Chapter 354
She hadn't reached out to Nathaniel or Oliver all day. They must be frantic by now.
She immediately dialed Nathaniel's number, but only heard the automated message: "The number you have dialed is currently unavailable."
Unavailable?
She tried Oliver's phone next. The same robotic voice answered.
That's when she knew something was wrong. She turned her sharp gaze toward Maxwell. "What did you do?"
"N-Nothing," stammered the nervous man, avoiding her piercing eyes.
"Nothing?" Isabella's voice turned icy. "I know Nathaniel better than anyone. Why can't I reach him? And why is my phone on Do Not Disturb?"
"Maybe... perhaps he wasn't trying to contact you? Could it be he doesn't care as much as you think? Or maybe you accidentally enabled Do Not Disturb yourself?"
"Really? Keep digging that hole!" She slammed her phone on the table and planted her hands on her hips, staring him down.
Her eyes held the sharpness of daggers, ready to slice through his lies.
Maxwell shuddered under her intense scrutiny. He jumped up abruptly. "I need to use the restroom."
"Africa seems like a lovely place for you. You'll be on a flight tomorrow," she stated with deceptively calm menace.
Terrified by the threat, Maxwell immediately sat back down and confessed. "Ms. Montgomery, please don't blame me! This was all Mr. Granger's plan!
"He wanted Nathaniel to believe you chose William over him. He made us erase all traces of your route with Alexander so Nathaniel would think you deliberately avoided him.
"Since Nathaniel and Oliver couldn't locate you, they've apparently stopped trying..."
Stopped trying?
That explained the unanswered calls!
Nathaniel must think she wanted to be with William. He might even believe she was reconciling with Alexander!
Knowing his possessive nature, who knew what wild conclusions he'd drawn?
She grabbed her phone, attempting to reactivate her location services.
"Won't work," Maxwell admitted. "Mr. Worthington had us monitoring Nathaniel and Oliver Blackwood closely. When we checked an hour ago, they'd gone completely off grid."
Off grid...
For the first time, Isabella felt genuine fury toward her team. How would she find them now?
What if Nathaniel hated her because of this? Just when she'd finally decided to be with him...
What if Oliver had another seizure?
Consumed by worry, she snapped, "This is ridiculous. I want everyone using every resource to locate them immediately! Otherwise, you'll all be mining diamonds in Africa starting tomorrow!"
"Right away! I'm on it!" The terrified man leaped from his seat and frantically worked on his laptop.
He absolutely couldn't go back to Africa.
Isabella seemed truly enraged. Her feelings for Nathaniel were clearly genuine...
Did that mean all hope was lost for William?
No, no! His primary concern should be self-preservation! He had to complete her task, and quickly!
Isabella wanted to search herself, but her phone's programs weren't sophisticated enough to track Nathaniel and Oliver. She demanded to be taken to Rosewood Manor immediately; only there could she access the high-performance computers that would amplify her search capabilities.
As she stepped from the helicopter, she delivered her final warning: "You have one hour!"
One hour!
Maxwell wanted to cry. How could he possibly find Nathaniel and Oliver when they were deliberately evading Isabella?
Though highly skilled, Nathaniel operated on another level entirely! Where should he even begin?