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Not a day has passed since she walked into my club that I haven’t thought about her. The anger I felt before is now replaced with a sickening worry. I worry about her so much that my stomach starts to get into a knot.
I know what this feeling is. I understand why I feel this way. It’s clear that I’d prefer to spend any waking moment I have with her, rather than doing anything else. But my growing feelings toward her will only make this situation all the more dangerous.
Still, I can’t help but think that I like the way she makes me feel.
Chapter 13
Aria
Theflightistedious,and the taxi ride after is even more exhausting. They both give me way too much time to think about everything that Jay told me. I’ve developed a new hatred toward my father. I knew he’d done terrible things, but I had always assumed that the people affected by his violence had deserved it in some way.
So, by the time we get to Edoardo’s penthouse, I am eager to see him and tell him that I amnothinglike my father. I want to tell him how sorry I am for everything that my father has put him through. I don’t want him to ever think that I could treat him the same way. But as I walk through the penthouse, it is clear that he hasn’t been here in some time. It’s exactly how we left it. There’s no sign he stopped here at all, even just to drop off his luggage. The bed is still made, just how it was before I left, down to the angle of the cushions.
“He’s not here,” I say to Jay.
“It would appear so,” Jay answers, looking just as confused about it as I am.
I take out my phone and dial his number, but it doesn’t go through. His phone is turned off. When I hear a key turn in the door, I spin around, hoping to see Edoardo walking into his home. But I am disappointed to see Mattia standing in front of me.
Mattia looks equally surprised to see us.
“Sorry, didn’t realize you were back,” he says. “Edoardo asked me to check on the place while you were away. You know, make sure nothing is stolen or on fire, that sort of thing.”
“Where’s Edoardo?” I ask without greeting him.
Mattia furrows his brow, and looks around the apartment, as if Edoardo is meant to appear at any moment.
“He’s supposed to be with you on the island,” he says, confused.
I don’t explain anything further. Instead, I just dial his number again, in hopes that this time he’ll answer. It doesn’t even ring. It just goes directly to voicemail, and my chest tightens with concern. Thinking about it, he’d never let me know that he’d arrived safely either.
“I don’t understand,” Mattia says. “He didn’t come back with you? As far as I know, he’s been on the island the last couple of days.”
“No,” I say. “He left a while ago. He said he had to be back for a business meeting, and that he would meet me back at the island.”
“So why are you here, then?” Mattia asks.
“I needed to talk with him,” I say. “It couldn’t wait.”
Mattia takes out his phone and checks something. He then takes a walk through the apartment, as if to make sure that nothing has been breached. He checks each door and each weapon, his hand resting on his firearm the entire time.
“What are you doing?” I ask nervously.
“I just checked his calendar, which I have access to,” Mattia says. “It says nothing about a business meeting at all. He also never let me know that he was coming back, which is entirely unlike him.”
My stomach sinks. It seems that Edoardo has kept a secret from all of us and I shudder to think of what it might be. If he didn’t even talk to Mattia about this meeting, then what the hell could he have left for?
I’m so caught up in my own thoughts that I almost don’t notice the notification sounds coming through on Mattia’s phone. He reaches into his pocket and opens one of them. What I notice right away is his sudden change in demeanor.
His worry floods the entire room immediately.
“You need to see this,” he says in my direction, handing the phone to me.
I take it and look as soon as I look at the screen, my head wants to explode. It’s a news article with a headline that sends shivers down my spine.
“Edoardo Lorenzo Arrested in Aria Morino Kidnapping Case”
It is the headline article for the day, and it features a photograph of Edoardo in handcuffs, and a portrait of me from a few years ago. It makes my blood run cold. It’s hard to read as panic rolls through me, but I scan through it anyway. It says that he took me from my family home and shipped me out to his island against my will, where he thought nobody would find me. It says that he has lost his mind, and that his hatred toward his rival is the reason behind it. I need to sit down.
