here..."
"Okay...I'm coming."
Gareth placed his head on Everette's shoulder, tears refusing to stop as he closed his eyes and Everette wrapped his arm around his shoulder consoling him.
Twenty minutes had passed when Aeryn reached the building and Everette told her to come to 40th floor.
On reaching that floor, Kyle guided her to Gareth's office and she gasped on seeing the condition of it. Everette placed his finger over his lips, telling her to be silent since Gareth had fell asleep with his head on Everette's shoulder. Streaks of tears still visible on his cheeks, a frown etched on his forehead and he kept mumbling Harper's name in the sleep.
Aeryn sat down beside Everette concerned about what all this is about.
"Eve..." She whispered. "What's wrong with him and Harper...she seemed to have disappeared...do you know where she is?"
"Gareth received her message earlier..." He whispered back and explained everything to her and even called Kyle in who told them how concerned Gareth was about her.
When he finished explaining, Aeryn spoke immediately with confidence. "She would never leave him, Eve. She was in love with him. She would never do that. I believe her."
Everette glanced at his brother and placed a light kiss on his head. "Then where is she? And what did she mean by that message?"
"Wherever she is...she is in danger." Aeryn spoke, fear settling inside her.
"Harper..." Gareth mumbled, still sleeping, a tear rolling down his eyes.
Everette's jaw clenched and he gritted his teeth. "I swear if she did it deliberately...I won't spare her, Aeryn. I don't care if she is your friend."
"And I swear, Eve that she didn't do it deliberately. Someone is behind this."
"Either someone made her do it or...she has been kidnapped." Aeryn added hoping Harper's alright.
Why will someone kidnap her? Who has a grudge against her?
And why?
Chapter completion on 23/7/21