The thought tempts me because it offers relief. It would mean I’m wrong and have blown all of this out of proportion.
If that’s the case and I’ve let my imagination run wild, then I’ll endure the humiliation of it. I’ll take the look she’ll give me when I find her and the tight-lipped frustration when she tells me to leave her alone. I would gladly be foolish.
But that possibility is already fraying under the weight of everything else I know about her.
“Get up! Wake everyonenow!” I roar down the hall the moment I step out of Luca’s room.
My voice tears through the villa like a gunshot.
The response is immediate.
Doors slam open, boots pound against stone floors, the heavy thud of them echoing through the corridors as men spill out half-dressed and half-armed, adrenaline snapping them awake faster than any alarm ever could. Within minutes, Luca’s room is crowded with men.
“What the hell is happening?” The voice cuts through the noise, rough with sleep and irritation.
I turn and spot Leo pushing his way through the doorway, broad shoulders used to force his way inside the room. His hair sticks up at odd angles, the drawstring at the front of his pants hanging loose, T-shirt half tucked into his waistband from being pulled on in a haste.
His gaze sweeps the room, taking everything in with quick efficiency before snapping back to me.
I don’t waste time.
“I want Elena and Luca located. They are supposed to be sleeping in here. When I came to check on them, they were gone. Things have been moved in a way that suggested they left in a hurry.”
Leo’s brows spring up.
He doesn’t question me out loud, not here in front of everyone because he knows better, but I see it anyway. That familiar flicker behind his eyes as the questions loop endlessly as he runs possibilities through his head faster than most men can blink.
Missing? Taken? Running? How? Why? By whom?
“Lock down the perimeter,” I continue, turning to the rest of the room. “Check every entry point, every camera for the past hour.I want vehicles prepped and teams moving to canvass the area outside.”
They scatter instantly.
Leo steps closer as they shuffle out behind us, lowering his voice just enough to not be heard over the noise. “You think she left on her own?”
“I don’t know.” That’s all I can give him.
I hope like fuck I’m wrong.
19
ELENA
Hours pass in darkness.
Time loses meaning between the sound of the rain-soaked tires on the road and the suffocating silence of the car. I can’t see anything. Only the relentless forward motion and the vibration of the engine beneath me tell me we’re still moving. The occasional sharp turn sends my body tilting back into the door next to me, causing the restraints to bite into my wrists.
I don’t know where they’re taking me.
I don’t even know whotheyare.
All I know is that Luca is no longer in my arms and I’m terrified that he’s being harmed.
That truth eclipses everything else. It swallows the fear for my own safety and leaves behind only the hollow, screaming absence of him like a limb torn away. I’ve been left to bleed out from the aftermath with no one there to help me bandage the wound.
“Please,” I whisper hoarsely for what feels like the hundredth time. My throat burns raw, tired from how much I’ve been screaming since being shoved into the back seat. “Please. Just… let me know he’s okay.”
The driver doesn’t respond.
