Marriage of Convenience (The Raven Brothers 1)

“Yes, of course.” He studied me. “So, you’re going to keep going with this.”

“Yes.” I said in an exasperated voice.

“What about a paternity test?”

“Not necessary. I want to take care of her and the baby.” I decided to hold off on terminating the business contract until I could know for sure that Sara was on the same page as I was about this relationship. But whether she loved me or not, I’d take care of her and the child.

Once I got the logistics of the trust identified and sent Tom on his way to take care of the paperwork, I called Sara. If there was something in the newspapers, I wanted to give her a heads up. The call went to voicemail. I checked my watch, and it was conceivable that she was still sleeping, so I decided to call her later. For now, I needed to get back to work. I might be committed to being a good husband and father, but I wasn’t going to stop being a kick-ass businessman.

I worked for a few hours and then called Sara again. When it went to voicemail too, I had a niggle of concern so I called Mrs. Childs.

“She said she was taking a walk to the park,” she said.

“She was alright when she left?” I was a little annoyed she hadn’t let me know she was going out, but I supposed she’d let Mrs. Childs know.

“Yes. She looked fine.”

It was still weird that she wasn’t answering her phone. I shot off a text to her and then had to run to a meeting with the marketing department.

When I still hadn’t heard from her that afternoon, I cut the meeting with my father short and rushed home. Something wasn’t right.

“Sara,” I called as the elevator door opened to my apartment. I hurried through all the rooms, but she wasn’t there. “Where the hell are you?”

Starting to feel desperate, I called her phone again, leaving a terse message, and then feeling guilty about it because clearly something was wrong. Had something happened with the baby?

I started calling hospitals, but none had a Sara Raven or Sara Sheppard admitted. Worry was now turning to panic. I called Hunter.

“I need your help. Sara has gone missing.”

“She’s probably shopping and lost track of time,” he said.

“No. For one, she’s not a big shopper and two, she’d still answer her phone. She’s knows how important it is for me to know she’s safe,” I explained. I was certain we’d worked out that I didn’t want to control her, but that I needed to know she was safe from that moron professor and her ex.

“She probably doesn’t like you keeping her on a chain—”

“Fuck Hunter, something is wrong. Are you going to help me or not?” I wanted to reach through the phone and grab him by the neck to make him understand.

“Yeah, man. Calm down. I’ll be there in ten.”

I had no idea what to do for the next ten minutes. Was she hurt? Had that fucking professor come to exact revenge? Or maybe her ex?

It seemed way longer than ten minutes when Hunter showed up with another man.

“This is Jones. He used to be with the FBI but he’s private now,” Hunter said introducing me to the other guy. He looked like a regular Joe, not some former G-man, and I hoped he knew what he was doing.

“Does she have a regular schedule?” Jones asked.

Jesus, I didn’t know. “We’ve only been married a couple of weeks, and just got back from a trip. I’m not sure she settled into one yet. My housekeeper said she went to take a walk to the park.” I sank into the couch, as Jones took a chair across from me. Hunter remained standing behind him with his arms crossed looking like the badass I needed him to be.

“I can arrange to get surveillance footage to see if we can find her.” Jones said. “Was the marriage good?”

“Yes.”

Hunter cleared his throat. “It’s not a traditional marriage.”

I shot him a look.

“What do you mean?” Jones asked.

Fuck. “It was a marriage of convenience.” It didn’t feel like that now, but that’s how it started and it seemed like I needed to be honest to make sure nothing got missed.

“So, she was going to get some sort of financial compensation for marrying you?” Jones asked.

“Yes.” It didn’t seem relevant, but I was going to cooperate.

“Any chance she just ran off?” Jones asked.

“No.” I inhaled a breath. “She’s pregnant.”

Hunter eyes shot open wide. “That was fast.”

“Maybe she left and is going to use the child as leverage,” Jones suggested.

I jumped up from the couch as anger coursed through me. “No, no, no… she wouldn’t do that.”

“There was the thing with her professor,” Hunter said. I heard the hesitation in his voice, as if he knew I wouldn’t take it well.