Chapter 10

Dante Vitiello POV

I woke up choking.

The darkness was heavy, pressing down on my chest like a physical weight. For a second, I thought I was blind again.

I reached out.

"Elena."

My hand hit only cold sheets.

I sat up, my heart hammering against my ribs. The room was empty. The bathroom door was open, revealing only darkness.

"Elena?" I called out.

Silence.

The silence in the penthouse wasn't peaceful. It was wrong. It was the silence of a grave.

I got out of bed and checked the closet.

Her clothes were there. The red dress I bought her. The shoes. But something was missing.

The air felt thin.

I walked into the living room. Maria, the maid, was dusting the mantle.

"Where is she?" I asked.

Maria jumped. "Sir?"

"Elena. Where is she?"

"I haven't seen Miss Rossi since yesterday, sir," Maria said, looking nervous. "Her bed wasn't slept in."

Panic, cold and sharp, spiked in my gut.

She said she was cleaning. She said she was buying a dress.

My phone rang on the kitchen counter.

I grabbed it, expecting her name.

It was Sofia.

"Dante!" she screamed. "Someone is in the hallway! The power is out!"

I rubbed my temples.

"Call security, Sofia."

"I can't! The keypad is dead! Please, Dante, I'm scared!"

I looked at the empty apartment. Elena was probably just out for coffee. She did that sometimes when she was mad.

"I'll be there," I growled.

I drove to Sofia's apartment in ten minutes.

The hallway lights were working fine.

I banged on her door.

She opened it instantly. She was wearing black lace lingerie and a silk robe that was falling off her shoulders.

She threw herself at me.

"Oh, thank God," she sobbed against my chest. "I heard footsteps."

I peeled her off me.

"The power is on, Sofia," I said, gesturing to the lamp behind her.

"It just came back," she lied. Her eyes were dry.

She ran her hands up my chest.

"Stay," she whispered. "Just for a bit. I'm shaken up."

She pressed her body against mine.

It felt wrong.

Her curves didn't fit me. Her perfume was too sweet.

I looked over her head at the window. The sky was grey.

A feeling of absolute dread washed over me.

It started in my stomach and spread to my fingertips. Something was happening. Something catastrophic.

Sofia was unbuttoning my shirt.

"Dante, look at me," she commanded.

I looked down.

But I didn't see her.

I saw Elena standing in the rain. I saw the blood on her arm.

I saw the look in her eyes in the piano room.

It wasn't anger.

It was nothing.

She had looked at me with absolutely nothing.

I pushed Sofia away.

"Dante?" she asked, shocked.

"I need to go," I said.

I turned around and walked out.

I didn't wait for the elevator. I took the stairs two at a time.

I needed to get back to the penthouse. I needed to see her.

I needed to make sure the bird hadn't flown the cage.

But as I drove back, speeding through red lights, the empty feeling in my chest turned into a scream.

I knew.

Before I even opened the door, I knew.

She was gone.