49
ANGELO
“Anything?” I grit out the question as soon as I answer Nicky’s call.
“Nothing yet,” he says. “Did you make it to the island?”
“I just got here.” I glance up at Cristian and Romeo as I stalk across the dock to meet them. By the look in their eyes, I can tell they don’t have anything for me either.
“Follow every lead,” I tell Nicky. “Burn the fucking city to the ground if you have to. I want to know where she is.”
There’s a pause on the other end of the line, a moment of hesitation before he answers. “Sure thing, boss.”
I disconnect the call, an incendiary cocktail of anger and disbelief seething through my veins.
She left me.
She just fucking…left.
That bitter wound has reopened, leaving a gaping hole inside my chest.
I swore I’d never let it happen again.
She kissed me like it meant something, and then she just walked the fuck out of my life.
Her records and her rushed goodbye are still folded into my pocket. I’ve stared at them twenty times over, replaying every moment of the last six years through a different filter.
Everything she did. Every lie she told. Every sacrifice she made.
She did it for me.
It wasn’t her sword to fall on, but she did. And then she let me punish her for it. Over and over again.
I want to punish her right now for not trusting me to protect her. But I can’t. Because she fucking walked away.
“What are you going to do if you find her?” Cristian glances at me as he drives us back to the house.
He sounds concerned, and I don’t like it. “That’s for me to figure out.”
“You can’t bring her back here.” He lowers his voice. “Not if you’re going to crush her. You know what it will do to her if you have a baby with someone else. You saw what her father did.”
“Stop,” I growl.
“You need to decide what to do about the treaty?—"
“The last thing I want to hear about right now is the goddamned treaty,” I snarl. “She’s my wife.”
Wisely, he chooses not to say anything else as we pull into the drive and get out.
“Where are they?” I ask him.
He hesitates. “We can talk to them.”
“Where. Are. They?”
He sighs. “In the ballroom.”
I stalk up the stairs and into the house, Romeo and Cristian trailing after me. Rafe and Michele have been with the girls since they picked them up in the city, trying to sneak back into the ball. It’s been hours since they helped Abella escape, and knowing what I do now about Aegis, I can just imagine how this will play out.
