Page 130 of The Hitman's Secret Baby
"No. She wouldn't leave him. Not unless someone made her."
He rises slowly, setting the untouched glass down on the table beside him. "Round up the men," he says.
I nod once. "Already moving."
Within the hour, every soldier within reach has been called. Search parties fan out from the estate gates, flashlights slicingthrough the night. Dogs bark at the edge of the orchard. The guards at the perimeter gates swear they saw nothing. That no one came or went.
Giovanni appears not long after, buttoning his jacket as he approaches.
"Heard the news," he says, adjusting his cufflinks. "Tell me where you need me."
"Check the west corridor," I say. "Speak to the kitchen. The maids. Anyone who saw her past sundown."
"Of course," he says, and vanishes into the shadowed hall. But as one hour bleeds into two, and there is no sign of Aria, my mind begins to unravel.
The dark sky turns silver at the edges, but there's no trace of her. No sound. No sign. I sit on the back steps with Gabriel nestled in my arms, his small body shaking with silent sobs, the lion clutched to his chest now damp with tears. My hands rub slow circles on his back.
"She said we'd find a new school today," he whispers. "She promised."
I close my eyes. My throat feels raw. "We'll find her."
The boy nods, but I feel the doubt in his silence. He's old enough to know when grown-ups are lying.
"Enzo?"
I look up to see Valentina approaching.
She is barefoot, her silk robe trailing over the dew-soaked stones as she moves through the garden, a silver bowl in one hand, delicate shears in the other.
I watch her pause by the jasmine, her fingers ghosting over the petals before she looks up and sees us. "He shouldn't be outside," she says, voice soft. "It's too cold."
"He needed air," I murmur.
She kneels, setting the bowl aside, and brushes Gabriel's hair back from his face. "What happened?"
I rub my eyes, the fatigue behind them sharp as grit. My palm lingers at the bridge of my nose, pressing hard, as if that might steady the world that feels one breath from tipping.
"She vanished sometime after dusk," I murmur. My voice scrapes low, nearly a growl. "No one saw her leave."
Valentina's brows crease with something colder than worry.
"But I saw her. Just after sundown. We spoke."
The words snap my attention to her like a tether yanked tight. I straighten, one hand tightening around Gabriel's small shoulder where he sits tucked close to my side. "About what?"
She shifts slightly, her silk robe trailing over the flagstones as she crouches to gather the petals that have spilled beside her feet.
The bowl had tipped without notice, a mess of marigold and white roses strewn like prayers never uttered.
Her fingers still among the flowers, but her voice stays steady.
"Life," she says. "The house. She asked about Luca's routines…about your work. She seemed calm. But then she asked about family life here. About how things had changed."
My stomach knots. "Go on."
Valentina glances up. Her gaze narrows as if recalling the texture of the conversation, not just the words. "She asked about Giovanni."
That name lands like a stone in water. I can feel the surface break. Feel something beneath start to churn. A sharp ache rises in my chest, old instincts roaring to life. "What did she say?"
