Page 92 of Beautiful Devil

I give him a brief nod, letting him know to continue.

“It was Dante. He railroaded you, and no surprise, he was behind the warehouse fire, too.”

Even though deep down I suspected he was behind it, I’m pissed as fuck that this bastard won’t lie the fuck down already. Before I can say a word, Luca jumps in.

“Did, uhhh, did you happen to read through the file I gave you on Mrs. Moretti yesterday yet?”

“Not that it's any of your concern, but no, I was going to talk to her first. Can you get her from the kitchen?”

“She's not awake yet, boss.”

As his words hit my ears, panic begins to curl in my stomach.

“She's not in bed. She was awake before me this morning.”

His eyes widen as he swallows loudly.

“I haven’t seen her this morning, boss. I came straight from the kitchen with Maria, and she wasn’t there.”

“Check the kitchen again, and the garden,” I bark as I run out of the office and up the stairs toward our bedroom. I almost bust the door down as I enter, frantic as I check the ensuite and walk-in closet. Nothing. I run in next door, thinking perhaps she’s gone back to her old room to avoid me, but it’s empty. The bed sits perfectly made, and the bathroom and walk-in closet are empty too.

I start to break out in a cold sweat as I head back downstairs, to the gardens. I shout her name, and as I round the corner toward the back of the house, I see Luca come into view with Marco by his side.

“No one saw her this morning, Fab.”

A cold sweat starts to run down my neck and back. Where the fuck could she be? She has to be here somewhere. There's no way anyone could have gotten in here.

“We need to check the cameras,” I say.

The three of us take off back to my office. When we arrive, I switch on the TV screens, watching as they fill with images of the CCTV cameras in the compound.

My eyes quickly scan over the screen.

“Holy shit,” Luca whispers.

“What? What is it?”

“The cameras. Look here. They’ve been hacked. Someone’s tampered with the system. There are three cameras that have been turned off,” he replies.

A cold sweat breaks out across my forehead. There’s no question in my mind who's behind this. Luca has that shit wrapped up so fucking tight, I’m surprised Dante has anyone smart enough on his payroll to hack my system. Luca leans over and begins to get to work, turning the cameras back on.

“Yep, looks like somehow someone got through the system. They turned off the camera outside your bedroom, and by the looks of it, a couple more. The one outside your office and another by the door on the east side entrance are both off.”

The thought that some of Dante’s men made their way into my home undetected makes my skin crawl.

Those bastards.

I’ll get him for this. As if entering my home wasn’t bad enough, he also took the one thing that has brought happiness into my life lately. A lump starts to form in my throat at the thought of what thatstronzo,Dante, could have possibly done to mydolcezza. I can’t believe I let him take her from me.

We watch the cameras, hoping that by some small miracle, we might be able to find something somewhere on what the fuck has happened here. Whoever this was, they knew what they were doing.

As if the universe hears me, a few seconds later we see headlights appear in the corner of one of the outside cameras. Luca zooms in to see two men carrying something. They move closer to the car and we get a better look. My stomach bottoms out and the rage I feel is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. When I think my rage can't get any more, an all too familiar face appears closer to the camera with a smug look, and I almost explode. Antonio, Dante's second in command, smiling into the camera as two other men haulmy wifeinto the back of their car.

“Sir, did you read that file?”

“No, I haven’t read the fucking file, Luca. In case you didn’t realize, I have more pressing issues right now.”

He reaches for the folder, opens it up, finds what he’s looking for, and sets it down in front of me. “You need to see this, boss.”

---