CHAPTER 15
Matteo
I sit down in my chair and groan. The computer screen doesn’t show any alerts. My men haven’t found Chiara, and I’m not surprised. I don’t have enough manpower to find a needle in a haystack, and that’s exactly what one person is in a city this big.
It doesn’t help that I have to avoid my father’s and Adriano’s men too. I couldn’t even send someone to watch Chiara’s house, just her parents’, because it was too complicated for my men to get there past a certain neighborhood and there weren’t enough of them.
And then we lost her parents too because they left too far outside the city, and there was no point in trying to follow them to some other town or across the country since Chiara wasn’t with them.
I run my hand over my face.
It’s fucking over. My plan has fallen through because I was stupid enough to believe Chiara’s lies. I know absolutely nothing about pregnancies. How was I supposed to figure out that she had found something to cut herself with and that the blood wasn’t pregnancy-related?
My guards were right there in the dining room, and they didn’t see a damn thing either. She definitely wasn’t bleeding before she got there, so it must’ve happened right in front of me.
Somehow, she’d cut herself enough to bleed like that, without making a sound of discomfort. Who the fuck is she and what is she made of? No one would’ve expected something like that.
No one.
Maybe Adriano would. He’s supposed to be the smarter one, according to my father. I grind my teeth together. Chiara must be with him already. Where else would she have gone?
Somehow, she got in touch with him and that lovesick fool probably didn’t even give a fuck about anything. He was just glad to have her back. Or she told him the truth and he believed her, because why wouldn’t he?
If Chiara had requested a divorce first and married me, it would’ve been easier to convince him to believe my story. But Chiara was quicker. She outplayed me.
A news article pops up on my screen, and I lean forward.
Arson? Paradossi? What?
There was a fire in Chiara’s house and my men hadn’t found out about it before it showed up in the news? Yeah, I’m not used to having so few resources. It’s my own fault for not leaving my father sooner. Hoping he’d change his mind was stupid as fuck on my part. Hell would sooner freeze over.
I read through the article. Someone had set Chiara’s house on fire and it all mostly burned to the ground. Of course, the press refers to the house as her father’s and connects the arson to an incident with some people who were at Paradossi’s restaurant.
Apparently, Paradossi kicked some gang members out for making a mess and they got revenge on him. Everyone’s shocked and horrified that something like that would happen in such a peaceful neighborhood. The residents are blaming drugs and wild youth.
I furrow my brow. All of that would make sense because shit like that happens. A regular guy does something to piss off the bad guys and they come for him. But in this case, I don’t believe it.
Everyone knows that area is now Adriano’s and that Chiara is his wife. Everyone that matters, that is. The whole dark underworld.
No gang member would dare to even go anywhere near that restaurant, let alone set the Paradossi’s house on fire. It would be like waging war against Adriano, and no one is that stupid or suicidal. There’s a reason they don’t name the gang either, just like there’s a reason why Chiara’s parents vanished right before it all happened.
I click through the images of what was left of the house. Social media is full of them. People are calling to end the violence and whatnot, and they don’t even know a mafia boss was living right next to them. Some of them are aware of the rumors and are claiming the neighborhood got caught in the middle of a mafia war.
None of that matters to me because it doesn’t tell me anything about Chiara’s or Adriano’s whereabouts. Adriano could be anywhere, but is he with Chiara? I doubt he would’ve killed her without even talking to her first. He’s too in love with her to do that.
But what is this about? I tilt my head as I look at the photos that were taken with a drone. Then I realize I can just flip the photo instead of craning my neck.
Huh.
Right there, in the burned grass in the yard, I can see a letter.
A.
It’s a little jagged and it looks like it’s been stomped over, probably by firefighters, but it’s definitely an A.
Adriano.
It’s a message. But for who? For me? Chiara and her parents never wanted to give up that house. Would they allow Adriano to burn it to the ground?
I don’t think so. It’s too extreme and too much work for nothing. It caught the attention of all the press and all the neighbors. The mafia rumors are only going to get stronger, and I doubt that’s what Adriano wants or needs right now.
Unless he’s pissed off. Really pissed off.
The corners of my lips lift up.
Maybe it’s not all over. Maybe there’s a chance.
Chiara might have said the wrong thing when she reached out to him, and it only confirmed my story to him. If he’s hurt and vulnerable right now, he could’ve reacted like this and sent her a violent message. She’s probably in hiding, maybe staying over with some other relative or a friend, and she told her parents to leave.
If she figured out my plan, then she approached Adriano very carefully. And instead of believing her, he snapped. Yep, she must’ve told him the wrong thing.
There’s still hope I can find her. That little rat could end up back in my grasp. And if Adriano is pissed, he’ll be reckless. It would be exactly what I want.
But is that what’s really happening? Or is it them who are playing a game with me now? I don’t trust that little minx, and I don’t trust Adriano.
Another alert pops up on my screen.
Wait, what?
What the fuck?