<b>Chapter </b><b>149 </b>
The sun had barely begun to sink when Alejandro’s sleek car rolled into the driveway of his mansion.
The fading light painted the sky in bruised shades of orange and violet, but the beauty of it barely registered with him, as one, he didn’t care, and two, he still didn’t care.
As soon as he stepped out, something gnawed at him as a heaviness hung over the house.
His eyes skimmed around but everything looked okay. The guards were in their usual positions. The fountain was still functional. The mansion was immacte as ever, but Alejandro felt it immediately–something was wrong.
It was silent.
However, it wasn’t the mere silence–his house was always quiet, too big and too cold for the warmth of noise. No, this was different. This silence felt empty, wrong.
His frown deepened as his polished shoes carried him inside. His instincts screamed, and the first thought that leapt into his mind was her.
Nivera.
He shrugged out of his jacket with impatient movements, discarding it on a chair as he strode toward the staircase.
His long strides carried him up swiftly, his mind already pushing past the possibilities, insisting on the one that terrified him most.
He pushed open the door to her room without knocking, his eyes scanning every corner, and his pulse ticking up in his throat.
Her room was empty.
The bed was untouched, the curtains drawn, and the faintest trace of her scent lingered in the air like a ghost, but she
wasn’t in there.
“Nivera?” he called, his voice echoing off the walls.
Silence answered him.
He moved through the room again<b>, </b>checked the bathroom, the balcony, the closet, and the adjoining lounge. Nothing
“Nivera!” His voice sharpened, clipped with impatience. Still no response.
His frown darkened, his jaw tightened as he stormed back into the hallway, his voice rising. “Nivera!”
The mansion swallowed his calls. He began searching for her. Room after room, his footsteps quickening, his voice turning into a growl,
With every empty space, which was devoid of her presence, his chest constricted tighter.
By the time he swept through thest wing, his heart was mming against his ribs.
10:55 Sat, 30 Aug
He paused in the middle of the hall, dragging a hand down his face. His mother’s words pierced his mind like a knife.
“Imagine a world without her in it. Are you happy in it, or does it make you annoyed?”
The memory crashed into him with brutal force.
“Did she really leave?” Alejandro muttered under his breath, loosening his tie with rough, agitated fingers. He tugged it until the silk almost tore, his chest heaving as if the very air conspired against him.
His hand went straight into his pocket, pulling out his phone and dialing her number.
The line rang.
And rang.
And rang.
However, there was no answer.
He swore, the word sharp enough to make a helper peek from the hallway flinch and retreat. His thumb jabbed the button
again.
Call.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Each silence that followed her unanswered calls was like gasoline poured on a raging fire.
He could see her in his mind’s eye–deliberately ignoring him, silencing her phone, choosing to cut him out. The thought sliced deeper than he cared to admit.
Fuck, it sucked being on the receiving end!
By the fifth attempt, hisposure was splintering. He wasn’t a man who begged. He wasn’t a man who panicked. But his thumb kept hitting redial, his jaw tight, the vein in his temple pounding.
“Answer the damn phone,” he hissed, dragging a hand through his hair as though that might calm the storm building in his
chest.
But she didn’t.
Finally, he stopped and dialed another/number. Darren picked up after a single ring.
“Boss?” Darren’s voice came low, cautious.
“Put Nivera on the phone.”
There was a pause. “Sir… I’m not with her.”
Alejandro’s steps faltered. His head snapped up, his eyes narrowing into something dangerous. “What do you mean you’re
not with her?”
“Well, sir, I haven’t seen her since this afternoon.”
A cold rush flooded Alejandro’s veins. His teeth clenched. “Then where the hell is she?”
Darren hesitated again. “Sir… Your mother’s driver came to pick her up from Miss Celeste’s office.”
“Fucking hell!” The curse ripped from Alejandro’s throat before Darren even finished.
His hand trembled as he ended the call and immediately dialed another number.
His mother’s.
The first call went unanswered.
He cursed again.
The second–nothing.
The third–straight to voicemail.
“Fuck!” Alejandro snarled, his voice echoing violently through the marble halls as he mmed his palm against the wall.
He should have been calm. He should have takenfort in knowing Nivera was with Marceline, not out in the streets, not in danger.
But his mother wasn’t a fool. She was cunning and calcting. If she had taken Nivera, it wasn’t for some innocent tea and
chatter. There was a reason.
A reason Alejandro would not like it, especially with what had happened the previous day.
Finally, after the seventh call, Marceline answered.
Her voice was maddeningly calm as she spoke. “What is it, Alejandro?”
“Where is Nivera?<i>” </i>he demanded, his tone sharp enough to cut ss,
“I don’t know,” Marceline lied effortlessly.
Alejandro pinched the bridge of his nose, forcing down the volcano inside him. “Mom, I’m tired. I don’t have time for your games.”
“Well, I don’t know what to tell you,” she replied with a sigh, as if she were bored of the conversation already.
His knuckles whitened against his phone. “Darren said your driver picked her up. Mom. Where is sho?”
“That’s true,” Marceline admitted with infuriating <b>ease</b>. “But Nivera isn’t with me anymore. I left her hours ago. Has she not
Alejandro’s world tilted. His breath came ragged, his vision narrowing like a tunnel.
10:55 Sat, 30 Aug
“Mom, I know you’re doing this to teach me a lesson. And I’ve learned. Now tell me where she is.”
Marceline’s voice remained maddeningly steady. “I offered her a way out, and she took it.”
Something inside Alejandro snapped as the implication of his mother’s words sunk deeper and deeper.
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“You-” He cut himself off, his voice breaking into a hoarse shout. “You gave her a way to leave me?! How could you do this
to me?!”
He med himself. He had let her slip from his fingers, loosened his grip thinking she wouldn’t dare leave, and now she was gone. Gone because he gave her too much freedom.
“If you’re ming yourself for giving her too much freedom, then you haven’t learned anything,” Marceline’s voice snapped, sharp as a whip. “And that is genuinely disturbing.”
Alejandro’s voice cracked. “How could you do this to me?!”
“I did what had to be done. You weren’t going to treat her right, so I helped her get away.”
“You think I’m like him, don’t you?” Alejandro hissed. “You think I’m like my father.”
Marceline’s silence stretched before she answered softly, “No. I don’t think so. But keep doing what you’re doing, and
you’ll be well on your way to bing him.”
“You…” Alejandro started, but his mother cut him short.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, grow the fuck up!” She snapped. “You think I don’t know what you think about love?! You’ve spent your whole life sneering at it like it’s a disease.”
“You loved him, and look at what it did to you!”
“That’s such a stupid reason to live the way you do!” Marceline retorted.
“People die in car idents, but that hasn’t stopped you from getting in one,” Marceline stated coldly.
“People drown, but it hasn’t stopped you from swimming. People get their hearts broken, Alejandro. That doesn’t mean you’re supposed to destroy others to protect yours.”
Her words sliced him open, as her tone was merciless. His mother hardly ever spoke to anyone in such a way, much less
him.
“Well,” she added coldly, “it’s toote for you, though.”
Alejandro’s voice dropped, dark and strained. “Mom, just tell me where she is.”
“Have a good night, Alejandro,” Marceline <b>said </b>lightly, and before he could respond, the line went dead.
The scream that ripped from his chest was primal, raw, <b>and </b>torn straight from the depths of a man who had lost control. He shoved his hand through his hair, gripping until his scalp burned, pacing like a madman.
No, Nivera couldn’t leave him. She just couldn’t.
10:55 Sat, 30 Aug
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He yanked his phone back up, ready to call Martins, ready to have Nivera’s phone tracked even if it meant tearing the city apart brick by brick-
But before he could press call, his phone lit up.
Antonio.
“This is a bad time!” Alejandro barked as he answered. “What the fuck do you want?!”
Antonio’s sigh came heavy over the line. “Come get your woman so I can get mine home.”
Alejandro froze. “What?!”
“Zabelle found out about my previous marriage, and she’s pissed at me. She’s with Nivera. And unless you’re here, she
won’te home to me.”
Alejandro was already striding toward the garage. “Send me the address.”
His tires screeched against the pavement as he sped out into the night, the only thought in his mind a singr, consuming
one:
To bring Nivera home.