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“We need to go.” She would take advantage of the empty house. “Get Ant and Carmine.” I slipped the ring onto my pinky. “Bring Timoteo.”
“There has to be another explanation,” Stefano said. “Could Byrne have gotten to Allegra?”
“It wasn’t Byrne. It’shim.”
Five minutes later, we were in the vehicle, tires squealing, as we raced out of the driveway. For a few minutes, silence filled the car. My jaw ached from grinding my teeth, and my hand cramped from clenching my fists.
Timoteo sat between Carmine and Stefano in the backseat. Ant raced through the streets, heedless of posted speed limits.
“Tell me everything that happened today,” I said to Timoteo. “Did Allegra use your phone?”
“No. Your orders were expressly followed. No phones. No outside communication.” Timoteo went over the day.
Somehow, she’d managed to leave the Jilani estate undetected, have transportation waiting, and because I’d taken her fucking phone, I had no way to know where she was, who she was with, or if she was in danger.
“The Irish have Deidre,” I said to him. “We both know the implications. My wife’s loyalties are divided.”
“I’m her protection,” he said and rubbed his hands on his thighs. “But I can’t be with her one hundred percent of the time.”
I shook my head. “Not good enough.”
“Not to be disrespectful, Boss, but I’m not following your wife into the bathroom or watching her as she lies in bed. When we arrived, she spent a few minutes in her room, and then she sat with her mother.”
“For how long?” How long ago had she left the house… How long ago had she left me?
“A couple hours.”
“Timoteo, if you’ve lied to me, these will be the last words you’ll speak.”
“I serve the Bruno family, but Ally isn’t just an assignment. I will always protect her with my life. I would lie for her. I have lied for her. I’d kill for her, and I’d die for her. But I would never help her to betray you. You think her loyalties are divided. I know they aren’t.”
That my wife had left her ring belied his assumptions.
Ant pressed the automatic opener, and the gate slid open. Then he gassed the engine and raced to the top of the horseshoe driveway. I was out of the vehicle and in the house before he’d turned off the ignition. Stefano was right behind me.
“Allegra,” I hollered, striding into the house.
Romi rushed from the kitchen. “What’s wrong?”
“Is Allegra here?”
She rung her hands. “No, I haven’t seen her since this morning.”
Ant, Timoteo, and Carmine entered the foyer.
“I’ll check with Orlando and Emilio.” Carmine rushed through the foyer, toward the patio to get to the guesthouse.
I charged up the stairs.
“Allegra!” My ragged breath came hard and fast. The bedroom door was open. I paused just inside the room. A soft glow from the bedside lamp lit the room. The bed was made, the pillows perfectly fluffed. The closet door was open. Shoes lined the racks, and her dresses hung on the rods. Nothing seemed out of place. If she’d left, she hadn’t taken her clothes with her.
Finally, I checked the bathroom. Nothing had been taken, but the linen closet was open. I dropped to a squat and picked up the box of tampons. Several scattered across the floor.
“What’s going on?” Giada stood at the threshold of the room.
“Nothing that concerns you.” I left the box on the shelf and went downstairs.
Ant and the others waited in the kitchen. “Has anyone seen her?”
