Page 12 of My Sunfall

Lily rings the bell and the same housekeeper opens the door. This time she lets us in, and I try my best not to push Lily aside to run upstairs to her sister’s room. I know exactly where it is because the first time I laid eyes on her, I had questioned her about Lily’s disappearance for Damiano there.

Now I follow Lily up the stairs and down the corridor leading to her room. She quietly pushes the door open and we step in.

Empty…

We both stand silently in the doorway, unsure about what to do.

Then Lily lets out a quiet gasp and steps to the window.

I frown. There is a white origami paper crane sitting on the sill and Lily delicately picks it up and stands there, unmoving and silent, gaze light years away. I have a bad feeling, and my throat is suddenly dry.

“What is it, Lily? Where is Chiara?” I manage to croak out.

She looks over her shoulder, and a chill runs down my spine when her grave gaze collides with mine. What the fuck is hap—

A voice booms from downstairs and we both jump. I recognize it as Francesco’s, their father. In a blink, I am downstairs in the living room, ready to order him to tell me where his daughter is, but what I see makes me stop dead. Francesco is standing by the sofa where he had visibly elected residence for some time now, judging from the empty bottles and clothing items littering the floor and the furniture. He is a mess, his eyes are bloodshot and his once-white shirt is stained and rumpled. He’s obviously been drinking too much and too long.

“What are you doing here?” he demands, but his intimidation attempt fails when he starts to stagger forward. I catch him by his shoulders to prevent him from falling on his face. He reeks of liquor. There is a gasp behind me, and I turn my head to catch a glimpse of Lily. She seems horrified by what she sees.

“Did you know…this?” I ask her.

She shakes her head with a stricken look. “No… I’ve never come back since…I moved out.”

I turn back to Francesco and shake him once, willing him to listen. “Where is Chiara?”

His eyes seem to focus on my face at last. “That ungrateful wench?” he sneers. “She’s not here. She’s just like her bitch of a mother.”

I grit my teeth, wanting to slap some fucking sense into him, or, worse, smash him into a pulp. I won’t hit a drunken man, I repeat over and over in my mind. I release him, forcefully sitting him on the sofa. I won’t get anything out of him tonight—he needs to sober up. I’ll send a medical team here, but first, I need to find out where Chiara is. I turn to Lily to ask her what exactly she knows, because she fucking knows something, I saw it in her eyes.

But when I turn around, she’s gone.

Chapter Seven

Lucas

From then on, the end of the week has been grueling. I have been on edge and unable to focus on anything other than sending out text after text, although all of them remain unread.

People at work looked at me as if they didn’t recognize me, but I can’t deny that I’m snapping more than usual. Fuck, I never used to raise my voice. I used to always be that easygoing bastard who wraps people around his finger with a few words and a bright smile. But it seems that since that day at Chiara’s house, that guy has been replaced by his irascible clone. And the worst is that even I know it, but there’s nothing I can do. At work, Leo ordered me to stay put in my office while he sent someone else to meet with clients. “At this rate you’ll scare them all away, and I’ll be damned if I lose my six-figure job because my boss got up on the wrong side of the bed.”

Conceited motherfucker. But the bastard’s right. And so, I let him overrule me in my own kingdom and hid like a fucking beast in my office, prowling and pacing holes into the carpet.

* * * *

That I am in a foul mood when I step into Lily and D’s villa on Sunday is a big understatement. I am anxious, I am jittery and I am fucking furious. I don’t know what I’m going to do when I see her. Drag her away and punish her until she promises she won’t cut me out again seems like a good start. My mind spins in circles. I am like a cartoon character with an angel and a devil sitting on each shoulder, the angel advising me to be gentle, to worship her like the sweet princess she is. The devil on the other shoulder, however, urges me to spank, take, and make her understand that what she did is not acceptable.

Fuck, why am I thinking about doing those…things to her?

She is a good friend, right? I’m not thinking about the gentle look in her hazel eyes or the enticing bow of her lips, nor am I picturing my hands on the soft curve of her ass while I massage the red welts on her velvet skin between two spanks.

No… Get a fucking grip! I can’t go there, not with her. She is a sweet little thing, she deserves to be worshipped like a princess, not dragged into the darkness that lives inside me.

I rake my fingers through my already messy hair and join the group in the dining room.

And I immediately notice—she’s not here. I sweep my eyes over the room for good measure, but I already know from the way something is missing. Usually, my gaze finds her no matter where she is, like a moth drawn to a flame. But today the room feels too empty and cold.

I nod in a general direction as a greeting and take a seat in silence. The conversation stills and I can feel all eyes on me. But I am in no mood to entertain them. All I aimed to do by showing up was to see Chiara. And since she’s not here, I grit my teeth and sit through an awkwardly silent brunch.

After what feels like a fucking lifetime, everyone stands up and Lily and Erin scurry toward the deck chairs, heads bent together conspiratorially. I stride after them, catching them just as they are stepping out of the room. “Where is she?” I can’t help the biting edge from creeping into my demand.