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On the security feeds, she looked furious. She wasn’t thinking clearly when she saw her opportunity to flee.
After everything that happened in Rome, she knows how dangerous the world is outside my protection. And now she is out there on her own… fair game to all.
I dry heave at the thought, bile burning the back of my throat.
Shit.
Angel, where are you?
I stare at the stars, willing them to give me answers. But nothing comes back.
My eyes begin to water and a lone tear travels slowly down my cheek.
Christ.
When was the last time I cried?
Enzo’s death.
A shuffle of a chair beside me has me drag my gaze away from the firmament. Mateo is sitting down, handing me a glass of whiskey.
He studies me, a concerned expression on his face. I guess he’s never seen me shed a tear.
I don’t hide it from him, though. I never hide anything from him. He gets to see me just as I am.
“We’ve gone through the Swiss train station footages again,” he begins. “Ella got off in Lucerne. She changed her disguise again, which is why she slipped through the first time we watched it. Mauro is already on the way to Switzerland with a few men, but I imagine she’s moved on already. There is no point for you and me to follow her until we get some sort of confirmation where she is.”
I take a long sip of the whiskey to wash down the last of the bile in my throat.
This has been one fucked-up recovery mission.
The gods must be on Ella’s side, because nothing seems to work out for us.
When we left Monza train station, we had two leads. The signal from her earrings and my gut telling me she was on the train that had just left.
While I was on the way to Milan and Mauro was chasing the earrings, Uberto hacked into the local ATM cameras. It showed that Ella had changed clothes and got herself a wig. When she withdrew money, she did it as a brunette with shoulder-length hair that covered her ears, so we couldn’t tell if she was still wearing the sapphire studs.
When Uberto scanned the footage at the Monza station, that brunette was nowhere to be seen. So we concluded Ella had put her earrings into the other woman’s bag early on and took off to God-knows-where while the girl continued on to the train station.
But when Mauro intercepted her after chasing her for half an hour, she swore she and her boyfriend had arrived by train at Monza around the time we got there, before catching a bus to go north.
Uberto confirmed the woman’s claims when he took a closer look at the security footage. Turns out Ella changed disguises again and got on the train as a redhead. Uberto even discovered the moment Ella dropped the earrings into the woman’s bag.
My angel is clever. Strangely, I am proud of her.
And my gut was right. She was on that fucking train.
My men walked right past her at least twice before she went on board. And Ella gave nothing away. Totally nonchalant. I wouldn’t have thought she had it in her. But I really shouldn’t be surprised by her anymore. I keep underestimating her determination to get away.
Then we didn’t realize right away that the train leaving the station was bound for Basel.
Mateo was waiting in Milan when the train from Monza arrived to find that Ella wasn’t on it. Nor did she get off at any other station along the way. I had men ready and waiting at every one.
We eventually figured out the train she was on went to Switzerland.
Amateur mistake, I know, but none of us questioned the departure board at Monza station.
“Ella managed to withdraw three thousand euros. It’s not enough to get away. She’ll have to get more money soon,” I say to Mateo.
