Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Enzo
Valentina finally let go of my arm.
She'd clung to me through the entire dinner. Even though I'd tried to keep it quiet, word of my argument with Chloe outside the church had spread like wildfire. Damage control meant Valentina and I had to put on a show of unshakable devotion to kill the rumors.
It was smart. Effective PR. My brain knew that. My body just refused to cooperate. All night, she'd been hinting for me to put my arm around her waist. I never did. Not once.
Eventually, she gave up on getting me to play along and just latched onto my entire arm instead, smiling and making small talk with the guests, using me like a piece of furniture that couldn't talk back.
Fine by me. I wasn't in the mood for this charade anyway.
The torture lasted two hours. When it finally ended, we climbed into the back seat under everyone's watchful eyes. Valentina pressed close beside me.
Luca fired up the engine. We were headed to the office to deal with the stock transfer mess.
I closed my eyes. All I could see was Chloe.
I knew she was still angry. She had every right to be. Making her happy again was the only thing I cared about right now. But it was fine—we could fix this. There was still room to repair what we had.
Chloe couldn't leave me. She was carrying my child. No matter how pissed she was right now, she'd stay in my villa, stay under my protection, and time would smooth everything over.
Time healed everything. And I had plenty of it. As long as she stayed in that house, I'd have endless chances to make things right.
The thought settled my restless mind a little.
But dealing with today's business would drag on until dawn. I probably wouldn't get back until morning.
The last time we'd seen each other, we'd had that vicious fight. She was pregnant, her emotions raw. Thinking about our argument made me feel something I rarely felt—guilt.
The car glided through Manhattan's bright streets and passed a flower shop on the corner. Small place, buckets of flowers crammed in the window. But my eyes locked onto a bucket of clean white daisies in the corner.
I'd noticed before that one of the employees kept those flowers on her desk. Later, I realized it was Chloe. She seemed to really love those simple, wild little blooms.
When I got back in the car, Valentina saw the flowers in my hand and raised an eyebrow with a little laugh.
I ignored her teasing expression and spoke to Luca. "Stop by the villa first."
"Enzo," Valentina said lazily, examining her nails, "your legal wife is sitting right beside you, and you're ditching me to see your mistress?"
I turned and fixed her with a cold stare.
"Valentina, I've already given up enough port shares. Stay out of my personal business."
She shrugged and shut her mouth, turning to look out the window. Smart enough not to push it.
The car pulled up outside the villa. I grabbed the wrapped daisies and strode toward the front door. But before I reached it, something felt wrong.
The entrance was empty.
The two armed guards I'd personally stationed here for twenty-four-hour shifts were gone.
This wasn't right.
I dropped the flowers and charged toward the door. Valentina and Luca sensed something was off and hurried after me.
The door wasn't even locked. The handle turned with barely any pressure. Anna would never forget to lock up. She'd been trained to be meticulous. She wasn't some careless idiot, which was exactly why I'd trusted her to look after Chloe.
I pushed the door open. The house was pitch black. Not a single light on.
"Chloe?" I flipped on the living room light and called out.
No answer. Dread washed over me. I quickened my pace toward the second-floor bedroom, reaching for my gun.
I raised the weapon and entered the bedroom. What I saw made my blood run cold.
The room had been torn apart. The nightstand lay shattered on the floor, glass from the lamp scattered everywhere. Two bullet holes marked the window. And on the hardwood floor, a large dark red stain stretched from the bed to the door, like someone had been dragged.
Chloe was gone.
What did that mean? I couldn't let myself think it. Panic crashed over me like a wave.
I heard myself screaming Chloe's name, over and over, but nobody answered.
I tore through the house like a madman. The bathroom. The nursery. Every goddamn corner. Her baby catalogs were still neatly stacked on the nursery carpet. The pale yellow wallpaper sample she'd picked out yesterday was still taped to the wall.
But she wasn't there.
"Luca!" I roared.
He rushed in. Before I could even give orders, Luca was already moving, barking into his radio to lock down every intersection in a ten-block radius.
I knelt down, my hands shaking uncontrollably as my fingers touched that glaring dark red stain on the floor.
Fuck. The thought that this blood might be Chloe's made me want to kill everyone in the world.
I spun around and bolted for the door. Who? Who the hell would dare? I'd rip them apart piece by piece.
"Enzo! Where are you going?"
Valentina rushed forward and threw her arms around me from behind.
"Get off! I need to find her, even if I have to turn all of New York upside down!" I tried to shake her off.
"Snap out of it!" Valentina tightened her grip around my waist, shouting, "It's already happened! Look at how much blood is on the floor. She's obviously dead! Face reality, Enzo!"
"Shut up! Valentina! I said shut up!"
The word "dead" snapped my last thread of control. I whipped around and shoved her hard. She stumbled backward and slammed into the doorframe with a cry of pain.
"Chloe's not dead! She can't be dead!" My eyes were wild as I muttered it over and over.
Valentina scrambled to her feet, furious now, and stared me down without an ounce of fear.
"Oh? Playing the devoted lover now? Aren't you the one who got her killed? Enzo Falcone, you knew exactly how dangerous your world was, and you forced her to stay anyway!"
I raised my gun and aimed it at Valentina, ready to blow her away just to shut her up. But in the end, I lowered it.
Valentina was right.
The person to blame wasn't anyone else. It was me.
I knew how dangerous my life was. But I'd kept her close anyway. I could have waited until everything settled before bringing her into my world. But I'd been selfish. I'd wanted her near me, told myself it was protection. And I'd handed my enemies the perfect target.
I finally understood how catastrophically I'd screwed up. In the end, I hadn't protected her. And I hadn't made her feel loved.
This mistake ended today.
I looked at the woman in front of me, my eyes ice cold.
"You're right. I was dead wrong." Each word came out sharp and deliberate. "Let's get divorced, Valentina. I'll have the papers on your desk tomorrow."
She froze. She clearly hadn't expected me to blow up the alliance between our families.
"You're serious? You want a divorce right now?"
"I've never been more serious."
"Fine. Divorce it is!" Valentina laughed bitterly and turned on her heel. "I never knew you were such a fool. You've disappointed me completely."
She walked away without looking back. That meant my deal with the Lombardi family was over, too. But right now, I didn't care about any of that.
All I could see was Chloe's face. Her smile as she asked which color I liked while flipping through baby catalogs on the couch.
Her eyes full of hope when she placed my hand on her belly to feel the baby move.
And the last time—lying in bed, staring at the ceiling with empty eyes, letting me touch her but not responding at all.
Our last moment together had been so ugly.
I sank to my knees beside that pool of blood, consumed by regret.
"Enzo!"
Luca called my name three times before I heard him. He crouched in front of me, gripping my shoulder hard.
"Get your shit together. Now's not the time to fall apart. Stand up!"
He was right. Nothing was final yet. How could I collapse like a useless piece of trash now? I clawed back some shred of reason through the grief and rage.
Stand up. Do what needs to be done, Enzo.
Someone had made a move on my turf. They'd taken my woman and my child. I didn't know who yet. But I'd find them. And I'd make every last one of them beg me for a quick death.
"Pull the surveillance footage," I said through clenched teeth. My voice came out twisted with fury and pain. "All of it. Inside the villa, the surrounding streets, everything. Get the blood tested for DNA immediately. Every suspicious vehicle within a ten-mile radius, I want them all flagged."
Luca didn't waste another word. He turned and ran out to mobilize everyone.
The results came back faster than I expected.
Half an hour later, Luca called with news.
The footage showed the villa's security system had been shut down from the inside at 2:47 a.m. The guard shift change had been exploited with surgical precision—the incoming team had been rerouted with a fake order while still en route.
Only someone with full access to the villa's security system could have pulled that off.
This wasn't an outsider. There was a traitor among my own people.
Plenty of people had reason to hate me. But only a handful knew about this villa and Chloe.
Whoever they were, I'd drag them out one by one and teach them what it cost to touch my woman.
I stared at that dark red stain, my mind running calculations. About five hundred milliliters of blood. For an adult, not necessarily fatal.
But Chloe was pregnant.
The worst possibility lodged in my brain and wouldn't let go.
Power. Family. Empire. Alliances. Everything I'd spent my entire life chasing suddenly felt worthless. I had one thought in my head: If Chloe was dead, what was the point of any of it?
The answer was nothing. Absolutely nothing.
I pulled out my phone and scrolled to Chloe's number. Of course it wouldn't go through. Her phone had been off for hours. But I sent a text anyway.
I'll find you, Chloe. And no matter what it costs me, the people who hurt you will pay a hundred times over.
I pocketed the phone and stood up from the couch.
Luca was outside in the hall on his phone. When he saw me emerge from the corridor, he hung up and stepped forward, waiting for orders.
"The villa was always top-level classified," I said. My voice had gone cold and flat again. "Less than five people knew this address and Chloe's identity. The most likely suspect is..."
Luca didn't answer, but his eyes said it all.
"Julian."
Three months ago, Julian and I had negotiated territory in the old man's study.
To show good faith, I'd disclosed the locations of several safe houses, including this villa.
Chloe wasn't living here yet—it was just a place I crashed occasionally.
I never imagined that exchange of intel would become today's fatal weakness.
"What about Hector? Did you find his body?"
"No," Luca shook his head. "None of the guards. No bodies, no witnesses."
I forced the words out through gritted teeth. "Mobilize everyone we've got."
Luca's body went rigid. He knew what was coming next. His mouth pressed into a thin line, but he didn't interrupt.
"Marco's crew. Vincent's crew. And the East Side guys—pull them all back. I want Julian on his knees in front of me before tonight's over."
"Enzo," Luca finally spoke. "If you go after Julian now, Carmine will react immediately. The old guard's been waiting for an excuse to turn on us. You'd be handing it to them on a silver platter."
"Let them come."
"Hear me out." Luca stepped closer, his tone almost pleading—rare for him. "I know you want to skin Julian alive right now. I get it. But you just threw Valentina out. Now you want to start a war inside your own family? Fighting two fronts at once isn't smart."
I met Luca's eyes. Everything he said was correct. This was his job, balancing my impulses with reason. Under normal circumstances, I'd listen. I'd make the rational call.
But these weren't normal circumstances.
"Luca," I stood and faced him. "I know the cost. I know exactly what the consequences are."
I paused, fists clenched.
"But Chloe might be dead, Luca. That's the only thing I care about." Just saying it out loud felt like suffocating.
Luca sighed.
"I can't support this, Enzo. I can't send my guys to die for something this reckless."
I nodded and grabbed my suit jacket from the arm of the couch.
"I understand. But even if I'm alone, I'm doing this."
Wait for me, Chloe.
Whether you're in heaven or on earth, wherever the hell Julian's hidden you, I'll find you.
And before I do, someone's going to pay for your pain.