No one told her to take to her heels and she dashed away into the hotel, running as fast as her legs could carry her away from her boyfriend.
Unfortunately for her, she was running against Xander, the swiftest dragon there was.
In no time he got to where she was and wrapped a hand around her. "Got ya, love."
"Ahha…" Before she could say anything more, Xander scooped her in his arms and carried her straight to the elevator and up they went to their room.
"Put me down, Xander."
"Nah, I am going to bathe you, dress you up…. Wait, no. I would bathe you, then kiss all over your body and make you feel good before putting you to sleep."
"What has happened to my boyfriend?"
"You happened. Your boyfriend found you and I am not willing to let you go anymore."
"Neither am I, hone. I love you, Xander."
"I love you, baby."
***
As things became busy, Zale kept a little bit of a low profile while getting info from Mr Howard about their day to day search for Jade.
In his hotel room in Star Cross City, Zale was seen sitting at the balcony and enjoying the cool breeze of the night when his phone began to ring out.
He looked over to his side where he placed the phone on the small table close to his wine bottle and saw the name of the caller.
"Dad!" Quickly he sat up straight and picked up the phone. "Hello," his voice came out a bit low as he greeted his father.
"No form of useful greeting? Who spoilt you?"
"My apologies father. Good evening sir."
"Good. You should never forget your root son. You are the heir to the Anders empire. You need to be primped and proper," Zain corrected.
"I understand father."
"Good, now tell me, what progress have you made so far in your search for the heiress?"
"About that, I was going to call you tomorrow morning to inform you about the deal with Mr Howard."
"But what happened that it took you time to want to call me?" Zain asked in a loud voice.
"I am sorry sir. I just had to take care of things on my end so that Xander would not be suspicious of me, especially if I do not make any move. I know he is secretly monitoring me, which was why we also agreed to use someone else to do the job underneath his nostrils."
"Umm, good. So what is the progress report?"
"Up until now, there hasn't been any reasonable lead as to if she is here in Star Cross City or not."
"Damn it! That little rat wants to turn into a pain in the ass. Why can't she just appear as dead already?"
"In time, father. I believe we would be able to find her soon."
"Soon!"
"Yes sir."
"Do not tell me soon!" Mr Zain hollered at his son. "What soon? Does it look like I have time for soon? We have been searching for her for weeks now, still, there is nothing to write home about."
"But there is nothing more we can do. We have searched most of the cities in the country, yet she is still nowhere to be found. This Jade is just as stubborn as her father was but then again, this is the Anders we are talking about. We can and we would find her."
"We would find her. I have been hearing that for quite some time now."
"Trust me on this father. I believe we would have good news soon except maybe she is hiding in a quite busy place from here and has blended well."
"Just put more fire in his bosom and have him do more than he is doing already," Mr Zain ordered his son;"
"Yes, father. I will. Thanks."
"Alright."
The call went dead after that and Zale in his anger, took the wine bottle on the table and smashed it against the wall.
He understood very well that his father was getting angry at their situation. Things were at stake there. Up till now the person they reported to wasn't aware that Jade was still missing and not dead.
"Arrghh! Useless, Jade, stupid heiress. I wish you rot in hell for all eternity due to all you are putting me through. Just you wait, when I find you, I would make you pay."
***
Days went by and the search for Jade began to prove terrible. They had searched high and low, different places but they just could not find any hint as to where she may be.
By now Zale was already having a fit from it. How could one person just disappear from the face of the earth just like that?
He knew she was not dead but then where was she?
On one of his outings to meet with one of the mafia gang's leaders, he walked into a restaurant and sat down there waiting for the other person to come when someone passes through his side and caught his attention.
It was swift and if not for the fact that Zale had keen eyesight, it would have been very hard to catch the person.
'No way. I recognize those eyes anywhere.' Zale thought to himself and quickly stood up.
He turned around to see the person and checked for a man putting on a blue leather jacket with a pair of blue jeans trousers.
'Where are you?' Zale thought to himself again and watched but he could not find the man he just saw.
By the time he moved his gaze outside, he saw the said person entering a black Peugeot car, ready to move out.
Quickly, Zale rushed outside but by the time he got out of the restaurant, he saw the car zoom off. Luckily for him, he took note of the car's plate number and that was it.
A corner of a smile appeared on his face as realization struck him.
He knew what that meant and he was happy. This was the person that they had been searching for quite a long time now and here he was in the city he was about to give up on.
Instantly he brought out his phone and placed a call to someone.
"Hello. Yeah, good afternoon. This is Zale Anders, I need you to look up a plate number for me and follow the car right now."
"Yes sir."
'Get a pen and a paper and write down."
***
In that same week when Zale saw the one person he least expected to see in Star Cross City, he also went out to one of the hotels in the city to have a good time, and also meet with another mafia gang that supported his family.
At the same time, Jade and Xander took a break from work and went out to take a survey of one of the hotels in the city.
So far so good, their project had been going fine and they had seen that investing and doing projects together proved to be beneficial to both sides.
"Hey, Quinn."
"Yeah, how about we relaxing while doing a nice survey of the place," Xander asked Quinn as they walked into the hotel.
"It doesn't sound like a bad idea but something tells me, someone is looking for a way to become naughty again," Jade teased.
"And why does being with my love have to be seen as me being naughty?"
"Huh, unfortunately, your sneaky hands cannot stay to themselves, further making you a naughty lover."
"Hahhaa…." Xander laughed at her words and smile brightly at her. "Is that how you deem it fit?"
"Yes. That is so. Correct me if I am wrong."
"Okay, I would prove it to you and make you know I can stay without being naughty."
"Hahaha hahaa…" This time around, it was Jade who burst into a peal of laughter while trying her best to maintain her courtesy.
Unknown to them, Zale Anders was seated not too far from where they were, eating his lunch while waiting for his business partner to arrive and the moment he heard the familiar sound of Xander's voice, he turned to see if his ears were deceiving him.
'Oh, my gee! What the fuck is Xander doing here?' Zale thought.
He felt he had entered the wrong place at the wrong time because his meeting with this person was supposed to be done secretly. He was only there at the lobby side to act normal as though he came to the hotel to enjoy himself but now, here was the very person keeping an eye on him.
To some extent, he had thought that Xander was here because of him but when the person by his side spoke and let out her own laughter, Zale had a change of hearts.
That wasn't what had surprised him but the sound of the laughter sounded so familiar.