Matteo
I had no idea how they kept finding their way into the estate without anyone ever catching them.
“Help me get her out, and I’ll do anything you want.”
Valentina’s words from earlier still rang in my brain. She was at her breaking point now, and I could feel the weight of it pressing down on both of us.
My wife was willing to bargain everything for her sister.
A woman I was supposed to save the moment she went missing.
Ethan’s apartment complex was our next stop, a necessary step to get Valentina away from the estate.
Too many fucking times had someone slipped into the estate without my knowledge, and it infuriated me that it kept putting Valentina at risk.
She was a weakness I couldn’t let the others figure out.
I spared a glance at her for a moment, my heart clenching at the familiar blond locks I loved to play with or just hold tight when we were in bed. Her grey eyes were closed, and her chest rose up and down softly.
She was asleep.
Valentina didn’t know what she would walk into if she took this case from me. There were players in this game who had their sights on more than she could ever offer.
She thought I had no idea she wanted to find her sister herself. How could I not? When she wears her thoughts like a book.
When we left the party that night, I’d already Jackson to trace Isabella’s movements and report everything back. I needed answers before I could declare Isabella was an innocent.
Right now, my priority was getting Valentina somewhere secure.
I answered his call the moment it came through, his voice hoarse as always.
“Ready?” I asked, my voice low.
“Always.” He replied, stepping forward. “Ethan is probably ready. He’s in town, and the apartment has been prepped.”
I nodded, glancing back at the empty road one last time.
Ethan’s safe house was nestled in the hills outside the city, far enough from prying eyes but close enough for me to reach her whenever I needed.
Not that distance could keep me away from Tesoro.
My treasure.
Ethan had always had a penchant for privacy, which became even worse when he married Valerie. This little place reflected that – a sprawling modern house surrounded by dense forest, practically invisible unless you knew where to look.
Valentina stepped out of the car, her eyes scanning the property warily. Well, she hadn’t been sleeping.
She didn’t say anything, but I could see the questions forming behind her eyes.
“This is where we’ll stay for now.” I said, placing a hand on her back and guiding her forward. She leaned into my touch, letting me inhale that strawberry shampoo she must have used on her hair again.
My cock twitched at that.
Ethan greeted us at the door, his usual smirk replaced with something more serious. The wife, Valerie, was nowhere in sight, likely tucked away in one of the rooms upstairs with their barely one month old son.
“Everything’s set,” Ethan said, stepping aside to let us in. “Hey Valentina,” He greeted her softly, before his eye landed back on me.
“We need to talk.” They seemed to say.
I gave him a quick nod, turning to Valentina. “Get some rest. Hopefully, we won’t be here long.”
Her grey eyes met mine, searching for some kind of reassurance. “You’ll find Isabella?”
“I’m working on it,” I replied, keeping my tone light. I couldn’t tell her more than that right now. “Just trust me.”
Her lips pressed into a thin line, but she nodded reluctantly before heading upstairs. The tension in her shoulders told me everything – she didn’t fully believe me, but she had no other choice.
Once she was out of sight, Ethan and I moved into the den, where Jackson was already waiting with his laptop open. He had been tracking movements all night, trying to piece together Isabella’s last known whereabouts.
“Got anything?” I asked, dropping into the leather armchair opposite him.
Jackson nodded, his fingers tapping away on the keyboard. “She was seen a few yards away from the museum the party happened, close to a bar. The cameras picked up a man who looked a bit like your brother.”
Luca.
I clenched my jaw, the name sparking an immediate surge of anger. Luca and I had a chess match in a few days, the half brother who had been nothing but a thorn in my side since the incident years back.
He always had a knack for stirring trouble.
“It can’t be him.” I said, voice low. “What would he want to do with Isabella?”
Ethan leaned against the wall, his arms crossed as he watched me carefully. “Luca always wanted the things you had. Toys, books, friends, maybe even your betrothed.”
It hadn’t been confirmed that it was him, yet Ethan was fast to jump on his hate bandwagon.
“Did the man approach her?” I asked Jackson, turning away from Ethan.
Jackson brought up footage from a street close to the museum, a grainy image of Isabella standing close to a dude who wore a black suit and had his lips spread apart in a smile. The next picture involved him placing a kiss on her lips.
The last picture involved him looking at the place where the camera was. A large grin on his face.
It wasn’t a man who looked like Luca.
I would recognize those green eyes that haunted me every night. Eyes that looked so much like our father.
It was Luca.
“What the hell is happening here?” I growled, moving far away from the pictures.
“He knew where she was from the start,” Ethan said, shaking his head. “That wasn’t just a casual exchange.”
“And Isabella’s in the middle of it.” I pushed back from the table, pacing the room. “Damn it.”
“Matteo,” Jackson said carefully. “Whatever Luca had planned, he has executed it carefully. He knew you’ll fall into his trap.”
I stopped pacing, my mind reeling from the fact that Luca had contact with Isabella that night.
It could all be for naught. Perhaps that night was the first time he was seeing her.
Perhaps it was a love confession.
I glanced upstairs, knowing Valentina was up there, waiting for answers I didn’t have yet. If she knew Luca was behind her sister’s disappearance, which led to me marrying her, it would lead to her pretty mind jumping into conclusions.
“I’ll deal with Luca,” I said, my voice cold. “If he has Isabella, I would know.”
“Like you knew when he had her before?” Ethan mocked, his eyes narrowed with anger. “Luca is a mad man. And the sooner you realize that, the better.”
I didn’t bother giving him a reply.
As I made my way upstairs to check on Valentina, I couldn’t shake the feeling that everything wasn’t going to go the way I wanted it to.
Luca was still my brother. I hoped be really didn’t have any arrangements with Isabella.
When I reached the door to the room that was supposed to be hours, I paused, taking a deep breath before pushing it open.
Valentina was sitting on the edge of the bed, her eyes distant as she stared at the floor.
She looked up as I entered, her expression unreadable.
“Did you find anything?” she asked softly, her voice laced with hope and fear.
I couldn’t tell her everything, not yet. Not until I knew how deep Luca’s game went.
“Not yet,” I lied, moving to sit beside her. “But we’re close.”
Her shoulders sagged slightly, the weight of everything pressing down on her. She looked like a little doll, battling to keep her emotions from showing on her face.
I wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close. She didn’t resist, snuggling even closer to me with her eyes closed.
Whoever she had seen in our room back at the estate had really gotten her spooked.
“Whatever happens,” I said quietly, “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Valentina nodded, but I knew she didn’t fully believe me.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure I believed myself either. Not when I had this text from my uncle burning into my phone.
“You have some explanations to do.”