Chapter 48

48

Massimo

The phone buzzing on my nightstand penetrates my sleep. I snap open my eyes, turning to find the space next to me on the bed is empty. Huh? I reach for my phone and answer it. "This had better be urgent."

"We lost her. I'm so sorry. One minute she was there; the next she was gone." Peter's voice is toneless.

The hair on the back of my neck rises. The fuck? I jerk my head back in the direction of the empty space next to me on the bed. Rake my gaze around the room and find the sleep shorts I tore off her are also gone. Fuck, fuck, fuck. How could I have not woken up when she left the bed?

"Where did she go? What do you mean you lost her?" I growl.

"She drove to the mall, and we followed her in. She walked into a store, and never came out."

"Why didn't you stop her from leaving the house?"

"Those were not our instructions, Sir."

He's right. I hadn't intended for her to be a prisoner. I merely wanted her to be protected, and for her to be followed everywhere.

"Have you tried her number?"

"She's not picking up," the man says warily.

"And you call yourself trained personnel? I'm going to have your head!" I lower the phone and take a deep breath. It won't help to blame these men. I need their help. I need to find her before that pezzo di merda Alvaro gets to her.

I raise the phone to my ear. "Get back to my house; I'll meet you downstairs."

I disconnect and try her number, but it goes to voicemail. Fuck! I raise my phone, ready to throw it across the room, then catch myself. Keep it together, stronzo , you need to stay calm and figure out what to do to ensure she's safe.

I call her once more, not surprised when she doesn't pick up. I hang up and call JJ Kane next. He listens to my update and promises he'll be here as soon as possible. I call Michael next, and when he answers I tell him Olivia is missing. Michael's not very complimentary about the fact that we lost her; he also assures me that he has additional men on their way to me already. Then, he tells me to be vigilant, before hanging up.

I toss the phone aside and take a quick shower. By the time I'm dressed and headed downstairs, the doorbell rings. I open it and JJ stands there, a scowl on his face.

"Jesus, Sovrano, didn't you tell your woman how important it was not to stray from her security detail?"

"And you think she'd listen to me?"

"You should have tied her up and kept her here until we found Alvaro."

"And have her hate me?"

"At least she would've been safe." He brushes past me and walks inside.

"Have you ever been in love?" I call after him.

"Are you kidding me?" He glances over his shoulder. "The only four-letter words in my life don't begin with L."

"Wait until you meet someone you fall for. Then you'll know how difficult it is to straddle that line between doing what's best for them, but not dictate their every action."

"That will never happen," his lips twist, "I've passed the age where I'm looking for love."

"That's when it always finds you."

He looks at me like I have gone crazy. "You okay, ol' chap?"

I shake my head. "Not really, no. I woke up to find my wife gone, and your men lost her." I stab a finger in his direction. "If anything happens to her?—"

"Hold on." He gestures toward the living room. "It's still early, but you look like you could do with a drink."

"I don't need you to manage me."

His brows draw down. "It would help if you'd calm down, so we can decide what to do next."

"I'm going to kill the men who let her out of their sight."

"And how is that going to help us find her? She knew she was under threat. She was there when Alvaro came over and threatened her. And yet, she chose to give her bodyguards the slip. Why is that?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know what goes on in her mind?" I drag my fingers through my hair. That drink was starting to sound very good right now.

"She's your wife, isn't she? Surely, you must know why she decided to leave home and run away?"

"Fuck!" I stomp through the living room and to the bar in the far corner. I pour the whiskey into a glass and chug it down. The alcohol bursts in my stomach, releasing a trail of warmth in its wake. I set the glass down and turn to him. "Maybe she wasn't very happy about the marriage?" Fuck knows why I'm saying that aloud, and to JJ. He's not family, but given my brothers are not here at the moment, he's the closest I have to a sounding board. Considering he used to be our rival once upon a time… It's strange that I have come to rely on him so much since getting here.

He tilts his head. "So, she didn't want to get married, I take it?"

"Something like that."

"But she did marry you anyway..."

"I didn't give her a choice," I squeeze the bridge of my nose, "I told her if she didn't marry me, we wouldn't extend our protection to her family."

"Leaving them vulnerable to all of their enemies." He whistles. "No wonder she's pissed at you."

"No way was I walking away from her. I did what I had to do to ensure she became mine."

"Yet, you didn't lock her down to prevent her from walking out on you."

"Things had improved between us since the wedding. I thought she was coming around to the idea of being my wife. I thought I wouldn't force her into doing anything else she didn't want to do, as a show of good faith."

He walks over to the bar and tops up my glass, then pulls out a glass for himself and pours whiskey into it. "You should realize there are no half-measures here, my friend. You started the ball rolling in a certain direction when you maneuvered her into marrying you. It's best you keep to that path until you've tied down her loyalty completely."

"How do I do that?"

He raises his glass in my direction. "Get her pregnant. Bind her to you in such an irreversible fashion that she's too preoccupied to think of escaping, and even if she wanted to, she wouldn't, for the good of the child."

I stare at him. "That would mean making it even more difficult for her to pursue her career as an actress."

"There are actresses who've had children," he points out.

"That profession is so fickle, and having children means she'd have to devote time to them, time that would take her away from following her dream."

"She's deferring it, not giving it up."

I scowl at him. "You sound like you've given this some thought."

"Unlike you, I don't have a heart." He tosses back the whiskey and places his glass on the table with a thunk. "And no, I've never been in a situation where I needed to strategize to keep a woman tied to me. All I did was think it through logically."

"Is that what you would do if you were in my situation?"

His lips twist. "Your woman is the most important thing to you, above anything else, right?"

I nod.

"You value her life more than her career, more than her right to choose, am I right?"

I glance away. Do I? She already hates me. Would I risk alienating her completely by binding her to me in this fashion? And then, she'll always be safe. And she'll be happy. I'll make sure she's happy.

I turn to JJ. "What do we do next?"