The loud sounds of an alarm startled Arielle out of her sleep. Her arm tapped about with no success as the sudden realization fell on her. Her phone was not on the couch or even near the couch. It was an idea she had to encourage her to get out of her bed when her alarm went off, but here she lay wondering if her eyes deceived her or if it was much too early to be awake.
She turned sloppily, falling from the couch and onto the plush carpet. The stinging pain in her back, that she hadn't experienced the night before, made itself known.
"Ow," Arielle groaned. She carefully place her hands down in front of her as she came to a stand. Wiping but one of her groggy eyes, she stumbled in the direction that the sound came from.
Reaching for her phone, she squinted and studied the screen until her vision cleared enough to show her the stop button. But to her surprise. the alarm wasn't an alarm after all, but instead, a phone call. It blared mercilessly as sharp rings loudly filled the room.
She studied the screen for a brief moment, feeling confused as to why an unsaved number would be calling her in the wee hours of the morning.
"Hm," She hummed thoughtfully.
"527," she mumbled, trying to decipher the area code. It wasn't a New York area code. "Who..." she mumbled before shaking her head and clicking the bright green button.
"Arielle?" A deep voice answered from the other end of the phone.
"Yes, that's me," she replied, her eyes just as squinted as before. "May I ask, who I am speaking with?" She replied politely while tapping lightly against the wall with her free hand.
With a sigh, the man responded. "This is Vincent, Alexander's cousin. I was calling because he didn't come into work today and he hasn't been answering any of our calls, have you seen or heard from him?" He asked intentively.
Arielle's groggy state quickly switched to that of focus. "No, no, but he was here last night. He stayed for dinner with us, but he left saying that he was going home." She replied recalling the night before. The way he had worked so tirelessly at his laptop seemed that he was prepared to get back into the office the next day. Simply not showing up wasn't like him,
Vincent could be heard breathing another sigh, but this one was filled with frustration.
"Does she know where he is?" A woman's voice could be heard on the line.
Is that Meghan? Arielle wondered.
"No, one second." He responded to them before turning his attention back to the call.
"Have you driven to his home?" Arielle pondered aloud, trying to help in any way she could, although it felt as though her hands were tied.
"I spoke with his workers there. He never went to his house last night." Vincent responded. His voice exposed that he was at a loss. It was as if she were his last hope and it was snatched up.
"Well-" she paused, racking her brain for anything. Julia exited the bedroom, nodding over to the phone with a confused, yet sleepy expression. Arielle responded with a tight-lipped smile before returning to the call.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" She wondered. She wondered if Julia would loan her the car so that she could help comb through their small city.
"I- I don't know. I didn't even know that he was going to your house last night. He's been more private ever since he left for Italy." Before he could continue, a voice in the background could be heard, likely requesting his attention.
"Okay," he could be heard responding to them before returning to the phone.
"Thank you for letting me know what you know, Arielle. I must be going. Please, just stay safe." He rattled off quickly.
YOU ARE READING
The Billionaire and His Intern (A Christian Romance)
RomanceArielle Burnes, worked all her life to get to where she was now. Four years in college with more extracurricular activities than classes on her report sheet made all of this possible. She was now an intern at the large AMI building that she would wa...
