Chapter 9 I Remember You

A week had passed since Zander disappeared, and Lyra was completely worn out from waiting and searching, and trying everything possible to find her husband, or even reach him. She called, left him messages on his voicemail, left him texts. But all efforts had proved futile. Now, she was just plain exhausted. She'd cried so much that she didn't have a single energy left in her to shed a tear. That was how drained she was.

She was binge-watching a series on SkyE, more like moping on TV, when a notification for E-news on Comet popped up. Uninterested, but still a bit curious, she clicked on the notification with the remote.

"Texas business tycoon, Drew Blackwood, will be sealing an affiliation agreement today with Noah Garcia, the director of the largest resort in Texas. Drew Blackwood would be represented by his son, Orion Blackwood, who is starting to rear his head in the business world. The two parties would be meeting at..." the voice of the broadcaster trailed off as Lyra zoned out, into her own world.

She'd squinted her eyes in confusion when a picture of Orion Blackwood popped up on the screen. For some reason, he looked strangely familiar, but she couldn't figure out where she knew him from.

After about a minute, she started to get flashes of an unfamiliar memory. The memory of that day at the bar.

It didn't take long for everything to come together clearly in her mind's eye, and she jolted out of the couch with mixed feelings of excitement and apprehension.

She remembered. The strange man who had called her out to the bar and ended up questioning her about her husband. Hope of finding her husband flashed before her eyes again, as a thought crossed her mind.

She knew what to do.

Orion stood aside, observing the bustle in the convention center. A lot of reporters were gathered outside, at the main entrance of the building, struggling to get information from any important person that passed them by. He'd only been able to avoid the reporters because of the heavy security he'd been armed with. He wasn't in the mood to entertain any questions.

Everyone was there and ready for the meeting. Everyone except Noah.

Orion knew Noah would be late intentionally just to get on his nerves. He knew what the bastard could do. But he'd sworn to himself that he wasn't going to let Noah get on his nerves. He was going to ignore him at all costs.

They were to discuss the ownership of shares today, and board members from both the Blackwood new hotel, and the Garcia Crown, were present. Including major shareholders.

Noah arrived about thirty minutes later, and everyone moved to the conference room. When everyone had settled into their seats, Noah stood up and cleared his throat.

"Good day, everyone. I'd like to start by sincerely apologizing for my lateness. I got caught up in traffic," he lied through his teeth, and Orion clenched his jaw, trying to remind himself that he'd decided to ignore Noah.

"So, without wasting any more time, let's commen-"

The door to the conference room flew open, and a dark-haired woman peeked into the room, from the doorway. "I'm sorry to interrupt your meeting, but I'd like to speak to Orion Blackwood. It's pretty urgent."

The room was deathly silent as everyone stared at the lady, then slowly turned their heads in Orion's direction.

Orion seemed equally shocked by the interruption. He squinted his eyes to see who it was, but he couldn't really tell at first glance, because the woman had a pair of dark shades over her eyes.

"Orion? Come on out," the lady prompted. The stares everyone shot at him this time were accusatory.

"Orion, it seems you have some kind of woman's trouble to deal with. Why don't you step out and deal with it? We don't appreciate the interruption," Noah said in a mocking tone, which seemed ice-cold at the same time.

But Orion wasn't listening to Noah. He'd recognized the lady.

Lyra Raven? What in God's name was she doing here?

He bolted to his feet upon the recognition, and grumbled an apology as he took quick strides towards the entrance.

He grabbed her wrist before she could say anything.

"Well," Noah said after they'd left, "that was an uncomfortable interruption. Why don't we continue? We can fill him in on what he missed, later on."

"I'm sorry, but we can't do that, sir. He has to be here to decide on the amount of shares the hotel would be willing to yield to you, for the affiliation," Rusk, Orion's personal assistant argued, and Noah gritted his teeth as the majority of the board members agreed with Rusk.

"What are you doing here?" Orion queried once they were out of earshot.

"Isn't it obvious?" Lyra asked, adjusting her sunshades. "I came to inquire about my husband. You seem to know something about his disappearance."

"You claimed not to remember that day at the hospital. What's changed?"

"Well, I didn't 'claim'. I actually couldn't remember back then, but I remember now. I remember you."

Orion sighed and ran his hand through his hair, and Lyra couldn't help but notice how hot he looked, even in his frustration. "Look, this is really not the time and place for this discussion. Didn't you see I was in the middle of a meeting?"

"I don't care, Orion Blackwood. Give me something, anything about my husband, and I'll let you be."

Orion shook his head, realizing that there was no way Lyra was leaving without any information on Zander. He paced about the corridor, thinking.

He could give her something, but he didn't know if it was a good idea. It would have been better if she'd just found out on her own. He didn't want to be put in a difficult and awkward position.

"So?" Lyra prompted impatiently.

Not knowing how else to send her away, Orion gave in.

"Have you gone through the papers he left you?"

Lyra's eyes widened in shock at the question. "What papers?" she asked, her voice unable to mask her suspicion.

"The divorce papers."

"How did you know about those papers?"

"That isn't important right now, and you should be asking a different question. Have you gone through them, or not?"

"I have."

"And?"

"And what?"

"Have you met his lawyer?"

Lyra slowly shook her head, so many thoughts racing through her head.

Orion bit his lips, willing himself to stop there. But it was already too late.

"You should meet up with his lawyer. I believe that'd be a good place to start, if you really want to know something about your husband's disappearance."

Lyra stood rooted to the ground in shock, and Orion, having said all he could at that moment, started to walk away, leaving her standing there.

Just before he turned to the corridor leading to the conference room, he turned to her. "And Lyra," he called to her, and Lyra fixated her gaze on him, wishing her head would stop whirling before her eyes.

"We'll be meeting again soon. Brace yourself," he added, then he was gone.