Chapter 96
Luca jumped out of the car before Edward had even brought it to a complete stop.
He didn’t wait for Edward to get out and open his door. Just moved. Fast. The doorman barely got a word out before Luca stormed past him, lace light
“I’m fine,” he snapped, not stopping.
The elevator couldn’t come fast enough. He hit the call button four times before it lit up. Inside, he jabbed the number eight like force could make the lift rise faster. He held his breath. He knew he had a lot to make up for. Just stared at the numbers as they climbed.
The doors finally opened on her floor.
He stepped out, crossed the hall, and started pounding on the door.
“Audrey!” he called. “It’s Luca. Open the door. We need to talk.”
Nothing.
He knocked harder. “Sweetheart. Let me in. I have some news.”
He waited. Silence. His chest felt tight. She had called him yesterday. She had left voicemails. She was just angry. Just punishing him. She hadn’t really
left-
“Hey!” a voice snapped behind him.
Luca turned as a short, stocky man came toward him. Probably building management.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” the man barked.
Luca did his best to reel himself in. “I’m here to see Audrey.”
The man crossed his arms. “Sir, you’re disturbing my other tenants-”
“She’s my girlfriend,” Luca said, breath catching. “We had a fight. I’m just trying to fix things.”
The man eyed him, unconvinced. “It must’ve been some fight. She packed up and left yesterday.”
That hit harder than he was prepared for.
“Packed up?” Luca echoed. “Where’d she go? Did she leave a forwarding address?”
The man shook his head. “Nope. Paid the rent for a month, told me she was going home. That she was tired. That there was nothing left holding her here anymore.”
Luca stood there, blank. A cold numbness started to tighten in his chest. Like everything inside him just… stopped.
She was gone.
She’d really fucking left. He couldn’t quite believe it.
He muttered something, turned away without saying anymore, and walked out of the building in a daze.
“Take me home,” he told Edward quietly.
The car pulled away from the curb. Luca didn’t speak again for the entire drive.
He just sat there, staring out the window, watching the city blur. He was numb.
Chapter 96
That night–the night at her apartment he’d gone to end things—he’d walked in planning to tell her about the engagement. Planning to make it clean Get it over with. Do what was expected of him.
Instead, he’d tom her apart.
He’d called her a liar. A slut. Accused her of cheating. He hadn’t even let her speak.
And she was pregnant.
With his child.
Fuck.
His jaw clenched so hard it hurt. He wanted to hit something. Wanted to go back in time and rip the words out of his own mouth. Stop himself from saying them. From looking at her like she was nothing.
She’d begged him to listen. And he’d slammed the door in her face.
He scrubbed a hand down his face, leaning forward in his chair like the weight of what he’d done was pressing down on him from the inside out.
He hadn’t even asked where she was from. Never once. All he knew was she was American. But what city? What state? What the hell did he actually know about her beyond the way she looked at him in the dark and the sound of her voice when she came?
Nothing.
He knew nothing.
How the fuck had he let that happen?
But he would find her.
L
Even if it was the last thing he did.
By noon, he was on the phone with her agent. Or ex–agent, as it turned out.
“You’re looking for Audrey?” the woman practically hissed down the line. “She’s done. Walked away. Told me she was finished with modeling. Threw away the best campaigns of her life. Milan, Paris–gone. And for what? I don’t know. She said she was going home. That was it.”
“Do you know where home is?” he asked.
“I don’t even know what caused this, Mr. De Santis,” the agent snapped. “She ghosted everyone, even some of her model friends. Said she didn’t need the work anymore. Told me Audrey was dead. Then hung up.”
Luca ran a hand through his hair.
“Audrey was dead“? What the fuck was that supposed to mean?
He ended the call without another word.
Then just sat there.
Still. Jaw tight. Mind racing.
Because she was gone. And it was his fault. Because he hadn’t believed her. Hadn’t trusted her. Hadn’t even known her.
He
pulled out his phone again, this time dialing his head of security.
Davies answered on the first ring.
Chapter 96
“Sir.”
“I need you to find someone,” Luca said. His voice was steady now. Cold. Lethal. Dangerous.
He told Davies everything he knew about Audrey, which wasn’t nearly enough.
“I’m pretty sure she’s American. Her apartment’s been cleared Quietly. As fast as possible.”
out. Her number’s disconnected. But she’s pregnant–with my child. And I need to find her.
“Yes, sir,” Davies replied immediately. “We’ll start with modeling agency records, immigration history, travel bookings. Airports. CCTV at the if needed. Anything we can pull.”
“How fast will you know anything?”
“I’ll report back in twenty–four hours.”
“Good.” Luca paused. “One more thing–when you find her, I don’t want her harassed. No contact. Just let me know where she is.”
“Yes, sir.”
Luca hung up.
He stood in the middle of his home office, staring at the city skyline like it might offer him answers. It didn’t. It never did. It just reflected back a man who’d burned down something good, but he hadn’t known until she was gone. Too scared. Too goddamn stupid to see what was real when it was right in front of him. It was his god damn fault. He was a bastard.
She was carrying his child.
And she was out there somewhere.
Alone.
Because of him.
He had one more call to make.
He sat down slowly, pulled up his father’s number, and hit dial.
The line rang four times.
“Luca,” his father answered, sharp and clipped, like always. “What is it?”
Luca didn’t hesitate.
“We need to talk.”