Behind me, Dante frowned.
Five minutes later, my phone buzzed. A message from him.
"Today, Serafina has a stage number that shows leg. Don't misunderstand."
I looked at the screen for a moment and replied, "Understood."
The typing indicator appeared. It lingered for several minutes.
I didn't wait. I closed the thread and turned off my phone.
Without Dante's presence weighing on me, the scenery along the way seemed more beautiful. The road wound through the hills above the coast, and the air felt clearer, salted and sharp, as if the world outside the compound had a different atmosphere entirely.
By the time the evening's event wrapped at the Family's mountain lodge, it was already eleven at night.
The venue was dim, and the crew was breaking down the staging for the charity gala front that Dante used every season to launder goodwill. Caterers stacking chairs. Soldiers doing a final walkthrough before locking the building down.
Then a loud crash broke the calm.
The temporary scaffolding rigged by the carpenters for the backdrop display collapsed without warning.
Everything happened in an instant.
Dante rushed forward and pushed Serafina out of the way. The two of them fell to the ground together.
In the chaos, their bodies collided.
Their lips accidentally met.
The staff on site immediately burst into cheers and applause. Laughter and teasing voices filled the air. Serafina lowered her head shyly and nestled into Dante's arms, as if she truly belonged there.
"Oh no, everyone, please don't misunderstand. There's really nothing going on between Dante and me," she said softly, her voice gentle and innocent. One finger drifted to the pearl at her throat and touched it, quick as a breath.
Dante didn't deny it. He didn't explain either. Instead, he simply tightened his arms around her, holding her even closer, as if silently confirming everything they were guessing.
I gritted my teeth and used all my strength to push away the wooden frame pressing against my calf. The pain shot up instantly. I reached down and pulled out the splinter embedded in my flesh.
Without making a sound, I limped away from the chaos and found a quiet corner to tend to my wound. My hands trembled slightly, but I forced myself to stay calm. My thumb found the inside edge of my wedding band and pressed hard, as if the metal could hold something together that was already broken.
When I finally returned to the site, there was no one left. Not a single person. The entire place had been cleared out. The soldiers, the caterers, the woman in his arms. Gone.
Darkness surrounded me. It stretched endlessly in every direction. The distant howling of wild animals echoed through the mountains, making the silence even more terrifying. The Family's lodge sat locked and lightless above me, and the access road had no streetlamps. Just the tree line and the wind.
I curled my injured body into a ball, clutching a tree branch tightly in my hand. I hid on a stone beneath a large tree, forcing myself to stay alert.
That entire night, I didn't dare close my eyes.
It wasn't until dawn that I finally gathered the courage to move. My legs trembled as I slowly began my descent down the mountain.
Halfway down, my phone finally picked up a signal. Almost immediately, Dante's call came through.
The moment I answered, his furious voice exploded through the speaker. "Bianca, you're really something, huh? Not answering my calls and slacking off! Serafina got bitten by mosquitoes during the shoot last night. Go to the clinic and get her something for it."
Serafina was the golden face of the Bellandi nightclub circuit. She was known for her easygoing personality and lack of airs, which had earned her countless loyalists among the neighborhood faithful and the society-page columnists alike.
Everyone believed she managed on her own, no entourage, no handlers.
But no one knew that Dante was the one taking care of all her personal matters. And every task he couldn't do himself, he passed on to me.
When I didn't respond immediately, Dante's patience ran out. His voice turned even sharper. "Bianca, are you deaf? I'm giving you half an hour. Get back to the lodge right now."
I steadied my breathing and replied quietly, "I'm on the mountain."
There was a brief silence on the other end of the line.
Then his tone changed slightly. "You spent the night on the mountain? Alone?"
I looked around instinctively. The dense forest seemed to hide countless unknown dangers. I felt as though a pair of crimson eyes was watching me from behind the trees, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
The fear I had suppressed all night finally broke free. My chest tightened, and tears welled up in my eyes.
Dante's voice softened a little. "Stay where you are. I'll come get you. It'll take about an hour."
The sun climbed higher and higher in the sky. Time passed slowly, one minute after another. Then one hour. Then two.
But Dante never came.
