Page 94 of His Savage Ruin
"Where is she?" I cut him off because I don't have time for explanations or excuses, I need to know where Alessia is and I need to know right now. "Where's Alessia?"
His throat works as he swallows, and I can see sweat beading at his temples even though the hallway isn't warm. "She had breakfast withSignorinaIsabella in the sitting room this morning, but?—"
The sitting room. She was in the sitting room having breakfast when I specifically told Romeo and Marco that she was not to leave this bedroom, that she was to stay here where I could control who had access to her and what they might do.
"I told Romeo she was not to leave this room." My voice comes out dangerously quiet, and the guard takes a step back. "I gave explicit orders that she was to stay here until I personally came to get her. So why was she having breakfast in the sitting room?"
"I don't know, sir. I wasn't on this detail, I was stationed downstairs and I only came up because?—"
"Where is she now?" I step closer to him, and he backs up until his shoulders hit the wall behind him with a soft thump. "Where's Alessia, where's Romeo, and where the fuck is Marco?"
"That's what I was coming to tell you." His voice shakes slightly, and I can smell the fear on him mixed with the standard-issuecologne all my guards seem to wear. "They're gone. All three of them. Signorina Isabella came back from her phone call and found the sitting room empty except for the breakfast dishes, and when she asked the guards downstairs where everyone went, nobody knew. We've been searching the estate for the past twenty minutes but there's no sign of any of them.SignorinaIsabella is panicking."
I don’t waste another second. I’m already moving through the hallways, my mind racing through possibilities and scenarios, trying to figure out how this happened under my own roof with my own men supposedly protecting her.
The sitting room is on the second floor with windows overlooking the garden, and I can smell coffee and pastries before we even reach the doorway. The guard gestures inside without entering himself, probably smart enough to know I want space to process whatever I'm about to find.
The breakfast setup is still there on the small table by the windows but there’s nothing here to help me find Alessia.
Romeo and Marco were supposed to be guarding her. They were supposed to keep her in the bedroom where she'd be safe, where I could control access and make sure nothing like this happened. Instead, they let her go to breakfast, probably walked her down here themselves, and then disappeared along with her.
Which means at least one of them might be involved and I'd bet every fucking thing I own that it's Marco.
A white envelope sits propped against the coffee pot, and I grab it because I know what this is before I even tear it open. The paper is expensive and my name is written across the front in handwriting I don't recognize.
I rip it open and pull out the single sheet inside:
Don Romano,
I believe we have something to discuss regarding your recent acquisition. I'm sure you've noticed by now that your new bride is no longer enjoying your hospitality. She's currently enjoying mine instead, and I assure you she's being treated with all the care appropriate to a member of the Moretti family.
If you want to see her again, you'll come alone to the address below. No weapons, no backup, no clever plans. Just you, me, and a conversation between reasonable men about how we resolve this situation.
You have until midnight. After that, I can't guarantee Alessia's continued good health.
—Don Emilio Moretti
P.S. Don't bother trying to trace her location through your usual methods. By the time you figure out where she is, it will be far too late.
The address is written at the bottom—some warehouse in the industrial district, probably chosen specifically because it's isolated.
He wants me alone and unarmed, which means he's planning to kill me the second I walk through whatever door he's chosen for this meeting. But none of that matters because he has Alessia, and I'm going to get her back regardless of what it costs me.
My phone is already in my hand, and I'm dialing Enzo because I need my Brotherhood here now.
"Matteo?" He answers on the first ring.
"Get to the estate immediately. Bring Luca, Rafael, and Dante. Alessia's been taken."
"We're ten minutes out." I can hear him relaying orders to whoever's nearby, voices overlapping in the background. "Don't do anything until we get there."
My phone buzzes with a message from an unknown number, and my thumb hovers over it for a second because I know this is going to be bad. I know that Emilio wouldn't send me something unless it was meant to hurt. But I open it anyway because I need to see what he's done to her.
The image shows Alessia sitting in a chair with her wrists bound to the armrests. Her head is down like she's either unconscious or too drugged to hold it up properly, and there's a bruiseforming on her cheekbone that makes rage flood through me so hot and immediate I have to grip the phone tighter to keep from throwing it against the wall.
Below the photo, a message:Tick tock, Don Romano. The clock is running, and your bride is getting tired of waiting.
Footsteps echo in the hallway, multiple sets moving fast, and my Brotherhood pours into the sitting room looking alert and ready for violence. Enzo's eyes go immediately to the letter still clutched in my hand, and Luca scans the room like he's looking for threats even though the danger has already come and gone.
