<spanng="EN">Seth’s POV


    <spanng="EN">I’ve lost my sister. We’ve been looking for her for three days, with no leads. Holden and I have been worried, so we hired a private investigator on Monday morning when she didn’te home. She had disappeared off the face of the earth. She hadn’t read our texts or answered any of our calls. She should have answered our parents, or me. I expected her to be radio silent with Holden. I would rather her be mad at him all day long than be upset with us. I’ve never been so worried about her.


    <spanng="EN">We gave the investigator all the information we had on her. We listed bothpanies she works for, a picture of her from my phone four months ago, and both addresses. He hasn’t been able to find her anywhere. She hasn’te back to either home. He couldn’t even locate her silver Honda in the parking garage at her work.


    <spanng="EN">We thought we were going to get a lead on her when two people showed up at her condo yesterday. They just packed up several boxes and left. He had acted like a resident of the condo and spoke to them in the elevator, asking if they were moving into the condo. He found out they were just packing up Ana’s clothes to donate to a women’s shelter.


    <spanng="EN">What the hell is going on? I knew she was upset, but I’m her brother. I only have her best interests at heart. She was so cold when she left, she’s never looked at me like that before. I could feel the anger radiating off of her. She literally ran to her car because she was halfway down the driveway when I finally ran out the front door. I tried to have Greg stop her at the gate, but it was toote. We decided to give her a few hours to calm down. None of us felt like she would react like she did.


    <spanng="EN">Ana has always been one of the kindest people that I know. She has never done anything like this before. She has always been forgiving, except for this thing with Holden. She would have forgiven him anything before, so I really need to find out what happened between them. I never expected her to react so vehemently to my suggestion. I thought I was doing her a favor. She used to love Holden.


    <spanng="EN">I thought that by having him marry her, it would let her save face. Allowing her to go back to how she was before without having to apologize or make nice. I knew Holden would take care of her. He and I had sown our oats and were now ready to settle down. I wouldn’t have to worry about Ana if she married Holden. I knew that she would have a good life once they worked through their issues. The Vaughns already loved her, and she wanted to marry Holden so badly before. She should view this as an opportunity.


    <spanng="EN">Now I’m terrified that I’m about to be lumped in with Holden, My sister might never forgive me. I want to fix this as quickly as possible, but I admit it’s my fault. Mom cries every day, and Dad is still waiting for an update, but we have nothing to report. Holden and I thought she was just mad at our heavy–handed tactics. However, as each day passes, I be increasingly worried.


    <spanng="EN">My phone rang, and I saw Holden’s name on the screen. When I answered, he didn’t even greet me. He just said, “Have you heard anything yet?”


    <spanng="EN">“No, and I feel horrible for pushing her to get married. She’s always gone along with our wishes before; I don’t know why she’s refusing now. I messed up trying to force her into this. I was honestly just trying to help,” I replied.


    <spanng="EN">“We will have to drop by Roger’spany, Seth. That’s the only ce we know for sure that she’ll be. We don’t even need to speak to her, as long as we can see that she’s unharmed. I spoke to your father about her ns. She’s going to burn hispany to the ground. I know she’ll be there this week. She’s probably been taking an Uber to work, to keep us from finding her. She’s too smart for her own good. But it isn’t safe for her to be there.


    <spanng="EN">Once Roger figures out what she’s done, he’s going to be furious. It can’t hurt for us to show up and let her co–workers know that she has our support. That will make Roger think twice before he acts. I’ve had all four of them investigated. One of the men at the table is Roger’s CFO. It’s clear that he can’t stand Ana. I think it would be best to step in and make sure he knows that we won’t allow her to be bullied,” Holden replied.


    <spanng="EN">It’s clear that he’s been busy this week. I can tell he still cares about Ana. It might not be love yet, but he will always be there for her. I knew I made the best choice for her. She loves him, she just doesn’t want to bend. She might be a sweetheart, but she’s so much like Dad it’s crazy. He doesn’t forgive easily either. This is going to be an uphill battle to get her to calm down and ept Holden.


    <spanng="EN">“That’s a good idea. We can discuss the investigation at lunch. It’s twelve thirty now, let’s meet for lunch near herpany, so we can go there afterwards. She should be in her office by two. I don’t want to miss her or give her any warning that we’reing, I don’t want her to run off again. I just want to remind her that I will always protect her,” I replied.


    <spanng="EN">We met at a steakhouse a few miles from her work. Whoever Holden hired was really thorough. Especially when it came to Sasha’s background. I haven’t had this good augh in a while. He even had someone hack into her OBGYN’s office. She’s four months pregnant, not three, as she had told him. ording to Roger’s schedule, he wasn’t in Paris for the two weeks before or after the time frame she became pregnant. The likelihood that the baby belonged to Roger was impossible. She had lied to him from the beginning, and he fell for it. I hope he loves her very much, because soon, that ‘love‘ is all he’s going to have.


    <spanng="EN">“Do you want to tell Ana that it’s not Roger’s baby?” Holden asked. He was hiding his emotions. But I’ve known him for a long time. I could see that he was concerned about her taking Roger back if the baby wasn’t his.


    <spanng="EN">“No, we don’t need to tell her. I’m sure it will be revealed soon enough. You should know that once Ana has made a decision, it’s final. She won’t change her mind,” I replied, and froze as I realized what I had just said.


    <spanng="EN">“I didn’t mean that towards you, Holden. You’ve known her since she was born. You two share a deep connection, one that extends far beyond mere friendship. This Roger guy just showed up on the scene because he needed her help to get his business off the ground. Now that she knowns what he did to her, she’s done. Look at it like this: has she ever done anything to you? To pay you back for why she’s angry? hasn’t told any of our parents what happened? She protected you, despite her anger at whatever it was. That alone shows she still cares about you. We both know that if it were bad enough, it would have torn our families apart. She did that for you, for all of us. So I can promise you that her anger towards Roger is probably the same, but she hated being used, so she’s tearing his world apart. So if she does agree to marry you, you need to stay on her good side,” I corrected.


    <spanng="EN">I tried to lighten the mood with a joke, but Holden didn’t smile. We finished our meal in silence. Holden had his driver with him, so we each ordered a drink. I think we both needed the liquid courage for going to go see I’ve lost my Sitter


    <spanng="EN">Ana. Holden’s driver drove us to the business, and we entered the lobby and headed for the receptionist’s desk. She didn’t try to hide her wandering eyes, and we both smiled as we knew this part was going to be easy.


    <spanng="EN">“How can I help you?” she purred.


    <spanng="EN">“We are here to see Elizabeth Wade at Cook’s Custom Jewelry,” I replied politely.


    <spanng="EN">I saw the frown lines on her forehead. “Do you have an appointment?” She asked.


    <spanng="EN">“No, she’s my sister, and I wanted to speak to her for a moment. Is that a problem? Do I need an appointment?” I replied, my tone much less polite.


    <spanng="EN">“No, it’s just our CFO, Dixon Chandler, stopped by a few minutes ago, telling me to hold her calls and his for ten minutes. He looked angry, so he isn’t going to like an interruption,” she replied. I could tell that she was torn about allowing us to see my sister.


    <spanng="EN">“My sister is co–owner of this raggedypany. He’s not her boss and has no reason to confront her. Which floor is her office on?” I stated coldly.


    <spanng="EN">I heard her gasp of surprise. She didn’t know Ana was co–owner either. Roger certainly kept my sister’s actual title a huge secret. Do they even know that she’s engaged to him? Thankfully, it doesn’t matter anymore, as it’s over and done now. I wasn’t about to let some jerk try to intimidate my sister.


    <spanng="EN">“It’s the next floor up, but please wait for their meeting to end before going in,” the receptionist told us.


    <spanng="EN">“Sure,” I replied with my patented smile, I saw her sag in relief, and I felt bad for her. I wasn’t going to wait, but she needed to be warned. “Just a word of advice. You need to update your resume and begin actively seeking new job opportunities. This business is a sinking ship.”


    <spanng="EN">That got an even bigger gasp from her, as we turned to head to the elevators. We headed up to the next floor, and as soon as the doors opened, we knew where Ana was. None of the designers were working; they were all looking over at the office located at the back of the room. We could all hear a man yelling at my sister, and there was no way in hell that I was going to allow it.


    <spanng="EN">“You really think you own the ce, don’t you? New’s sh, Elizabeth. You’re nothing,pletely receable, as there’s nothing special about you. Sign the write–up. You have been arriving thirty minuteste every day this week. Do you think because Roger’s gone, or finds value in you, that you would be able to get away with this? You know your schedule; you’re supposed to work nine to five each day. How are you going to be an example to the department when you clearly don’t care? Roger put me in charge this time, as he knew you were unreliable. I’ve already let him know how you’ve missed two hours of work this week. He was the one who told me to write you up, so sign it, and stop wasting my time,” the man yelled out as we headed to her door.