010: Find her
1468 Words
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Gavino
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The ride back from Milan was too damn quiet. Jackson was beside me, eyes glued to his phone, probably checking updates on the shipments we left behind. I didn’t say a word the entire drive. My head was heavy, not from work—just that familiar restlessness that came whenever I thought of her. Neza. The stubborn little fox who’d rather die than follow simple instructions.
The car rolled through the gates of the Blodwyn estate. The guards straightened when they saw me, one of them fumbling his salute like he was caught sleeping. My jaw clenched. Three f*****g days away and already they looked nervous. That never meant anything good.
“Go get my bags upstairs,” I said to the driver as I stepped out. “And make sure the keys stay in the ignition. I’m not staying long.”
Jackson followed me up the steps. “You sure you don’t want to check in with the old man first?”
“Later,” I said, not slowing down. “I want to see if the wildcat learned to behave.”
I expected to hear something when I opened the door—shouting, maybe the sound of her kicking furniture like she always did when she was pissed. But the room was too damn quiet. The curtains were drawn halfway, sunlight slicing across the floor. Her bed was rough, the tray of food on the table was untouched, and there was a broken glass near the door.
I frowned and turned to the guard standing by the wall. “Where the hell is she?”
He swallowed hard. “In the bathroom, sir. She asked to—”
“Cut the bullshit.” I pushed the door open myself. Empty. Clean. Nothing but the faint scent of soap and her perfume. My gut tightened. I turned slowly, staring at the i***t guard. “You want to try that again?”
He froze. His partner shifted beside him, eyes darting to the floor.
“Boss, we… we checked the room this morning. She was still here,” the second one stammered.
“And now?” I asked quietly.
“She… she must’ve climbed out the window. We thought the bars—”
“You thought.” I laughed, low and humorless. “You thought.” I grabbed the first guard by the collar and slammed him against the wall. “You’re telling me the girl I locked in this goddamn room walked out past both of you, and all you did was f*****g think?”
“Gavino—” Jackson’s voice cut through from behind me, calm but warning.
“Don’t,” I said sharply, not looking at him. My blood was boiling too hot to hear reasons. I dragged the guard to the center of the room and shoved him to his knees. The other one tried to back away, but Jackson blocked him.
“Bring me my knife,” I said quietly.
Jackson exhaled, long and tired. “Gavino…”
“Now.”
He hesitated, then reached for the blade tucked at his waist and handed it over. I crouched down in front of the first guard, who was shaking so bad his teeth clattered.
“Three days,” I said softly. “That’s how long I was gone. You had one job. One f*****g job. To watch her. And you couldn’t even do that.”
“Please, boss—”
The sound of the blade cutting air drowned his begging. His scream came a second later. Blood spattered across the polished floor. Jackson turned his face away for a moment, but I didn’t stop. I wasn’t doing it for satisfaction, it was about principle.
The second guard’s knees gave out before I even touched him. “Boss, I swear—”
“You swear?” I stood and kicked the chair near the wall, the crash echoing through the hall. “You swore when I saved your ass from death's door, you useless piece of s**t. I trusted you with what’s mine.” I gestured toward the window. “Does it look like you kept your promise?”
He shook his head fast, face pale. I grabbed his hand, forced it down against the table, and sliced through the top of his finger clean. He screamed, gripping his wrist as blood dripped down his sleeve.
Jackson finally spoke, voice tight. “That’s enough. They’ve learned their lesson.”
I threw the knife onto the floor, chest rising and falling hard. “Lesson learned my ass. I should have your men shot for this.”
He didn’t reply. Just gave a nod to one of the other guards outside. Two of them came in and dragged the injured ones away. Their cries faded down the corridor.
The silence after that was loud. I paced the room, anger twisting in my gut. The window was wide open, bars bent like she’d used a tool. There was a torn bedsheet tied to the railing. Clever little b***h.
Jackson leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms. “She’s been planning this for days. You can tell from the work on the bars. Whoever helped her knew what they were doing.”
“She didn’t have help,” I said through my teeth. “If she did, I’d have known. Nobody walks in or out of this place without my eyes on them.”
“Still,” he said, shrugging, “she’s not the type to climb walls barefoot. She had something set up.”
I rubbed my face, pacing again. My heart was hammering. “Find her. I don’t care how long it takes, Jackson. Track every contact she ever had. The florist, the f*****g delivery guy, bring Signora to me. Anyone who ever breathed near her, get them here.”
He nodded. “I’ll get the tech team on her trail, check the security footage first. If she made it to the street, we’ll catch her on camera.”
“She won’t get far.” My voice came out flat, colder than I meant. I looked around the room again.
He didn’t argue, just gave a small nod and pulled his phone from his pocket, stepping aside to make a few calls. I stood in the middle of the room, staring at the spot where she used to stand screaming at me. The anger in her eyes when I cornered her last—she’d sworn she’d never be my captive.
Now she was proving it.
I grabbed the tray from the table and hurled it at the wall. The plate shattered, splinters of porcelain scattering across the floor. My chest rose and fell hard. “f*****g unbelievable,” I muttered.
Jackson ended his call. “We’ll start from the gates, work outward. I’ll have the men sweep every road out of town. If she’s still in the city, we’ll know before dawn.”
I nodded, trying to steady my breathing. “She was raised by Blodwyns, she's smart Jackson,” I said, turning to him. “It won't be that easy.”
“Understood.”
I ran my hand through my hair and sat on the edge of the bed. The sheets still smelled faintly of her perfume—soft, floral, too damn distracting. For a moment, all the rage flickered into something else, something that twisted in my gut. I pushed it away fast.
“She’ll regret this,” I said quietly, staring at the window. “She thinks she’s free. Dear Sister, are we playing the chase right now?”
Jackson’s voice came steady from the doorway. “We’ll find her.”
I looked up at him, then at the blood on the floor. “You better. Because until she’s back in this house, nobody sleeps.”
He nodded once, left to rally the men.
When the door closed, I stayed there for a long while, staring at the open window. My reflection looked back at me in the glass, calm on the surface, but my hands were still shaking. I grabbed the nearest lamp and threw it. It hit the wall, burst into pieces.
“f*****g hell,” I muttered, rubbing the back of my neck. The anger was still there, crawling under my skin.
I didn’t let myself think too long about it. Instead, I walked out, leaving the mess behind.
By the time I reached my room, the whole place came alive with tension.
I lit a cigarette, exhaling slowly as I watched the smoke curl into the night air.
“Run all you want, sweetheart,” I muttered to myself. “You can’t hide from me.”
The ember glowed red between my fingers before I flicked it to the ground and walked away.
- Writer
