“Why are you still at the club?” I close my eyes and shake my head. “No, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know why you stayed there.”
He chuckles. I hear a click of keys before he says, “She probably blocked you.”
“Come again?”
“I said she blocked you. And she's…” He stops talking.
“She's…?”
“Oh, she seems to be here in the area somewhere. I can’t make out where exactly. She was on the call, and that’s what I have. Just the area.”
“I need you to find her, and send me what you have.”
“Sending it right now.”
I end the call, and my phone pings with a message. “Fuck.” The radius of her location is big, but it’s near the club. I take the elevator down to the garage with one thing on my mind; finding Valentina. I head toward my car, but a flash of chrome catches my eye. The bike. The one I haven’t touched since the day I swore full loyalty to Cosa Nostra.
I don’t hesitate. I grab the other set of keys, swing a leg over the bike, and fire it up. Then I’m gone, riding hard, riding fast, riding straight toward her.
My body shakes with anger that she's putting herself at risk. She's opening herself up to the possibility of being a victim or leverage. At the same time, my brain is trying to calm me and begs me to be reasonable, because she may be right. Not caring wouldn’t have brought me here. Not caring wouldn’t make me angry at her every word. That’s why I’m telling myself that I was right to keep her at arm’s length. That it's enough, and that when I find her, I will make myself clearer than before.
I search the area, every corner, only to come up empty. Unable to wait any longer, I call Marco again.
“Did you find her?”
“Sorry, man. I’m trying to find her, but I can’t pick up her signal. She must have turned her phone off, and without that, I can’t find her.”
I grip my phone in my hands and try to breathe, but the panic that she might have left hits, and a wave of nausea hits me, as does my realization that I was an idiot. An idiot who didn’t see what was in front of him.
“I need you to organize a search party. She may be in danger. I need to know where she is as soon as possible. I’ll be at the club in five.”
I open the door of the office in the club and enter, finding a couple of men already gathered and Marco typing on his laptop.
“Anything?” I ask.
His eyes inspect me. “Well, you pissed her off, and since she turned her phone off, I’m sure she knew what she was doing, but I’ve hacked into her backup.”
“What did you find?” I lean on the table and focus on his screen.
"She was texting Clara, and they decided to meet outside the club. That’s why I could catch the signal in this area. But that was it. After, I had nothing. I also checked the signal from Clara’s phone, and she has her phone turned on.”
I turn toward the group of men. “I need someone to check Clara’s house and her parents’ house.”
“Already sent men there. I should have the answer in maybe ten minutes.”
“What else?” I fidget from one foot to another.
He regards me from behind his glasses. “At this moment, nothing until I have an answer about whether they are at any of those places.”
“What about cameras? You can hack into those and find her.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “I could, but is that really necessary? Maybe you should give her some time alone.”
“NO!” I growl. I need to find her. I need to know that she's safe. I’ll leave if she needs time alone.
He leans back in his chair, not caring about my request. “Searching through cameras around the city is time-consuming and isn't magic. It only works if she’s passed any of the cameras.”
“You have a program.” I pin him with a stare.
