Chapter 24: Chapter 24

I pull myself out of the swimming pool, the water run down my body, and a refreshing breeze blows through my hair and I flip it to one shoulder. The sun kisses my skin as I exit the pool.

I wanted to go swimming on the beach but Richie thinks it isn’t a good idea for some reason I still don’t know. The swimming pool isn’t that bad so I guess I don’t have a good enough reason to be mad at him today.

I grab a towel and was rubbing it all over my body when I caught Richie staring at me. His mouth is slightly open and he takes his sunglasses off to have a clearer view of me. His eyes are wide and raking over my body. A smile tug around the corner of my lips as I realized he was checking me out.

This man is gradually falling for me.

Richie didn’t move from his position, it was like he was rooted on the spot, just staring at me. Taking advantage of his distraction, I stalk over to his side, smiling sweetly. When I got close to him, I raise my hand and put them on his bare chest, making his full lips part and his eyes tighten. I grinned wickedly wrapping my hand around his neck and pulling him even closer to me until our lips were mere inches away from each other. I look between his eyes and lips and then smirk "Stop staring." I huskily whispered. My breath fan against his face and I can see how badly I am affecting him. He’s definitely thinking of having me right now.

I smile and shove on his chest as hard as I could. Distracted, he lost his footing and stumbled backward into the water. I burst out laughing as he broke the surface, again and again, gasping.

"Come on, seriously!" He groans with a bit of laughter in his voice.

I shrugged, blow a kiss at him, and walked over to the beach chair where Alice is. I hung the towel on the rack and I put on my shades.

"Alice, can you please help me put some sunscreen on my back?" I ask

"Yeah, why not." She responds

"Thanks." I sit on the beach chair and turn around after handing her the bottle of sunscreen.

Alice doesn't begin applying it immediately as I expect. "You can start applying it now," I tell her wondering if she was waiting for me to give her a signal. Alice doesn’t respond and I was about to turn and ask her if something is wrong when I feel the sunscreen on my skin. She begins to spread it all over my back, and I loosen up a little bit.

Suddenly, Alice stops her movement for some reason. I guess she thinks that’s enough, I touch my back and realize my lower back has no sunscreen on it. "I think you missed a spot. Could you add a little bit of sunscreen on my lower back?" I request but she doesn’t answer.

"Could you?" I ask again and I feel her hand on my back again. She starts to spread it on the spot I asked her to but I feel something is not right. My brows pull together as I realize her hand was feel larger and rougher than it should.

"No offense Alice but your hands feel so rough and large. It’s almost like a man’s hand."

She hummed her response and I immediately acknowledge she isn’t the one. It’s a man. I quickly turn around, and a sigh escapes my mouth once I see who's standing behind me. It’s Richie.

"Where is Alice?" I asked taking off my shades. I look around for Alice and I find her arguing rather than talking with someone a few feet away from me. Squinting my eyes to see who it is, my brows furrow. I can’t figure out who she’s talking to because all I can see is the person’s back but whoever it is, I know is a blonde-haired lady.

My gaze swings back to the man standing before me when he says "Alice is with a friend."

"I can see that," I say turning my gaze to Alice again. Whatever conversation she’s having with the lady, it seems like Alice isn’t happy about it.

"I’m standing in front of you, you should be looking at me not her," Richie says

"I don’t think Alice is enjoying talking to that lady. Do you by any chance know who she’s talking to?" I ask concerned about her.

"Not really, I just know that she’s a friend of Alice."

"Are you sure? They don’t seem to look like they are on good terms."

"Can you just forget about them? Alice is fine, trust me and there are bodyguards all over the place. Nothing gonna happen to her." He assures

"I never said something is going to happen to her." I finally turn my gaze to him

"I know just want you to know that Alice is fine. Although you kind of acted like something is going to happen to her.

I roll my eyes "Whatever." I slam my back on the beach chair and Richie climbed on top of me. His hands were on the sides of the chair so his weight isn’t on me.

"What are you doing?" I ask

"What do you think I’m doing?" He mumbles, his lips almost touching mine. He looks at my lips and then my eyes, smirking he says "I love how you look at me, it drives me crazy."

I smile and he pressed his soft lips to mine. I melt too fast at the bliss of his lips as I smile against his mouth and wrap my arm around his neck, pulling him closer to me. He sucks my bottom lip into his mouth, nibbling on it gently. His hand begin to trace up to my stomach as he kisses me deeply, making my toes curl as my body got so excited that I could barely think about anything other than his taste and the feel of his fingertips trailing over my body. Finally, he pulled away and kissed the tip of my nose.

"Your lips, so heavenly and-"

"Sir, ma’am." Grace, the maid calls cutting Richie off

"What the fuck!" Richie groans climbing off me

"I’m so sorry sir but this is important." She defends herself immediately

"Grace?" My eyes widen once I see the worried expression on her face. I move away from Richie and walk toward her "Is something wrong?" I ask once I reach her.

"Sir John asked me to check on Lady Alice but I don’t seem to find her anywhere." She says, biting her nails. I think that's her tell. Something is definitely wrong.

"Ohh, you’re looking for Alice" I feel a bit relieved "She is by the pool, talking to a friend." I squint my eyes at her, trying to figure out why she's so on edge.

"I just came from there and didn't see her. So, I went to her room, but found it trashed."

"Trashed?" I ask, wide-eyed.

"Yes, I think something bad has happened to her. There was blood on the ground." Panic laces Grace’s tone.

"Blood?" Richie inquires and Grace nods

"Are you sure about this Grace?" I ask as panic fills me up.

"Yes. I'm not a cop, but enough episodes of Criminal Patrol tell me there was a struggle in her room. I think someone might have taken her," Grace’s voice cracks. She's on the verge of tears.

"Oh, my God! This is bad, really bad. Did you try to call her phone or something?"

"Yes, I did, but it's not going through." She responds still panicking

"What about John, where is he?" Richie ask

"I don’t know but I saw him a while ago; before I came here." She responds

"Did you tell him about this?" Richie ask Grace

"No, I couldn’t tell him anything about it. I am scared he will overreact."

"He definitely will overreact but he needs to know," Richie says

"Does it really matter if John knows or not, Alice is missing for Christ's sake," I say with more force than I intended. I’m freaking out right now. Alice is missing.

Could someone have kidnapped her….. no, no, why will anyone do that?

"But Grace, are you sure she's missing?" I ask, hoping the worst isn't possible. "It's only been a few minutes since you started looking for her."

Grace nods still panicking "I’m sure she’s missing. I checked everywhere." She adds to my tension.

"Okay, I’m calling the cops. No one is gonna leave the hotel till we find her." Richie says pulling his phone out. He takes a few steps away from us to make the call but his gaze is fixed on me.

I turn to look at Grace. She looks beyond scared.

"I’m freaking out lady Rachel. I can’t hold onto this. What if they take her and don’t bring her back?" She says biting her nails.

"Do you know who took her?" I ask

"I don’t know but I’m sure it’s the Russian Mafia, they are the only ones that have a beef against this family and in particular Lady Alice."

I was about to speak when Richie approaches us. "Did you talk to the police? What did they say?" I immediately ask, concerned.

"The commissioner is sending all forces to look for Alice and one of their team will come to investigate the scene."

"There is no need for that," John says striding up to us. "I already know who took her,"

"Who? And why?" I ask, confused.

John gives Richie a look, and they begin to speak to each other in Italian. I look between them wondering what they are saying. The way they are communicating is too fast that I am unable to understand a single word.

"What is going on? What are you guys talking about? Is Alice in danger?" I cut them off mid-sentence. I'm getting more worried by the minute.

"I’m sending more forces here. I can’t take the risk of leaving you alone." Richie says to me

"Leaving me alone! Are you going somewhere?" I ask him but he ignores my question

"I need you to promise me that you are going to be safe." He says

"What?" I questioned, my voice coaxed with confusion.

"Just promise me, Rach. I can’t risk your safety."

"I promise. Now can you tell me what’s going on, where are you going to and do you know where Alice is?" I ask

Richie ignores all my questions and says "You should stay here with the bodyguards and if you see or feel anything, absolutely anything suspicious just call me, okay."

"Okay, I will but at least tell me where you’re going."

"I promise I will explain everything when I get back." His eyes flick over to John. "Time is running out."

"Alright, fine. Please find her. I don't want her to be hurt or worse to be-"

"I won't let that happen," John interrupts, looking more determined than I've ever seen him. "Let's go, Richie."

"Everything is going to be fine." Richie palms his hand on my face. He kisses my forehead before walking away with John. I run my hand through my hair and look to Grace whose face is streaked with tears.

I just hope Alice comes back safe.