Nine Lives - Danielle Steel Page 0,62

the boat at the beginning of July. It was going to be a sharp contrast to his travels by train with a backpack around Europe. He and his friends were planning to visit Spain, France, Italy, Scotland, and England. Paul was talking about going to Corsica and Sardinia with the boat. There was so much she wanted to share with Aden now. He had grown wings of his own in the past year, and she wanted to spend time with him while she still could, before he flew too far in his own skies and no longer wanted to be with her. She knew that time was coming, and was already near.

She hadn’t spread her own wings and found an avenue to pursue career-wise yet. She still wanted to, but dividing herself between Paul’s world and her own, she wasn’t in either place long enough to get a job. She was afraid to start her own business, and she was in Europe so much with him, she couldn’t offer any employer enough time to be useful to them. But the time she spent with Paul was important to her too. The idea of working for or owning an art gallery appealed to her, but she wasn’t around anywhere long enough to run it.

She said something about it to Helen, who suggested she sell art on the internet, and Maggie liked the idea. She wanted to explore it further, maybe over the summer. She could have a gallery online. It might be the perfect solution for her. She wanted to have her own activity. She didn’t want to be a hanger-on in Paul’s life with nothing to do. She wanted to be her own person, with her own interests and pursuits.

She tried to talk to Paul about it after Aden went back to school, but he seemed distracted and short with her every time they spoke. She thought he might have a big deal of some kind cooking. Whenever she called him lately he was on a conference call, or told her he’d call her back, and then didn’t for hours, or not at all. Until then, he had been far more attentive. She was thinking of meeting him in London in April, before Aden came home for the summer in May. She wanted to visit Paul at the right time for both of them, and not just land on him, but he didn’t have time to talk to her when she called him about dates. She hadn’t spoken to him in two days, which was unusual. She wondered if he was traveling to one of the other cities where he had either corporations or investments.

She was mildly annoyed by his two-day silence when Helen called her with a strange tone in her voice.

“Have you seen The New York Times today?” Helen asked her.

“No. Why? I usually only read it on Sundays. The rest of the time I just read bits and pieces online.”

“It’s on the front page. About Paul.” She sounded somber. “ ‘The famous Formula One driver, international investor, and bon vivant, Paul Gilmore, is under investigation for tax evasion, fraudulent activities, and the use of illegal offshore corporations, involving many millions of dollars.’ And it says that his apartment in London has been seized by the British tax authorities who are investigating him too. His accounts in both countries have been frozen pending further investigation. The ownership of his yacht and his corporate jet are in question, and they may be seized as well.” Helen sounded shocked.

“Oh my God.” Maggie hung up seconds later and read the article herself online. She had no idea what had happened. He hadn’t said anything to her. As soon as she finished reading the Times article, she called him, but all she got was his voicemail. She realized that he couldn’t be at the London apartment if the government had seized it. The question now was where was he and what had he done, and whether or not she even knew him. Her heart pounded as she called him a second time, and got voicemail again. Three hours later, after trying to reach him everywhere, she still hadn’t found him. Paul seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Chapter 11

Twenty-four hours after the call from Helen, Maggie still hadn’t heard from Paul, or been able to reach him. She hadn’t spoken to him in three days. Aden had seen the article by then too, and called his mother immediately.

“What’s going on, Mom?