The silence in the penthouse was no longer just an absence of noise; it was a living thing. It sat on Evelina’s chest, heavy and cold, making every breath a conscious effort.
Two hours had passed since Dante had walked out of the kitchen, leaving her with the news that Chloe was gone, vanished into the black hole of his security apparatus.
Evelina hadn’t moved from the kitchen floor. She sat with her back against the cabinets, her legs drawn up. She wasn’t crying anymore. She had passed the point of tears and entered a state of numb, vibrating shock.
He took her.
The thought looped in her mind. It wasn’t just that Chloe was moved; it was the totality of it. Dante controlled the doctors. He controlled the medicine. He controlled the air Chloe breathed. And now, because her father had go
