was his lawyer, and his loyalty would always be to Dominic and the firm.
They had started out in the business together fifteen years ago when Dominic had purchased his first hotel.
Yes! He had to tell Dominic at once.
But Dominic was more than his employer, he was also his friend, and this might be his one and only chance to finally find Rebecca for him after years of fruitless searching. Although to be technically correct she had found him so to speak.
Rebecca! He shook his head in dazed amazement, still finding it hard to believe that he had actually spoken to her a few moments ago. In fact, one corner of his mind was convinced it was all just his imagination.
Had he really received a telephone call from Rebecca after all these years, or was he suffering from some kind of breakdown or delusion and was not able to realize it?
For the past five years he’d had hordes of investigators searching the entire country in a desperate attempt to discover her whereabouts.
He raked his hands through his hair, astounded by the coincidence that she had popped up on one of the rare days when he had not been reading yet another report detailing the futile search to discover her present location.
After much soul searching, he finally decided that he would wait for twenty-four hours before informing Dominic that she had called, and in the meantime, he would pray like hell that she called again.
It was logical to assume that the matter was important and that she would contact him again. After all, it was highly improbable that she wanted to meet with him just to have a chat.
***
Further along the corridor in a corner office that overlooked Sydney Harbor, Dominic stood at the large plate glass window gazing at nothing, his mind in the past.
He did not notice the rain beating against the windowpane or see the flashes of lightening brightening up the grey, overcast sky.
Mike’s latest report on Rebecca’s whereabouts lay unopened on his desk.
He saw no point in reading it as it would be like all the other reports he had received over the years – failure to locate subject at this location.
A shudder shook his muscular frame as he recalled the first report he had ever read concerning Rebecca shortly after he had first met her here in this building.
The contents of that report had given him nightmares, and he had felt unbearably sorry for the young girl whose life up to that time had been hell.
‘Name:---Rebecca Ann Wilson. Age:---Twenty. Appears to be homeless. Injured in a car accident at age sixteen’.
Her parents had been killed in that accident and her fourteen-year-old brother had suffered massive brain damage that had left him in a vegetated state.
That brave sixteen-year-old girl had walked out of the hospital two months after the accident and worked two full time jobs for the next four years to pay for her brother’s full-time care.
The world had dealt her a damn lousy hand but in all the weeks he had known her he had never heard her complain or had seen her depressed.
Except when she had lost their baby.
She had sobbed in his arms as if her heart was breaking and would never be whole again, and all his attempts to comfort her and to share her grief had failed miserably.
Don’t go there, his mind screamed. Those memories were too soul destroying, too painful. Leave them in the past where they belonged.
But he could not prevent his mind from returning to the day he had first set eyes on a ragamuffin named Rebecca.
***
Five Years Ago.
Mike’s call on the intercom had been the final straw that morning.
Dominic cursed when the intercom on his desk began to beep. Reluctantly, he glanced across at the annoying machine and noted that the number three button was flashing.
He had given his secretary strict instructions that he was not to be disturbed unless the building was on fire, and only then if his life was in imminent danger. Apparently, he should have given Mike the same message.
Cursing under his breath, he rose to his feet, grabbed hold of the folder that contained the report on the costings for the new hotel in Queensland and strode out of his office.
He gave up attempting to read the detailed report in this madhouse. It was worse than Central Station during peak hours. The old conference rooms on the first floor were never used he would go there.
His secretary looked up in surprise as he halted in front of her desk. “I thought you said you---“
"I know what I said," he interrupted her brusquely, scowling down at her confused face. “I’m going down to the old conference rooms to read this report in peace and you are forbidden to tell anyone where the hell I am.”
“Yes Sir,” Meg acknowledged. She felt as if she should jump to her feet and salute.
“And see what the hell Mike wants,” he growled stalking out of the office and slamming the door shut so hard it vibrated through the entire office.
Meg glared at the shuddering door in disgust. ‘See what Mike wants.’ What a stupid thing for Dominic to say, she scorned. Obviously, Mike wished to speak to him, and as he had just stormed out of the office that would be an impossibility.
When Dominic had walked into the conference room, he had found Rebecca asleep on the couch and all thoughts of reading reports or sending for security had flown straight out of his mind.
She was one of the cleaners who came in each night to clean the offices and would often catch a few hours of sleep on the unused couch after her shift had ended before she began her second job at eleven o’clock later that same morning.
***
A loud crack of thunder that rattled the window glass dragged Dominic back to the present and he sighed, remembering what he had lost.
Even today, he could still clearly remember her thin body curled up into a ball with her cheek resting on the palm of her hand.
“Oh, Becky,” he whispered, the pain in his heart as unbearable today as it had been the night she had walked out of his life.
He sucked down a sharp breath as an icy shiver raced up and down his spine. He could feel her presence. The feeling was so strong, so powerful that he glanced over his shoulder expecting to see her standing across the room.
Of course, no one was there.
Don’t be a damn fool, he berated himself with disdain. Your imagination is running away with you.
He had been thinking of her---again. Obviously, that was why he felt as if she was quite close to him at the moment.
But he had never experienced this feeling before and he thought of her daily,
