Yours Truly

Chapter 33

Owen's phone rang for the third time back to back so he held up a finger to the man speaking, "What is it, Mr. Coleman? I'm in a very important—"

"I think I fucked up, Mr. B," Gabe sounded panicked.

"What happened?" Owen asked standing. He listened to Gabe blurt everything out and removed his glasses as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Mr. Coleman...Mr. Coleman...Gabriel Joseph Coleman!"

"Mr. B," Gabe froze.

"Calm down, Mr. Coleman, I know where she is. I'll handle this, call Mrs. Anderson and see if she will come to the house and speak with you. I will call you later," Owen hung up after Gabe agreed. "You have two minutes to wrap this up and then I am leaving whether you are done or not, my fiancé needs me," he glared as he typed away on his phone.

He forced himself not to groan or scream as the text messages statuses remained on Delivered and had not been switched to Read yet.

"I can leave all the information here for you to look over," the man said nervously.

"Fine," Owen said as he picked up his files and withdrew his keys from his pocket. "I will have my receptionist call you in a couple of days to finalize everything." He stormed out of the conference room while his receptionist rushing behind him. "Miss Jones if you do not quit following me and start filing the client's information immediately, I will find someone else to take over your role before eight tomorrow morning."

She gasped, "Yes Mr. Blackbourne" as she watched him rush down the hall.

Owen growled as his phone rang through the speakers on his dashboard as he pulled out into the highway. "What?" he asked without looking at the screen.

"Daddy," Mia's sobs echoed around him. "I...I...I..."

"I'm on my way, Darling," he sighed in relief, "where are you?"

"H...h...h..." she hiccupped. "H..."

"Okay Mia," he moved into the left-hand lane, "I'll be there soon. Try to calm down for me."

"I...I...ra...ra...ran, D...D...Daddy," she sobbed, "I...I...I...s...s...s..."

"I know, Darling, I know," he said calmly. "It was just a misunderstanding, Mia. Mr. Coleman wasn't yelling at you, I promise."

"Y...Y...Ye...," her breathing increased even faster and seconds later there was a thud.

"Darling?" He asked as he pressed the gas pedal down even more, "Mia?" The only response was her constant gasps, "Mia!" He cursed and tried to calm his racing mind. He knew what he needed to do.

Meanwhile

Oh god, she couldn't breathe! The screaming wouldn't stop even though she wasn't touching anything anymore. Her skin was going to rip off her bones if it got any tighter. It itched so much too but it hurt to move. Her whole body was on fire and her tears just added salt to the wounds. She was so sorry, she would be good, she promised if she could only breathe. The spots were starting to get bigger, taking away the light in the room. She hated the dark, she didn't want the light to go away but she couldn't move, it burned to much if she tried. Plus a tiny part of her welcomed the darkness because it took the pain away until she woke. She just wanted everything to go away.

"Darling, where are you?"

Daddy...she couldn't face him right now, not after what she did. The tears slipped down faster as his voice came from everywhere, taunting her. She clutched at her drenched shirt as she pressed herself into the darkness that was surrounding her. The pain was taking over everything and she welcomed it knowing that any minute now the pain encasing her will go away.

"Come on Darling, where are you?" Owen's voice called out to her. "Give me something to tell me where you are, Mia."

A soft whimper slipped past her lips. As much as she wanted him, she couldn't deal with the anger and hurt he was going to have for her.

"Where are you, Mia?" Owen called out amongst all the screams.

"There you are, Mia," A gentle voice pushed the darkness away just barely. Fingertips touched her and she flinched at the burning sensation from the touch. "Found her, Owen!" The voice shouted making her pull away from it as much as she could, which just caused the tightness to restrict her even more. "Hey now, stop that, Mia, you are hurting yourself," the calm voice said as she felt them try to take her hands off her throat. "Daddy's right here, Mia, you're okay."

Minutes Before

Owen pulled up to Mia's grandmother's house and threw his car in park. Just as he got out, he heard the rest of the family pull up. He rushed into the house. "Darling, where are you?" He called out as he began searching the house. Hearing only silence he mentally cursed and tried again, "Come on Darling, where are you?"

"Search everywhere," Axel commanded as Luke took off up the stairs with a few others following.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. B," Gabe said for the upmillionth time.

"Stop Gabriel," Owen muttered as he continued it look for his darling. "It was an honest mistake, it's not your fault. You are not to blame for this."

"Found her, Owen!" Luke shouted from upstairs.

Owen took off running and saw the door to the stairs that led to the attic open. He rushed up the stairs and pushed the door open. Hearing Luke talking softly in the back, he followed and found Luke crouched down in the darkest part of the room.

"Daddy's right here, Mia, you're okay," he said gently as he removed his hands from over hers.

"Oh Darling," Owen whispered as he knelt in front of her. He scooted closer to her, knowing his Irish Spring scent would help calm her down some. "Come here Darling, I got you, you're safe. I have you, My Sweet Girl."

"N...n...no...no..." she whimpered.

"Shhh," he soothed as he removed his jacket and wrapped it around her. "Mr. Taylor, go have Mr. Coleman start her a calming soothing bath, please." He saw out of his peripheral vision that Luke took off and he leaned forward to undo the bun her hair was in. "Breathe with me, Darling, you're safe. I have you, Sweet Girl, Daddy has you."

He just kept repeating this over and over, even after he was able to pull her out of the dark corner and into his lap. After what seemed like eternity but really was just minutes, he felt her wrap her arms around him and dig her nails into his back as her ankles locked together around his hips. He internally sighed in relief as she pressed her face into his neck even more, inhaling his scent and cherishing his touch as much as possible as she finally started to calm down. Once she was calm, he could explain to her what really happened. He knew he needed to make completely sure that she knew he was not mad at her for running and how glad he was for her trying to reach out as well. She may not think so, but she was improving and even though this was a setback, he was still proud of her.

"You're safe Mia," he said as he held her. "I love you, Darling, now and forever, I promise."