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When Jim serves our meals and leaves the room, a moment of vulnerability settles between us. Xavier breaks the silence, his voice filled with remorse. "You know, Antonio, the way we treated Mia yesterday... it wasn't right. We let our anger blind us."
My heart aches with the weight of his words, realizing the depth of our mistake. We allowed our frustrations to create a rift between us and the person who has shown us nothing but loyalty and compassion.
"I know," I agree solemnly. "She's a good girl. We can't fault her for that."
Regret courses through my veins as I recall the hurt in Mia's eyes, caused by our coldness and indifference.
"We need to talk to her," I decide firmly, and Xavier nods along.
Without another word, we leave our uneaten food on the counter and make our way to her room. As we approach her door, I hesitate for a moment, my hand hovering over the doorknob. I take a deep breath, mentally preparing myself for what's to come.
I knock on the door. "Mia? Can we talk?"
There's no answer, so I knock again before Xavier pushes me back and opens the door himself. The room is quiet, and the air is heavy with the scent of roses. Mia's bed is neatly made, her belongings in order, but she is nowhere to be found. A sense of foreboding creeps over me, and I turn to him.
"Maybe the library?" I suggest.
We look there, the garden, and her usual areas of interest, but she's nowhere to be found.
"Where could she have gone?"
Xavier's face falls. "I don't know. But we can't let our anger blind us again. We need to find her."
I nod in agreement, our previous conflict now feeling like a distant memory. Mia's safety and wellbeing come first, and we need to find her as soon as possible.
We call the security team and ask them to do another sweep of the property, but they come up empty-handed once again. Xavier tries her phone again, but it goes straight to voicemail. Panic starts to rise in my chest, and I can see it reflected in Xavier's eyes.
"Let's search her old apartment," Xavier suggests, and I nod in agreement. We need to leave no stone unturned in our search for her.
When her apartment is empty, already rented out to another tenant, we start to search the city itself.
The city is sprawling and chaotic, a labyrinth of concrete and steel that seems to stretch on endlessly. We comb through the streets, the markets, and the parks, questioning people if they've seen a woman matching Mia's description. But every lead ends up being a dead end, and we're left feeling more frustrated and powerless with each passing hour.
We stop at every place we think she might have visited - her favorite coffee shop, the bakery she loves, even the bookstore she often frequents. But after hours of searching, we still come up empty.
Finally, as night falls over the city, we decide to take a break and grab a drink at a nearby bar. It's dark and smoky inside, the kind of place where secrets are shared and deals are made. We take a seat at the counter and order two whiskeys.
"This is our fault," I confess shamefully. "She ran away. From us."
Xavier downs his shot. "We'll find her. We have connections. She can't have just disappeared."
"She doesn't want to be found," I tell him surely. "We fucked up, man. How are we going to fix this?" I resist the urge to scratch out my own eyes. "Everything is falling apart."
Xavier places a comforting hand on my shoulder. "We'll figure it out. We have to."
As we sit in silence, lost in thought, a woman sidles up to the bar next to us. She's beautiful, with long legs and a low-cut top that leaves little to the imagination.
"Buy me a drink?" she asks, batting her eyelashes.
"No," I snap at her, knocking the whiskey back.
She gives me a distasteful look but doesn't try again, sulking off to find some other prey.
As we nurse our drinks in silence, I can't help but wonder if Mia will ever forgive us for what we've done. Will she ever come back to us willingly? Or are we doomed to a life without her, haunted by the memory of a girl we pushed away?
We finish our drinks and leave the bar, still uncertain of our next move. As we walk down the dimly lit street, Xavier's phone rings.
"Hello?" Xavier answers, his voice tense.
