“You see any neighbors around?” Cos asked.
I scanned the street. “You’re good.”
Cosimo’s shoulder slammed into the wood with a heavy thud, and the door buckled under the force. We stepped inside and flicked on the lights.
“Son of a bitch.” The words escaped me in a harsh breath.
Most of their stuff was gone.
The silence in the house was deafening, broken only by the soft creak of floorboards beneath our feet. Every room we checked confirmed the same thing—Aunt Lisa and Uncle Mario had cleared out. They'd left the furniture, but they'd taken their personal belongings.
“They didn’t just leave,” Cosimo muttered, running a hand through his hair. “They fled.”
My fists clenched at my sides. “She knew. She fucking knew what she was bringing into the penthouse.” The fact that this had come from someone within the family cut deeper than I'd expected. “Do you think Mario was involved, or just Lisa?”
Cosimo shrugged, his expression grim. “Does it matter? They’re both gone now.”
“We need to find them.”
“We’ll find them. But right now, we need to regroup. There’s too much we don’t know. Were they carrying out someone else’s orders, or acting on their own? We need to talk to Mom to find out if anything had happened between Dad and them recently. Let’s go,” he said, jerking his head toward the door.
I followed him out. The car was still running, our driver waiting for instructions. As we slid into the back seat, Cosimo was already on his phone, giving orders to start a search for Lisa and Mario.
I stared out the window as we drove away from the empty house. My mind drifted to Mia. She must have heard the news by now.
When Cos was done, I took his phone again and dialed her number.
Both of her phones went straight to voicemail.
My gut tightened. What was going on? It was possible she'd tossed the burner in the garbage after yesterday, but what about her other one? I couldn’t remember her ever having her phone off for so long.
I tipped my head back and blew out a rough breath. I needed to wash this blood and grime off my skin and calm the fuck down. She was probably just busy.
But even as I told myself all that, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was wrong.
CHAPTER46
MIA
I woke with a gasp, my body jerking upright. The sunlight streaming through the window was so bright it seared my eyes. I threw up a hand, squinting as my vision swam.
My head was heavy. Sluggish. And it hurt.
I reached back instinctively, fingertips grazing something foreign.
A bandage.
This wasn’t my apartment. I blinked hard at the ceiling overhead, trying to make sense of it—crown molding, a familiar crack in the paint near the corner vent…
The Upper East Side apartment.
My childhood bedroom.
The memories came rushing in, faster than I could process them.
Someone holding me back, their fingers tight around my wrist.
My dad’s strange stare. The smoke billowing out of a skyscraper window.
