Finding Willow III (Nicholas POV)

Nicholas POV:

"What else?"

"Since her mother's death, she was in the custody of her stepfather, Oliver, until she turned eighteen. He's a truck driver, and from what we can tell, is often on the road. They have a rental residence, but it appears that Miss Taylor has no blood relatives in the area."

My mind focused on one phrase. "Until she turned eighteen?"

Virgil shifted in his seat, his expression guarded. "Yes, she's nineteen. Her birthday is in a few months."

Not a minor. Not a minor. Not a minor.

I started to smile, but then remembered I was a sick fuck.

This girl had no family and apparently thought she had no future without my help. I wanted to call her back immediately and tell her she would be taken care of.

Taken care of? Yes. What did that mean? It could mean many things.

Virgil cleared his throat, disrupting the dialogue in my head. "That's really all we have so far. Did you want us to keep digging?"

I shook my head. "No." Maybe. "Yes." God, I had issues. "No." I groaned and leaned back in my chair, glancing over at Virgil.

He was a confidant. And I needed to talk to someone before the voices in my head took over full-time. I probably needed a shrink, and maybe a cardiologist, but he was going to have to do. He was good at hiding the fact he thought I was a nutjob.

"Mr. Rowe?" I glared at the intercom, Julia's whining voice interrupting what was a very important conversation.

"I told you to hold all my calls."

"Yes, except Geoffrey is here. Can I send him in?"

Oh, yes. I needed to talk to my clown of a brother. "Send him in."

Virgil stood up and I quickly shook my head. "Stay. This won't take very long." He sat back down just as Geoffrey walked in.

"Hey, bro. Good to see you back."

I rolled my eyes. I'd been back for almost a week.

Geoffrey was five years younger than me and I loved him more than anything. But he rarely took anything seriously. I felt like sometimes he was still the little boy who followed me around everywhere, making messes that I'd have to clean up.
"Have a seat, Geoffrey." I handed him the file of applicants. "Which of these students did you choose as the winner and why?"

He frowned and started flipping through the pages. I tapped my fingers on the desk, waiting for him to answer. He finally looked up with a sheepish grin.

"I don't know."

I ground my teeth. "Why not?"

He shrugged. "I passed it off to my assistant. She's better at this stuff than me. I'm not an English teacher."

Fucking hell. "I didn't give it to you to grade for fucking spelling and syntax. Jesus, Geoffrey."

"What are you so pissed about?"

I opened my mouth but shut it quickly. This was going nowhere and I didn't want to blow up at my brother. I should have just done this all myself anyway. No wonder this girl felt like she'd been jerked around. She had been. I ran my hand through my hair and took a couple of breaths. "It's fine, G. I'll take care of it. I need to get back to this meeting with Virgil."

He took the hint and left, luckily with no further drama. I already felt like I was starring in a fucking soap opera.

It hardly mattered who had messed up anymore. It happened and I needed to fix it. I would just give out two scholarships. It wasn't like it would cost me much of anything. Willow would be taken care of.

I picked up her essay again, skimming over the lines. I had to know more about this girl because I didn't know if I could get her out of my head otherwise.

I looked up and found Virgil watching me.

"Miss Taylor—or Willow as she likes to be referred—got my phone number and called me last night." His eyebrows lifted but he remained silent.

"Evidently she was informed that she'd won the scholarship, basically a free ride through college, but then told she actually wasn't the winner. She'd sent her savings already to hold her spot at QCU. She needs help."

He nodded his head slowly. "Okay. So give her another scholarship. What's the problem?"

"Yes. Yes, I will. I am." My heart was pounding again. Fucking traitorous organ. "It's just there was something about her voice." Yep. There's the look. He thought I was crazy.

I think… I was planning to take a few days. Unwind. I thought maybe I'd take a trip. Maybe some woods. Forests. Greenery. Nature."

He interrupted my rambling. "Let me guess… near this girl?"

"Yeah, something like that. Maybe stop by and take care of this scholarship mess personally. What do you think?"

He shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea."

That much was obvious. Even to me. But I still wanted his reasons. "Why?"

"You seem really… invested. It seems you have more than a casual interest in this girl."

"I do." I had no idea why, but it was true. "I need to meet her."

He shook his head and held up his hand. "Wait. Hold up. You are a recognizable man. You show up in the backwoods of Atkins and people are going to be all over it. I don't know what exactly you're wanting, but you are acting a little off. If you go, you may scare off the girl."

He was right. This was ridiculous. What the hell was I thinking?

I needed to simply take care of Willow's tuition and forget it all.

"You can always send me instead," he suggested.

"Okay," I blurted out.

I stood up and started pacing behind my desk.

"I'm going to help her no matter what, but I want to know more before I contact her. Maybe there's something else…" I glanced over at him, before looking away again and shaking my head. "No, nevermind. I want to know everything you can find first. Then I'll figure out what exactly I'm going to tell her."

"So you want me to follow her?"

I stopped in my tracks and shrugged. "I don't care what you call it. Don't engage with her right now. Just call me and send me everything you find. Does she work? Does she have friends? Does she go home and cry alone every night?"

The pain in my chest was back at the thought of her being alone and crying. Was I dying?

"Are you okay, boss?"

I nodded and stopped clutching my chest. I wasn't going to go into the fact I was having these feelings. He'd either laugh at me or have me committed. Or worse, call me a woman and try to give me chocolate and flowers or some shit like that.
"I want to be informed of everything," I told him.

"No problem. I'll call when I've landed."

I sat back down, searching for my phone. "Take the jet. I'll have them ready to leave at noon."

He nodded, his lips turning up slightly. Was that a smirk? Was he smirking at me?

"Are you still planning to leave for a few days?" he asked.

"No. I don't really think that's necessary now." I sent him a glare, and he held his hands up with a chuckle.

As I watched him take off out the door, my heart was racing again, but this time it was joined by something else that I didn't quite understand. Was it hope?

.

Over the next few days, each piece of Willow's life I gleaned from Virgil started fitting together, helping solve the puzzle in my head she'd left from her words and her phone call. She was hardworking, studious, polite, and alone. Except for her best friend.

I told Virgil to find out about Lorelei Adams, too. It couldn't hurt to know about the people— or person—close to Willow.

Yes, I'd officially entered stalker territory. It couldn't be helped. There was some connection that I couldn't deny and I felt an overwhelming need to protect her.

I'd been so tempted to call her back and let her know she no longer had to worry, but the more I found out about her, the more I thought maybe the two of us were meant to be something beyond awardee and benefactor.

Words like fate and destiny started floating in my head.

Then I thought maybe I was having a mid-life crisis and checked to make sure my dick was still attached.

My phone rang and I rushed to answer. "Virgil?"

"Yeah, boss. I wanted to tell you that I made initial contact today. I bought a few things at the local supermarket and she cashed me out. Nice, courteous, although she seemed a little distracted."

I frowned, wondering if she had problems I wasn't already aware of. "What did you find out about the stepfather?"