CHAPTER 28 — BEFORE HE BECAME THIS
908 Words
📖 CHAPTER 28 — BEFORE HE BECAME THIS
POV: ALESSANDRO
I stopped sleeping properly after she left.
Not because I couldn’t.
Because I didn’t want to close my eyes in a world where she wasn’t somewhere inside it.
Every hour felt wrong.
Every silence felt louder.
Every report felt useless unless it brought me closer to her.
---
Marco stood near the desk, watching me carefully like he was waiting for the moment I broke completely.
I wasn’t going to break.
That wasn’t how I worked.
I dismantled things.
People.
Systems.
Problems.
And Sera had become the only problem I could not solve quickly enough.
---
“We tracked a false lead near the eastern checkpoint,” Marco said.
I didn’t look up from the map.
“False.”
“Yes.”
I exhaled slowly.
They were moving her intelligently.
Which meant she wasn’t alone.
Or she had help.
Either option made things worse.
---
“Keep expanding the perimeter,” I said quietly.
Marco hesitated. “At this point you’re locking down half the region.”
“Then lock it all down.”
My voice didn’t rise.
It didn’t need to.
The room already understood.
---
One of the men stepped forward carefully.
“Boss… Lucien De Luca has been moving unusually fast.”
That made me pause slightly.
Slowly, I looked up.
“Lucien.”
“Yes. His organization has been asking about supply disruptions in our northern routes.”
My jaw tightened once.
Not because Lucien mattered more than Sera.
But because timing mattered.
And Lucien never moved without reason.
---
“Watch him,” I said flatly.
Marco nodded. “Already done.”
Good.
Because Lucien De Luca didn’t interfere unless something interested him.
And Sera—
Sera interested too many people.
That was the problem.
---
The room cleared gradually as reports continued coming in.
False sightings.
Dead ends.
Empty roads.
No trace.
No pattern.
Nothing clean enough to follow.
---
I stood alone in the office long after everyone left.
The silence felt heavier than usual.
My fingers rested against the edge of the desk while my eyes stayed on the map pinned in front of me.
Every route.
Every checkpoint.
Every possible escape direction.
She had thought this through.
That realization didn’t frustrate me.
It impressed me.
And that was dangerous.
---
My hand tightened slightly.
Because I knew Sera.
Not fully.
Not completely.
But enough.
She didn’t run like someone escaping danger alone.
She ran like someone choosing survival.
Which meant fear wasn’t her only motivation.
Something else was.
Something deeper.
---
My thoughts drifted before I could stop them.
To her sitting on the couch during storms.
To the way she looked at me when she thought I wasn’t paying attention.
To the way she relaxed against my side when she thought I wouldn’t notice.
To the way she said my name quietly when she was unsure of something.
And suddenly—
the silence in the room felt unbearable.
---
I leaned back slowly.
And for the first time since she left…
I let myself remember something I had buried for years.
---
I was younger then.
Not yet what I became.
Not yet someone people feared enough to lower their voices around.
I remember blood more than faces.
Training more than childhood.
My father’s voice more than comfort.
“You don’t hesitate.”
“You don’t feel.”
“You don’t break.”
---
Pain was normal.
Silence was normal.
Fear was useful.
Love was useless.
That was what I was taught.
That was what shaped me.
---
I remember falling once during training.
My arm fractured badly.
I didn’t make a sound.
I was taught not to.
But Isabella cried anyway when she saw me later.
Small.
Scared.
Confused.
I told her softly:
“It doesn’t hurt.”
Even though it did.
---
Because that was what survival looked like.
Hide everything that made you weak.
---
The memory faded slowly.
And when it did…
Sera appeared in its place.
Not loud.
Not demanding.
Just present.
Soft where my world was sharp.
Quiet where mine was loud.
She didn’t fear me the way others did.
She looked at me like I was something she could understand.
That was the moment everything changed.
Not when she saved me.
Not when I took her.
But when she looked at me like I was still human.
---
My hand tightened again against the desk.
Because I understood something now.
I didn’t just want her safe.
I wanted her near me.
And I didn’t know when that changed.
Or how.
Or why it mattered this much.
---
Marco entered quietly.
I didn’t look up.
“We found a possible contact she may have used.”
That pulled my attention instantly.
“Who.”
“Emma.”
Silence.
Then colder—
“Bring her in.”
Marco hesitated slightly.
“She’s not a target.”
“She is if she knows where Sera is.”
My voice stayed calm.
But something inside it had already shifted.
---
After Marco left, I stood slowly.
Walking toward the window.
Outside, the estate looked the same.
Controlled.
Silent.
Secure.
But inside me…
something was not.
---
Because for the first time since Sera disappeared—
I understood something clearly.
This wasn’t just about finding her anymore.
It was about what I would become if I didn’t.
And worse…
what I would do when I did.
- Writer
