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The silence in the penthouse screams danger.
"Ava?" My voice echoes through rooms that suddenly feel too large, too empty. No response. No sounds of her morning routine, no coffee brewing, no shower running.
Nothing.
I'm moving before my mind fully processes what's happening, checking each room with increasing urgency. Her clothes gone from the closet. Dance bag missing from its spot by the door. My car keys placed precisely on the dresser, a clear message if I've ever seen one.
Gone.
The realization hits me hard, making the monster in me roar to life. Because this isn't just absence, this is calculated escape. This is a professional disappearance.
My phone's already in my hand, Tomasso's number on the screen. He answers on the first ring, trained to recognize emergency.
"Find her," I snarl, not bothering with greetings. "Now."
"Boss?" His voice sharpens instantly. "What's happened?"
"She's gone. I want everything: traffic cameras, account activity, known associates. Every breath she's taken since she walked into my club."
A pause. Too long. "About that, Boss...there's something you should know."
Ice spreads through my veins. "Talk."
"I started digging after those dock incidents. Wanted to rule her out, you know?" His hesitation carries weight. "Her employment history before the club...with the other surname…there are gaps. Inconsistencies."
The crystal tumbler in my free hand shatters, sending shards and expensive whiskey across the marble floors.
"What kind of inconsistencies?"
"The kind that suggest professional training. And there were calls, traced to numbers associated with?—"
"With who?" But I already know. The monster in me has already pieced it together, has been trying to warn me while I ignored every sign.
"The Fiori family."
The name drops like a bomb. My vision bleeds red as pieces click into place—her sudden appearance, her careful questions, her interest in the Wednesday deliveries.
“Boss?" Tomasso's voice sounds distant beneath the roaring in my ears. "What do you want me to do?"
What do I want? I want to burn Chicago to the ground until I find her. I want to tear apart everyone who helped her deceive me. I want to show her exactly why they call me Monster.
I want to drag her back and cage her so completely she'll never think of leaving again.
The last thought brings me up short, clearing some of the rage. Because beneath the fury, beneath the betrayal, something else lurks: fear. Not of what she might have learned or who she might tell.
Fear of losing her. Again.
"Boss?" Tomasso prompts. "Should I put out the word? Standard protocol for traitors?—"
"No." The word comes out sharp, final. "This stays between us. Get me everything on her movements since last night. And Tomasso?" I pause. "Find out exactly what the Fioris promised her.”
"You think she was coerced?"
I look down at the keys she left, remembering how she trembled in my arms just hours ago, how she whispered my name like a prayer, how something in her eyes always seemed to be fighting between staying and running.
"I think," I say carefully, "that Ava D'Amato is about to learn exactly what happens when you try to con a monster."
I end the call, moving to the window where she stood just last night. My city spreads out below, and somewhere in its shadows, she's running. Planning. Maybe even thinking she's protecting me by leaving.