The Woman He Could Not Lose
853 Words
Chapter 10: The Woman He Could Not Lose
The first thing Alessandro noticed was the empty chair.
The second was the blood.
His blood ran cold.
“Where is Isabella?”
No one answered.
He turned sharply toward the men standing around the warehouse entrance.
“I asked where she was.”
One of his guards swallowed.
“We lost sight of her three minutes ago.”
Three minutes.
Alessandro looked toward the burning warehouse.
Flames climbed through the broken windows, throwing orange light across the night.
Smoke filled the air.
His heart began pounding.
“Three minutes?”
“Yes, boss.”
“You had one job.”
The guard lowered his head.
Alessandro grabbed him by the collar.
“Find her.”
“We're searching—”
“Search faster.”
He shoved the man away.
His men scattered.
Alessandro stood frozen for half a second.
He hated that feeling.
Not anger.
Not rage.
Fear.
Real fear.
The kind he hadn't felt since the night Luca died.
Only this time, the person missing wasn't his brother.
It was Isabella.
“Alessandro!”
He turned.
One of his men ran toward him.
“We found Marco's wife and daughter.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where is Isabella?”
The man's expression faltered.
“We haven't found her.”
Something inside Alessandro snapped.
“Then they're not important right now.”
The words came out harder than he intended.
He immediately hated himself for saying them.
They were important.
Of course, they were.
But all he could see was Isabella's face.
Her laugh.
Her stubbornness.
The way she looked at him when she thought he was hiding something.
The way she had held his hand earlier that evening.
He had spent years preparing himself to lose people.
He had never prepared himself for the possibility of losing her.
He reached for his phone.
“Track every vehicle that entered this area.”
His security chief nodded.
“Already doing it.”
“Lock down every road within two kilometers.”
“Yes, boss.”
“And find her phone.”
A pause.
“We can't.”
Alessandro's jaw tightened.
“Why?”
“It was destroyed.”
He closed his eyes.
For one terrible second, he imagined the worst.
A body.
Blood.
Her voice calling his name.
No.
He refused to finish the thought.
“I don't care how many men you need.”
He opened his eyes.
“Bring her back.”
A sudden movement caught his attention.
A figure emerged from the smoke.
Alessandro reached for his weapon.
“Boss!”
The figure stumbled forward.
It was one of his guards.
He was bleeding.
“Where is she?”
The man struggled to breathe.
“They took her.”
The world seemed to stop.
“Who?”
“Three men.”
“Which direction?”
The guard pointed toward the forest.
Alessandro was already moving.
His security chief caught his arm.
“Boss, wait.”
Alessandro ripped his arm free.
“No.”
“It's a trap.”
“I know.”
“You can't go alone.”
“I'm not alone.”
He looked at the men behind him.
“Every car. Every man. Move.”
Then he heard it.
A phone ringing.
Not his.
A second phone lay on the ground near the warehouse.
Alessandro picked it up.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Where is she?”
A man's voice came through.
“You sound worried.”
Alessandro's grip tightened around the phone.
“Touch her and—”
“You'll do what?”
A photograph appeared on the screen.
Isabella.
Her wrists were tied.
Her face was frightened.
But she was alive.
Alessandro stopped breathing.
“Where is she?”
The voice laughed softly.
“She has something we want.”
“What?”
“The truth.”
Alessandro stared at the photograph.
“What truth?”
“The truth about your father.”
The call ended.
He looked at the screen again.
Isabella had turned her face toward the camera.
There was fear in her eyes.
But beneath the fear was something else.
A warning.
She was trying to tell him something.
He zoomed in.
Her fingers were curled against the chair.
Three quick taps.
Then two.
Their code.
One he had taught her only days ago.
Danger. Don't come alone.
Alessandro's chest tightened.
She was thinking.
She was fighting.
She was still herself.
And that gave him something he desperately needed.
Hope.
He turned toward his men.
“Find her.”
His voice was calm now.
Terrifyingly calm.
“But nobody fires unless I give the order.”
His security chief stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because they're expecting the Shadow Don.”
Alessandro looked toward the dark forest.
“They're not getting him.”
He pocketed the phone.
“They're getting the man who loves her.”
And for the first time in years, Alessandro Moretti was no longer afraid of what his enemies could take from him.
He was afraid of what he would become if they hurt her.
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