BIANCA’S POVAs I moved to check who was at the door through the intercom, any thought that it could be Maria vanished from my head. Maria wouldn’t know I was back home, so she wouldn’t bother with the doorbell. A peek at the outdoor camera showed me that there were at least five burly men in suits standing outside, alongside Hector.Fear seized me, but Hector didn’t look scared; he was conversing with one of the men. Still, I had to make sure my baby was safe, so I sent him upstairs first, leaving the men at the door without a response until I saw his little legs disappear above the stairs.“Who is it?” I asked calmly, keeping the tremor out of my voice. Did Matteo send men to take me? It didn’t seem out of character for him.“We are Mr. Moretti’s men, Miss Rossi,” a deep baritone called out. He was the one Hector was conversing with before. Alessandro’s men? A sudden surge of anger took over me. Did he send his men over because I left him abruptly? Were the men here to bring me back
BIANCA’S POV*A week later*“Madam Rossi, do you have any holdups?” I was jerked out of my thoughts by the voice of the deputy director of one of the branches of my company. I blinked and looked at her face clearly; she was in charge of Nirvania, the branch in France. I did indeed have a lot of holdups with their branch. They had let other brands get ahead of them during the last fashion week. I couldn’t muster up the energy to begin to recount all their mistakes. However, I was sure everyone in the conference room realized how distraught I was during the meeting. “I’ll send an email; let’s close this meeting,” I said tiredly. The people gathered around the table began to protest. I didn’t blame them—most of them had traveled over from their various branches, ready to curry extra favor. But I wasn’t in the best frame of mind for anything related to work right then. Thankfully, Darren shut their protests down quickly enough. “The boss has preoccupations to get to. We will inform
BIANCA’S POV“Wh-what?! Is Luca okay?! Let me talk to my baby!” I exclaimed, my heart racing. I didn’t care about any identification at that point; I needed to know if my baby was okay.“The young Mr. Rossi is perfectly alright, ma’am,” the man assured me. My heart still couldn’t stop its frantic beating. Darren was looking at my phone with fear in his eyes after hearing what I had said. He couldn’t hear what the person on the other side was saying, but anyone would panic after seeing the fear in my eyes.“Let me talk to him, please!” I demanded. The man on the phone went silent for so long that I thought he had ended the call out of annoyance at my insistence. Then I heard my little baby’s voice.“Mommy, the super spies are so cool!” he yelled into my ear. My breath released with a whoosh, and I fell into a seat tiredly. My baby was truly safe.“Are you alright, my darling? No injuries?” I asked him, focusing on his voice intensely to catch any inconsistencies if he was lying.“No, M
BIANCA’S POVThe drive had been filled with comfortable, companionable silence as we reached the hulking mammoth of a utility factory. I had forgotten just how rich Alessandro really was. He wasn’t just some daddy’s rich boy; he was the type of rich that made people scared. How did he have so much time to hang out doing nothing?“Luca?” I yelled out the moment I got inside. It was well-lit, but there were so many containers. It seemed like a trap, but I had no self-preservation instincts. Linda, my American friend, had painfully drilled that into my head after I told her about my visit to the warehouse to meet Sophia the other time.“Shut up!” Darren hushed me, pulling me behind him to shield me from any oncoming horrors. I felt chagrined. It wasn’t safe to yell in a place that seemed so empty and deserted.“We are here, Miss Rossi,” the man I assumed to be their leader said, extending a hand to shake mine. I had no idea where he came from; Luca’s assessment that they were super spies
BIANCA’S POVI wasn’t exactly sure what was happening, but I didn’t like it. Why would Sophia be bold enough to take my son when Alessandro was gone? Luca wasn’t even her rival here; it was I. Did she think I would back away to protect my son?She thought right. If Alessandro’s men hadn’t caught the man, I would have given everything to get my baby back. As it stood, there was nothing I could do to deter Sophia except by using Alessandro’s men to send a message back to her.“I see. Well, I suppose we should send a message back to her, don’t you?” I steeled my voice, turning Luca towards Darren. “Give me a minute, will you?” I gestured for Darren to take Luca away.Darren was reluctant to leave me alone, but we exchanged a look, and he rolled his eyes, scooping up Luca and leaving the dark room. The dim lighting created an eerie atmosphere as the man’s chains rattled when he saw Luca leaving.I could see the desperation in his eyes as he realized the only assurance that things wouldn’t
BIANCA’S POVThe man sneered at me, making no effort to help me steady myself. “I should ask you that, young lady. This place is closed to outsiders,” he frowned. He looked angry about something, and being lost and alone with an angry man didn’t seem like the best situation for me.“Could you help me find the exit?” I asked instead, feeling for anything behind me that I could use as a weapon while I was still on the floor. The man looked angrier, reaching into his pocket for something I could only pray wasn’t a gun. He seemed too angry to be a normal person, and his resemblance to my missing boyfriend became slightly more pronounced, save for the difference in their heights and intonations.Alas! It was, in fact, a gun. I cursed my luck. Everything was going against me today. I should have told Darren immediately that I had no idea where I was. Luca was too young to lose his mother.I kicked up my leg, hitting him in the shin. The man yowled, and I scrambled to stand up before he coul
BIANCA’S POVI looked properly at the man, seeing the fight drain out of him completely. "I am so sorry," he breathed, his eyes still fixed on Luca. Darren snapped his head to look back at me, silently asking what was happening. I shrugged. I couldn’t answer what I didn’t know."We’ll be leaving now," I said pointedly, getting Luca into the car first. The man seemed more mellow at the clear show of distrust I was displaying."I’m Giovanni, Sandro’s immediate younger brother," he said, stretching out a hand to hold my car door just as I was about to enter. Darren quickly intercepted, placing a forceful hand on Giovanni’s and removing it from the door."You can introduce yourself without getting so close," he said, standing between Giovanni and me. The air was tense, and I half-expected someone to throw a punch. Instead, Giovanni sighed and backed away."I want to apologize to her," he said to Darren, giving him a slightly hostile look. I couldn’t see Darren’s face, but I was certain he
DARREN’S POV I had not been myself all day, just like Bianca hadn’t been herself all week. After hearing about Luca’s near kidnapping, fear had taken hold of me. I loved Luca; he was the biggest light in Bianca’s life, and the thought of anything happening to my best friend made me shut down. Then we saw my trashy boyfriend kissing a woman like some spineless bastard. I hadn’t really liked him anyway—I didn’t feel anything between us. He wanted to use me as a ladder to the top, and I needed something to pass the time. It still hurts, though. I needed to get to the roots of Alessandro’s life to protect Bianca and Luca because the man was becoming more and more convoluted. What could one man need a torture facility this huge for? No one could convince me otherwise, not even the fake happy vibe the interior decoration gave off. Something definitely screamed dark about it all. Bianca and Luca hadn’t noticed anything, though, with Luca droning on and on about how the spies were coo