Chapter 232: Disappeared
From that day on, Tristan Grayson never heard from Mika Summers again. The search had now gone on for seven months.
For seven months, it was as if she had completely vanished from Tridell. No matter how many people he sent to look, she couldn’t be found.
No, not just in Tridell—she couldn’t be found anywhere in the country. He worried Archie Summers had taken Mika back to Austerra, so he even made two trips there himself, but still couldn’t find her.
She had just vanished... completely and utterly vanished...
In the president’s office at LK Group, Tristan Grayson held a document in his left hand, staring blankly into space.
Ian Shaw snatched the document from his hand and said, annoyed, "Tristan, what are you spacing out for?"
"It’s nothing. You can continue," Tristan Grayson said, his expression somber as he collected his thoughts and picked the document back up.
"Continue with what? I just wanted to ask you—we have a dinner with the Joyce Family tonight. Are you going?"
"I’m skipping it. Have Cassian Jennings go with you."
Ian Shaw knew Tristan would refuse. He hopped off the desk, fuming. "Tristan, you and Cassian are starting to scare me. Have you two lost your minds? For months, all you’ve done is work. You just bury your head in it all day long. And that damn fool Cassian is at some function or another every day. The moment drinking comes up, he’s the first one charging in. Have you both become fucking robots? Do you have a death wish or something?"
Listening to Ian Shaw, Tristan Grayson looked up, a complicated expression in his eyes. He asked in a cold voice, "How many dinners has Cassian Jennings attended this past month?"
Ian reined in his temper and thought for a moment. "Dinners, big and small? Definitely no fewer than twenty. His assistant has to carry him home every night."
"He’s going to kill himself. Give him ten days off."
Ian Shaw nodded. Then, a thought seemed to strike him, and he gave Tristan Grayson a disgruntled look. "And what about you? You’re just going to stay here and work?"
"After I finish up here, I have to go to Lyndale."
’That project in Lyndale would mean being gone for at least three months. As it is, I have to watch Tristan every day, and he still works nearly twenty hours before he’s willing to rest. If I’m not here to watch him, he’ll probably work all day and night without sleeping at all.’
"No. There’s absolutely no need for you to go to Lyndale in person. If you’re really that worried, I’ll send a few more reliable people over."
"It’s a project worth over two billion. How can I possibly rest easy if I don’t go in person?"
"..." Ian Shaw’s brow furrowed, but he didn’t say anything more. He knew why Tristan wanted to leave, and he knew why Tristan was working himself to the bone.
’He used to joke that Tristan Grayson was a cold-hearted, ungrateful person who could never be won over. But now, seeing Tristan become like this all for a woman, he truly wished Tristan were as heartless and ruthless as he’d always claimed. How much better that would be.’
"Let me go handle the Lyndale project." Just then, the office door swung open, and Cassian Jennings strolled in with his hands in his pockets.
Seeing Cassian Jennings, Tristan Grayson tossed the document onto the desk, leaned back in his chair, and said coldly, "You can’t go. I’ve already decided to give you time off."
"Why? Why can’t I go? Tristan, I’ve been at the company for nearly eight months, haven’t I? You can’t just keep having me manage the small projects." ’If I only ever manage small projects, how will I ever know if I’ve improved at all?’
Worried the two of them were about to start fighting, Ian Shaw raised a hand to stop them. "Enough. Neither of you needs to argue about it. I’ll go. I’ll go to Lyndale. As for you two, both of you are taking a two-week vacation, end of discussion!"
"I have to oversee the Lyndale project personally. You two stay here at the company and hold down the fort for me."