Colton spent his morning in the conference room having meetings with representatives of various departments in the company. The meetings ended at noon after which he proceeded to his office.
Stepping in, he came face to face with his mother. She was seated on the couch in the visiting area and had her attention on her phone.
Colton slightly rolled his eyes. If only he knew his mother was waiting for him, he would have gone somewhere else instead of coming back to the office.
Nonetheless, he shut the door behind him and proceeded to his desk area.
.....
Seeing that her Son was around, Victoria kept her phone aside, then rose to her feet. She approached Colton before he got to the desk area.
"Hi, baby." She hugged him but Colt didn't respond or return the hug.
Vicky sighed and pulled away from the hug. "You're still mad at me, aren't you?"
Colton didn't say anything.
"Look sweetheart, I'm sorry. I know I acted too forward but you've got to understand me. I did what I had to do as a mother."
"For days now, you've refused to pick up my calls or respond to my text messages and that has made me really sad and guilty. I can afford anyone being mad at me but not my husband or any of my children. Most especially you, Colton. You know how much I love you and how much I'm fond of you."
"Yeah, I overreacted but I'm here apologizing. Please forgive me." She pouted, looking up, into her son's eyes. Yes, he was taller than her.
Colton sighed. His mom was right, he was mad at her for her actions, and for that reason, he refused to answer her calls and messages. "It's fine, Mom. You're forgiven."
"Really?" Vicky smiled.
Colton nodded, then embraced his mother into a hug. "I love you, Mom."
"I love you too, darling. Thank you."
Pulling away, they both went over to the couch and took their seats.
"So, how are you?" Vicky asked her son, knowing he has been going through a lot these past couple of days.
"I'm okay, still in the process of getting my life together." He said.
Vicky nodded. "I'm sorry for insisting that you and Natasha got married. You both grew up together, our families know each other well, we didn't know of anyone you were dating and we were afraid you were going to end up alone. So when Natty's parents told us about the idea of you both getting married, your father and I thought it was a good thing."
"But you like Mia and you want to be with her, right?" Vicky asked her son
Colton nodded after a while. "I was with her yesterday and she made it known to me that you don't like her."
"I had confronted her in the heat of the moment. I'm sure I said things that I didn't mean. I'll apologize to her if you want me to." Victoria said sincerely.
"I don't think it's necessary. I already made it clear to her that you're not brutal in any way. You can always apologize to her when you see her."
"Noted but I'm so damn serious about my grandchild. I will hold you both responsible if anything happens to him or her. When I saw Mia, she wasn't showing at all so I guess she's just a few weeks along. Right?"
Colton nodded.
"I can't wait for my grandchild to grow and for you guys to find out the gender so I'll start shopping for him or her," Vicky said with a proud smile.
"Mom, please do not go overboard." Colton pleaded. He was aware of how his mom spoils her sister's grandchildren with gifts. He could only imagine how much more she would spoil her own grandchild.
"I'll try not to." She smiled.
"So how's Dad?" He changed the conversation. It was getting weird talking about the baby, seeing how genuinely happy his mom was and there was no baby yet. He hoped he and Mia would be able to make one soon.
"He's fine. He will be here soon to pick me up."
"So, I was wondering if you could bring Mia over to the mansion for dinner. It doesn't have to be today or this weekend. You can bring her whenever you all are free. Will you guys be going to Greece soon?"
"Sure, I'll talk to her about it. It definitely can't be this weekend because we've got plans and for Greece, we will be spending about a week there so she wants to confirm with her schedule as to when she will be free."
"Plans?!" Victoria smiled sheepishly.
"Yes. Saturday is her birthday."
"Thanks for telling me. I'll remember to send her a gift."
Soon enough, Colton's Dad joined the duo, they conversed a bit, mostly business-related, before they took their leave so that Colton could go back to work.
.........
Based on their conversation, Colton remembered that 5 pm was Mia's closing hour at work but sometimes, she worked till 6 or 7 pm, depending on how much work she had to catch up with. She never exceeded 7 pm at the office. She would rather take the work home and complete it at home.
It was 8 pm on the dot and Colton just finished dialing Mia's number. It rang but Mia didn't answer, making it the third time. He had been trying her number since noon.
Getting worried that something could be wrong, he dialed the number again but got no reply.
Colton still had work to do. He had planned to leave the office by 10 but knowing Mia could be in danger, he reached for his car key and exited the office.
Getting into his car, he drove straight to her workplace since it was closer to his office than her home. He asked of her from the security and was told all the staff had left except for the cleaners.
Leaving the magazine company, Colton headed straight to Mia's home, dialing her number on the way. This time around, his call went straight to voicemail, making him even more worried.
After what felt like forever, he got to Mia's place. He saw the car that he got for her which was a relief to him. Upon seeing the car, it was only reasonable to think that she was at home. He got to her apartment, knocked on the door severally but got no answer.
Colton decided to call Chad to see if Chad could help.
"Good evening, Boss." Chad's voice came through immediately he picked up.
"Hey. I don't know if you can get me the phone number of someone close to Mia. Either her best friend or her sister. I haven't been able to get across to Mia all day."
"I'll forward her best friend's number to you. I was able to get a hold of it while investigating Miss Mia. And in case you need any help searching for her or reaching out to the police, let me know."
"Thank you, Chad," Colton said, ending the call. In a minute, he received Hailey's phone number and dialed it immediately.
"Hello" Hailey's voice came through.
"Hi Hailey, this is Colton. Sorry for calling out of the blue."
Hailey was surprised to know that it was Colton who called her but she couldn't jubilate because she could hear the worry in his voice which made her worried.
"Sure, no problem. Is anything the matter?" She asked, concerned.
"I haven't been able to get in touch with Mia since this afternoon. I'm at her apartment but she's not opening up. I don't think she's in but her car is parked downstairs. I don't know if she's with you or you know where she is." Colton spoke, running his fingers through his hair. He had taken off his jacket in the car."
"No, she's not with me. I spoke to her this morning and she seemed really cheerful. I haven't heard from her since then. I hope she's okay. Give me a minute, I'll try her number, or I'll call Tessie, her sister."
"Thanks, I'll be waiting for your call."
Ending the call with Hailey, Colton knocked on the door a few times, getting no answer, he went back downstairs to his car.