25. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Gabo Godoy

W hen I land in Geneva, Vicente is waiting for me on the tarmac. It's been hours since we first learned about Bella, and we don't know anything new. I feel like my heart is going to jump out of my chest.

"Hey, bro. How are you holding up?" Vicente asks, concern evident in his usually blank face.

"I want to burn the world down to find her. Who the fuck would want to hurt Bella?"

"Whoever has her is a professional. I asked Rocco and Aldo to wait for you to get here so they could debrief us together."

Hearing their names brings a new wave of anger. I've trusted all these men with my life for years. How could they fail with Bella in their charge?

"Don't overthink this, bro. They are being hard on themselves, already. They didn't do anything wrong."

"Let me stop you right there, Vicente. First of all, you're not their savior, and second, they must have done something wrong because Bella isn't where she was supposed to be."

Vicente sighs in frustration, but I can't be bothered. My brain is laser-focused on finding Bella.

Mario leads us to a waiting car, and I get in with Vicente.

"Mario, any news?" I feel like a broken record, but I'm blind, and I cannot take it.

"No, boss, but I already contacted Interpol. They are working on restoring the video feed from the hotel."

I nod as I bite my thumbnail. The stress is killing me.

"What about the gala? Has anyone checked there?"

Silence.

"Mario, what the actual fuck? How long have you been in the security business?"

"Twenty years, boss."

"Twenty fucking years and so far you haven't done anything to find Bella?" I shout, and Vicente flinches next to me.

"Bro, you're mad. I get it, but remember, everyone here is trying to help. Being angry and behaving like an ass won't bring Isa back any faster."

"Since when are you the voice of reason?" I ask Vicente, hating that he's right.

"Ever since my brother started losing his mind, I've had to be whatever he needs me to be," he says, giving me a pat on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Mario. I have no excuse for yelling at you. You have been a remarkable employee. I'm just worried sick about her."

"Don't worry, boss. We'll find her." I nod at him—I hope he's right because she has become everything to me. I'm not sure I know how to do life without her anymore.

"Has anyone contacted Dominic and Luigi?" I completely forgot I had asked Dom to come, driving the same route Bella used.

"Yes, boss. I instructed Luigi to be on standby. There's no need for them to retrace the steps from Bologna," Mario informs me, which seems logical. I'll have to give Dom a vintage bottle of wine as a thanks for always having my back.

We get to the hotel and head to Bella's room. The moment we enter, a pang of panic invades me. Her gala clothes are displayed on her bed. She was getting ready to go, but she never made it there. When I enter the bathroom, all her makeup is on the counter. I can smell her perfume—citrus and flowers. When I see the necklace I gave her on the counter, tears start running down my face.

God, I might not be a devoted believer, but please keep her safe and help me find her. Bring her back to me.

"Hey, Aldo and Rocco are here," Vicente informs me.

I wipe the moisture off my face before making my way to the suite's living room.

"Boss," they say in unison as they get up to greet me. My hands form fists inside my pockets as I nod at them, and they nod back.

"There is nothing that can justify what happened to Miss Bianchi. We were in contact with her the entire time. The only time we didn't have eyes on her was when she was in her room. Other than that, we were always with her," Rocco begins.

"And the bathroom, we didn't go in there with her," Aldo adds.

Rocco hits him in the ribs with his elbow. "That goes without saying, idiota ."

Mario and Vicente laugh, I would have, too, if Bella were here with me.

"I'm sorry, boss," Aldo says without lifting his gaze.

"Anyway, as I was saying. We always had eyes on her. We spoke with Miss Bianchi two hours before the gala. She said she would let us know when she was ready to go.

"Five minutes later, we got room service. Even though we didn't order it, it came with a note from Miss Bianchi. We didn't think anything of it since she's always so nice to us, so we decided to eat before going to the gala. Next thing we know, we were being woken up by the hotel management under Mario's order." Rocco finishes his retelling, and even though I want to be mad at them, I can't. I would have eaten the damn food, as well.

"So one thing we know is that whoever has her knows her well. They knew about her security and how her relationship is with you guys," I say. There's a knock on the door, and Mario goes to open it.

"My contact from Interpol is here," he announces as a tall man in uniform enters the room.

"Mr. Godoy, I'm Francois Dubois."

I extend my hand to greet him, and I see Vicente is ready to shake hands with the officer, as well. I guess it isn't often that there's more than one Godoy in the same room.

"We were able to recover the hotel security feed. The person who deleted it made a mistake, and that's the only reason we could recover it. From the footage, we can tell it's a team."

"Can we see it?" I ask, already making my way to the door.

"Yes, of course. Here." Officer Dubois clicks a tablet screen a few times. I'm not sure how I missed that he was holding it.

He passes the tablet to me, with Vicente on one side and Mario on the other. The screen shows a feed from the elevator. Bella seems asleep, and a man is holding her up on each side. She's wearing one of the comfy fleece tracksuits she loves, but her hair is in a pretty bun. They get off on the third floor, and the feed switches to another camera. They head to the utility stairs, carrying Bella as if they aren't doing anything wrong.

The next feed is from the garage. They cover her with a white sheet, and panic rises within me. What did they give her? When they are about to exit the garage in a tiny car, I pause the video. Finally, we have a clear view of the men who took Bella. I can't believe my eyes. I look at Vicente, wondering if I'm imagining things, but his face is as aghast as I'm sure mine is.

"I cannot fucking believe this," I manage to say.

Rocco and Aldo come to watch the video, and when they look at the screen, they seem surprised.

"That's Bella's instructor, Professor López," Rocco says.

"Fuck." Vicente lets out the curse with a deep rumble. "No, Rocco. That's Max von Willer. He was a family friend back in Chile and was blackmailing our sister when she and Luca met. Luca ended up unmasking him and bought his family's vineyard since they had to flee Chile—he was in deep shit with the mafia."

When I look around the hotel room, everyone's flabbergasted. Yeah, I would be, too, if I didn't know Bella is in real danger now.

"Okay, now that we have a name, what do we do? Bella is in danger," I say urgently. There's no time to waste. This man came for revenge.

"How the fuck did he find her? Did he pretend to be her teacher to get close to her?" Vicente asks no one in particular.

The fuck if I know. This seems to be too coincidental for my liking.

"The best thing you can do, Mr. Godoy, is to stay here and wait for any news. Maybe they'll call asking for ransom. I'm going to start my search with my team. I'll keep in touch," Officer Dubois says as he leaves the hotel room.

I'm about to protest when Vicente places his hand on my shoulder, silently telling me to remain quiet. I reluctantly follow his advice. I can't just sit here doing nothing while my Bella is out there with a crazy motherfucker.

"Mario, tell me you know people who can go on a hunt with us right now," I say as soon as Dubois leaves the room.

"Yes, boss. I contacted them the moment we landed."

"Good man, let's go. There's no time to waste."