It wasn't at first sight

Chapter 25

Morning. Washington DC.

Jordan is at his father's. He goes downstairs and heads to the dining room where he sits at the table that is already settled for breakfast. He is using his cell phone.

Eloise gets in the room.

Eloise "Good morning Mr. Hobart" she greets him as she starts pouring some coffee into his cup.

Jordan "Good morning" he greets her back, still focused on his phone.

Eloise is about to go bring him the rest of his breakfast, but she stops in her tracks at remembering something, so she turns back around to look at Jordan again. "Excuse me, when is Hanna arriving? Should I prepare a room for her or-?"

Jordan "Sorry, what?" he takes his eyes off of his phone and looks at the woman right away. "Hanna?" he asks surprised, wondering where the woman got the idea of Hanna going there from.

Eloise "Yes, I saw the... Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't ha-... I'm sorry, forget what I just said" she turns back around to leave the room but Jordan stops her.

Jordan "Wait" He stands up from his chair and approaches her.

Eloise looks at him again.

Jordan "Have you heard from Hanna? Did she talk to you?" he asks, since just a few minutes ago, he listened to Emily's voice message, the one that she left in his voicemail some hours ago, where she asked him about Hanna and also let him know that she was missing. But since he knew nothing about Hanna, he was planning on calling Emily later and maybe offer his help.

Eloise "No, she didn't. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked"

Jordan can tell that there's something that the woman is not telling him, so he keeps pushing. "Eloise, please. Did you talk to her? This is important. Just tell me the truth" he speaks to her seriously.

Eloise notices his concern, so she decides to tell him what she saw. "I didn't talk to Hanna. George took her dog here last night. He locked it up in the greenhouse... I thought he was just hiding it there because of your father, since he is not a fan of dogs and I assumed that Hanna was coming here as well. I'm sorry, I thought you knew about it. I guess I just ruined a surprise. Please, if Hanna shows up, pretend to be surprised" she jokes and smiles, but Jordan remains serious. "I'm sorry. This is none of my business. I apologize again" she adds at seeing his face.

Jordan "No, it's okay. Are you sure it was Hanna's dog?"

Eloise nods. "Yes, she showed me some pictures of the dog a few months ago... Remember when you brought her here for the first time? One of those nights, when you were out on a meeting, she was feeling a little down and she told me that her dog was missing and that she missed him. She looked so sad that night... that's why I was so happy the other day when you told me that she had found the dog. Hanna seems-"

Jordan cuts her off. "So George brought Hanna's dog here?" he asks her again.

Eloise "Yes, I saw him myself. He got the dog into the greenhouse"

Jordan "Okay, thank you for telling me this. This is really important. Please, don't tell anyone else" he tells her while leaving the room to go out to the garden of the mansion.

Eloise goes after Jordan. "Is everything okay?" asks concerned at seeing Jordan's reaction.

Jordan "Yes. Just please, don't tell anyone" he repeats again.

Jordan makes his way out of the house and then walks toward the end of the large garden where the greenhouse is. As soon as he opens the door, Chocolate shows up and starts barking at him. There's no doubt that is Hanna's dog. He quickly pushes the door back closed and grabs his phone. He didn't get worried when he listened to Emily's voice message, he thought that Hanna must had gone somewhere and wasn't answering her phone. But now he is sure that something happened to her, and that his 'friend' is involved in that.