Him

I'd been staring at the laptop screen for hours, but the words had blurred together hours ago. With a tired sigh, I took off my glasses and pinched the bridge of my nose, glancing at the time on the corner of my screen. 11 p.m.

Four hours since the fight. Surely, she must have cooled off by now. She couldn't still be this upset.

The thought of her out there, still angry with me, stirred a deep unease in my gut. I couldn't shake it. I needed to see her, needed to make things right. Pushing back my chair, I was heading toward the door when my phone rang. Arjun's name flashed on the screen.

"Arjun?" I answered, frowning slightly.

"Yeah, is Tara going to stay with you for the night?" he asked.

Wait, what?

"Hold on... Tara's not with you?" I replied, alarm rising in my voice.

"No," he said, his tone tense. "Her phone's been off. She usually comes back by now if she's not staying with you."

"Arjun, I'll call you later."

"Dante, what's going on? Where's Tara?" he pressed, his voice laced with worry.

"I don't know, Arjun. We had an argument, and she walked out saying she didn't want to see me. I thought she'd gone to your place to cool off."

"Well, she's not here. Damn it, Dante, where could she have gone?"

I grabbed my car keys. "I'm going to find her. Are you coming with me?"

"Of course."

A few minutes later, I picked up Arjun, and we set off into the dark, searching every spot we could think of near Richmond.

The streets were mostly empty this late at night. We checked every café she liked, even the quiet bookshop she sometimes visited after hours. No sign of her. We drove through the winding streets near the Thames, calling her name, hoping she'd answer. Nothing.

Hours passed. The sky was beginning to lighten, hinting at dawn. We were exhausted, nerves stretched thin as we pulled up near the riverbank for what felt like the hundredth time.

Arjun ran a hand over his face, looking utterly drained. "Dante... this is starting to feel hopeless."

A memory struck me suddenly. One last place.

"Just one more stop, Arjun," I said, my voice low but determined.

He sighed, looking at me warily. "Alright. Let's go."

We made our way to the park nearby, where she sometimes went for fresh air when things got overwhelming. As I walked through the quiet, dew-covered paths, something caught my eye by a bench.

A bracelet.

The delicate silver chain with the small star charm. The very one I'd given her back in Kolkata.

My hand clenched around it, and dread settled deep in my chest, colder than any chill of the morning air.

Just then, my phone rang. The number was unknown.

I answered immediately, my voice tense. "Yes?"

A cold, mocking voice crackled on the other end. "Well, well, well. How's the search going?"

My blood turned to ice. "Who is this?"

"That's not important," the voice replied smoothly, a hint of satisfaction laced in their words. "The important thing is, you won't be seeing her anytime soon. Unless... you come to the location we send you."

I clenched my teeth, my hand tightening around the phone. "Where is she? What have you done with her?"

"She's safe, for now," the voice taunted. "But that's entirely up to you. We have a few... things we need to discuss. And let's just say, it's long overdue."

A chill ran down my spine as I realized who was on the other end of that line.

"Why involve her?" I demanded, barely able to keep the anger out of my voice.

"Oh, you know us well enough to know why. You're smart; you should understand why we want a word with you." The voice dropped lower, menacing. "And don't keep us waiting. We wouldn't want to lose patience... or her."

The line went dead.

Arjun was staring at me, worry etched deep on his face. "Dante?"

I swallowed, barely able to form the words. "Tara's... she's been kidnapped."

Her

I blinked, struggling to focus as the cloth was pulled roughly from my eyes. The sudden brightness stung, and I squinted, letting my vision adjust. As the light cleared, I took in my surroundings-a plain, dimly lit room with concrete walls and barely any furnishings. My wrists burned from the ropes digging into my skin, my body sore from whatever rough journey had brought me here.

"Well, look who we have here," came a cold, mocking voice.

I turned to see a man and a woman standing a few feet away. They were older, likely in their fifties, both wearing well-tailored clothes that seemed entirely out of place in this stark room. The man was tall, with graying hair slicked back and sharp, calculating eyes that gleamed with a cruel sort of amusement. The woman beside him had cold, almost doll-like features, with a sharp jawline and deep red lipstick that looked freshly applied, contrasting with her cold smile.

"I have to say, Enzo has excellent taste," the woman said with a smirk, her gaze traveling over me slowly, as if assessing a possession rather than a person.

She approached me, reaching out to lift my chin with a manicured hand. I fought against her touch, jerking my head back, but her grip tightened, nails digging into my skin.

"È carina (She's pretty)," she observed with a wicked smirk as I continued to resist. Her eyes narrowed. "And feisty. I like that."

I yanked my head free, glaring at her with all the defiance I could muster. But she only chuckled, a dark, humorless sound, and slapped me hard across the face. Pain flared hot and sharp, spreading across my cheek. I tasted blood on my lip.

"Who... who are you?" I spat, the words escaping before I could filter the fear from my voice. "I haven't done anything to you."

The woman's smile only grew, a twisted satisfaction flickering in her eyes as she tilted her head in feigned pity.

"Oh, darling," she cooed, a mocking edge in her voice, "you haven't, I agree. But your little boyfriend has done plenty of damage. You see, we've lost... oh, shall we say, headquarters worth millions because of him." Her eyes glinted with malice. "So we thought, why not keep his most precious thing with us while we wait for him?"

A chill shot down my spine as her words sank in. It all fell into place in that horrifying instant.

"Y-you... you're Dante's... step-parents," I stammered, the realization turning my stomach.

"Dante," she repeated, the name rolling off her tongue with a bitter taste. "Is that what he's going by now?" She scoffed, turning to the man beside her with a smug smile. "Though Enzo was much better, don't you think?"

The man chuckled darkly, his gaze never leaving me. "Indeed. But our dear Enzo has always liked to play pretend, hasn't he? Running off with Marco and Aria, pretending to be some hotshot CEO, thinking he could escape us. As if he could ever be anything more than a little traitor."

"He's not a traitor," I retorted.

The woman's eyes flashed with anger. "Oh, he isn't, is he? How naive," she said, her voice dripping with disdain. "You think he's some wounded soul who needs your love to save him? Please."

I met her gaze, anger boiling beneath my fear. "Whatever he's done, he's a thousand times better than the two of you."

The woman's smile froze, her lips pulling back into a cold, mocking sneer. "You poor little fool," she murmured, stepping back and crossing her arms. "Let me tell you something, dear. Your beloved Dante-or Enzo, as he was known-was trained to be ruthless. But he's gone soft, chasing after useless things."

The man snorted in agreement. "Weak. Sentimental. We thought we'd trained them better than that. And then, they go and burn us. Literally."

The woman's fingers tightened around a pendant she wore, her face hardening with hatred. "That headquarters they destroyed in Milan? Yeah, It wasn't just a building. It was a carefully built empire-for our future heir."

She leaned closer to me, her voice low and menacing. "He thought he could erase his past, darling. And if he wants you back, he'll have to come to us and face that past."

I swallowed, trying to keep my voice steady. "You... you're just using me to get to him."

She raised an eyebrow, feigning surprise. "Using you? My dear, you should feel honored. We're giving you purpose." She smiled, patting my cheek mockingly. "And when he comes for you, as I'm sure he will, we'll remind him just what he owes us."

The man glanced at his watch, as if this whole situation was merely an appointment on his schedule. "Enough," he said, his voice curt. "Let her sit here and stew. Enzo will come. They always do."

With that, she turned on her heel, leaving me alone in the silence of the room, her mocking laughter echoing in my ears long after the door slammed shut.

***********