Being mad was an understatement, Gabriel was a boiling cauldron of fury. They finally found out where Zoe was working, but then she was on leave.
Ha!
Gabriel had laughed so much at his miserable condition that he had no more laughter to spare. What has he ever done to her? Why make his life this hard? He had come to this city to unwind and live his life to the fullest in a limited time, but what he got in exchange was to chase after a woman that wasn't worth his attention!
If it were back in his city, Gabriel wouldn't even look twice at her. Sure, she was beautiful but her family had fallen from glory - he already looked into her background - and she had nothing to grab his attention with, unlike Alicia who at least had something to contribute to his growth. Zoe Clark was a liability to him, not an asset. He hoped to God to find her soon and be done with her.
So Gabriel paced up and down his room, thinking of his next course of action when the phone in his hand rang. It was her phone. At first, it seemed like a dream to Gabriel as he stared down at the screen. For the past few days, her parents have been the ones calling plus a few people from her working place - which is how he was able to locate her school.
Gabriel was forced to lie that the phone was missing and he only found it - he couldn't go into the long tale of narrating that their phones got switched. While the others bought the excuse, the same couldn't be said for her parents who kept calling to the point of being referred to as a nuisance. Soon enough, her parents might call the police on him and Gabriel didn't need such exposure.
His identity here was fake, nor could he risk exposing his real identity either. In a word, one could say that Gabriel was put in a tight corner. He couldn't stop searching for Zoe Clark even if he wanted to. Just wait until he got his hands on her, he would give her a big piece of her mind.
Hence, when Gabriel saw the unknown caller, his heart began to pound heavily in his chest as he hoped to God that she was the one calling. He was beginning to run out of hope. So he picked up the call and said.
"Hello?"
He listened.
The caller didn't respond but he could pick up noises from the background, meaning that it wasn't static. It then hit her, she was the one. She must be testing him.
"It's you, right?" He hurriedly said.
Dear God, it was her.
But she hung up on him immediately.
"No, no, don't go! Fuck it!" Gabriel cursed, punching and kicking the air out of frustration. Why would she do that? Why did she hang up on him? There were a lot of questions running through his mind with limited answers. Was she scared of him?
Oh yes, she should be scared of him because he was not going to go easy on her once he catches up to him. He would squeeze the life out of her and make her regret ever putting him through this. He was Gabriel Alistair for crying out loud!
Jackson walked into the scene of his master throwing a tantrum and was dumbfounded.
"What's going on here?" he asked.
Gabriel turned to him with barely contained anger, saying, "That ladybug she just called me, and guess what? She hung up on me."
He began to laugh hysterically, repeating the words, "She hung up on me." Gabriel was in a great state of unbelief.
"Did you just say she called you?"
"Yes, why?" Gabriel didn't know why his eyes lit up like dollar signs.
"Please tell me you were able to memorize the number," Jackson handed his phone to him hopefully.
Hearing that comment from his subordinate, Gabriel scoffed at the fact that he was being underlooked. He was a genius from birth, memorizing numbers was child's play to him. He was simply blinded by anger; he didn't realize he should have called back the number.
Jackson took the phone from him as soon as he was done dialing the number and called it straight up. At first, she hung up on him - as they presumed Zoe owned the number - the second time, the call rang on with no answer until the third call when she finally answered.
"Hello," Jackson said and Gabriel stared at him wide-eyed. How did he do it?
He moved in an attempt to take the phone from him and speak to Zoe himself, however, Jackson put a hand, stopping him right there. Gabriel looked at his subordinate, studying him and his brows were drawn together in serious contemplation. What was going on? He was so curious it was killing him from the inside.
He watched intrigued as Jackson found a paper and wrote down something on it. Did Zoe give him an address? Were they finally meeting up? He was curious. But then, why would Zoe be willing to speak to Jackson and not him? Was he that scary? Perhaps he had come on too strong, scaring her? He checked himself.
By the way, why should he even be concerned with her feelings? She was the one who brought this on herself! Gabriel refused to get affected by such petty emotion.
Jackson ended the call.
Gabriel hurried over to him, "What did she say? Is she done with hiding away from me? Where is that annoying bug staying?" He peppered him with questions.
"It's not Zoe, but rather the owner of the phone she made the call with," Jackson said.
Gabriel's face fell at once. It was not her.
"But I saw you jotting down…"
"It's the address of the dinner. I believe that's a good place to start in our search for her."
"What are we waiting for, let's go find her then?!" Gabriel was the first to stomp out of the house while Jackson sighed. If it wasn't for the fact that his phone was missing, he would think Gabriel was obsessed with Zoe Clark.