I slam through the front door, my mind still wrestling with excuses, explanations, anything that might make Aria understand. The emergency at the docks was nothing compared to the real emergency that waits at home—how to keep her. How to make her stay.
I call her name into the echoing silence of our home, and something cold slithers down my spine when only emptiness answers back.
“Aria?” I take the stairs two at a time, my heartbeat accelerating with each empty room I pass. Her bedroom sits pristine and vacant, the bed made as if she were never there.
The closet door stands ajar. I yank it open to find gaps where her clothes should be, her side picked clean like a carcass. My hands clench into fists, knuckles white with restraint as I fight the urge to punch through the nearest wall.
“GIUSEPPE!” I roar, stalking back into the hallway. My head of security appears almost instantly, his face carefully blank. “Where is my wife?”
“Sir, I—”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know.” My voice drops to that dangerous register that makes even hardened killers step back. “She’s gone. How did she leave without anyone seeing?”
Giuseppe swallows visibly. “We’re checking the security footage now, sir. She must have—”
“Find her,” I cut him off, each word slicing through the air like a blade. “I want every man we have looking. Check her sister’s place first. Call our contacts in the city. Shut down every road out if you have to.”
“Yes, sir.”
“NOW!” I bellow, sending him scurrying.
My hands are numb, but I feel an inferno in my chest. Fear. Raw and primitive. After what I revealed this morning, what she discovered about my family, where would she go? What would she do?
And worse—what danger would find her?
My phone buzzes in my pocket. Aria? I snatch it out, disappointment crushing my chest when I see it’s not her.
“What?” I snap into the receiver.
“Boss,” Nicolo’s voice is breathless, urgent. “You need to see this. Please come to the security room. Now.”
I’m already moving before he finishes speaking, taking the back stairs at a dangerous pace. The security room sits in the basement, walls lined with monitors displaying every angle of my property. Three of my men huddle around a single screen, their faces grim.
“Show me,” I demand, shoving between them.
Nicolo taps a key, and the footage rewinds. “This is from the east gate camera, three hours ago.”
I see her in my mind—laughing on the balcony just yesterday, bare feet on marble, sunlight in her hair. Unaware. Unbothered. Mine.
And now…
The timestamp shows Aria leaving the property alone, a small bag slung over her shoulder. She moves with purpose, her chin high despite the sobbing I can see through the movement of her shoulders even on the grainy footage. My chest constricts at the sight of her walking away from me, looking so utterly devastated.
“Keep watching,” Nicolo says quietly.
She makes it halfway down the street when a black SUV screeches to a halt beside her. Two men jump out, grabbing her before she can react. She struggles furiously as they drag her into the vehicle. Her bag drops to the pavement, contents spilling across the sidewalk. The SUV peels away.
“Zoom in on the license plate,” I order, my voice unnaturally calm considering the rage burning inside me.
Nicolo obliges. The plate comes into focus.
“We ran it already,” he says. “It’s registered to a shell company owned by Fabrizio D’Angelo.”
The name hits me like a physical blow. D’Angelo. The loan shark who believes I married Chiara to nullify his debt. The man who blames her for how I found out he was running loans in my territory. The man who thinks it’s her fault I shut down his operations. The man I warned was dangerous despite lacking my direct power. The man who now has my wife.
“Why would he—” I start, then freeze as understanding crashes through me. “He knows.”
Nicolo nods grimly. “Our sources say he’s been asking questions about the DeLucas. Someone’s been stirring that pot, boss. Looking into old feuds, old families.”
Chiara. It has to be. Her digging has led D’Angelo straight to Aria, god damn it. I told her. Told them.
And now, my worst fears have been confirmed.
“Get me everything on D’Angelo’s current locations. Properties, warehouses, anywhere he might take her.”
“Already working on it,” Nicolo assures me. “But there’s more. We intercepted a call to one of your father’s lieutenants an hour ago. D’Angelo’s people reached out to him, trying to arrange a meeting.”
Ice water replaces the blood in my veins. If D’Angelo connects with my father, if he tells him who Aria really is, who he believes I married…
My phone vibrates again. Unknown number. I snatch it up, putting it on speaker.
“Bianchi.” My voice gives nothing away.
“Marco, my friend.” Fabrizio’s oily voice slithers through the speaker. “I think I have something that belongs to you.”
Every muscle in my body tenses. “If you’ve harmed her—”
“Relax,” he interrupts with a chuckle. “Your lovely wife is perfectly intact. For now.”
“What do you want?” I grit out.
“A conversation. Face to face. You’ve been avoiding me since our little financial disagreement.”
“Name the place.”
“So eager,” Fabrizio mocks. “But I’m not ready for our reunion yet. First, I want you to sweat a little. To think about all the things I could do to this beautiful creature.”
“If you touch her—” My teeth grind together so hard I taste enamel.
“You’ll what? Kill me? Then you’ll never find her.” He pauses, and I hear the rustle of movement. “Say hello to your husband, sweetheart.”
“Marco,” Aria’s voice trembles, but there’s steel beneath it. “Don’t give him what he—”
A sharp sound cuts her off, and rage surges through me so violently my vision blurs.
“That wasn’t very nice,” Fabrizio chides, back on the line. “You know, it’s strange. Everyone thinks you married Chiara DeLuca to settle her debt. But this isn’t Chiara, is it? This is Aria. Her twin.”
The air leaves my lungs in a rush. “How did you—”
“Please,” he scoffs. “You think you’re the only one with eyes and ears in this city? People talk, Marco. Especially when someone starts asking questions about the DeLuca massacre. About forgotten heirs.”
My free hand clenches so tight I feel blood where my nails dig into my palm. “What do you want?”
“Originally? Just to squeeze you for the money you stole from me by taking my debtors.” His voice drops lower. “But now? Now I have something far more valuable. The heir to the DeLuca empire, wedded to the son of the man who destroyed her family. That’s quite a story.”
“A fairy tale,” I snarl. “Nothing more.”
“Your father won’t think so,” Fabrizio says, his tone deceptively casual. “I wonder how he’ll react when I tell him his precious son married the daughter of his greatest enemy? That you’ve been harboring a DeLuca under his nose all this time?”
Terror grips me, not for myself, but for Aria. If my father discovers who she is…
“What’s your price?” I ask flatly.
“There’s nothing you can offer I can’t take for myself!” Fabrizio sounds delighted.
“I want my wife back,” I hiss. “I’ll do anything.”
“You’re mistaken if you think she’s a hostage up for negotiation. I wanted to kill her, you know, just to see you shatter at her funeral. But then I realized, she’s the best leverage I’ve ever had. Fuck you, Marco!”
The call disconnects before I can respond. I look up to find every man in the room watching me, faces taut with tension.
The room is silent. My pulse is not.
She’s out there. And I let her go.
“He knows,” I say unnecessarily to Nicolo.
Nicolo steps closer, lowering his voice. “If your father finds out—”
“He won’t,” I cut him off. “Because we’re going to get her back tonight.”
“What are you saying, boss?” one of my men asks, paling.
“We take war to his door.” I’m already formulating plans and discarding options. “Because D’Angelo doesn’t know what I’m willing to do to get her back.”
I turn to Nicolo. “Find Chiara. Bring her here—alive and unharmed. We need both sisters under our protection now.”
“And if she refuses to come?”
“Make her understand how much trouble Aria is in. For her sister, she will come.” I stride to the door. “Prepare the men. Full tactical gear. Bring on the trackers. We must find where he’s keeping her.”
The rage inside me has crystallized into something harder, sharper, more focused.
I will burn the world down tonight if that’s what it takes to bring Aria home. And tomorrow? Tomorrow I’ll face whatever consequences come—from my father, Aria herself, and the blood debt between us.
But first, I need to get her back. I need her safe in my arms, even if she hates me. Even if she never forgives me.
Because I can live with her hatred. But I cannot—will not—live without her.
Let them come. Let them all come. I’m bringing her home.
