Christian POV:
The rain tapped lightly against the vast windows of my office, top floor of Romano & Co. a perfect view of the Italian skyline blurred behind streaks of water. The world below moved on in its graceful chaos, but inside this room, the silence sat heavy, as if time itself refused to continue.
I sat in the dark, no lights on. Only the ambient glow from outside and the cold, persistent hum of my thoughts.
Lina.
My phone sat on the desk like an accusation. The screen still showed my last message: "Did you land safely in Cape Town? Let me know if you need anything."
Delivered. Seen. No reply.
It had been a week. A week of one-word responses or worse, nothing at all. She never said much. But this? This silence wasn't her usual distance. It was hollow, like a vacuum where her fire used to be.
Something was wrong. I couldn't name it, but every inch of me was restless. My instincts, as sharp as ever, screamed it.
Last I heard, through Sarah, she had gone to Cape Town for the Global Summit. I remembered how she looked in that black suit. Sharp. Commanding. Like she belonged on the cover of a history book titled How Empires Are Run.
But now?
No word.
I called her yesterday. Straight to voicemail.
I stood, grabbed my coat from the back of the chair, and picked up my phone. I called Kate.
His voice answered with its usual mischief. "Ah, finally growing impatient, are we? I told you, Christian, women like Lina bloom slowly. You gotta—"
"Kate," I cut him off coldly. "Find out where Lina is. Now."
He paused. The tone in my voice wasn't casual concern anymore. it was command, sharp, and edged.
"On it," he said simply, dropping the charm.
An hour later, he came back with a report.
"It's strange," he said, clicking through images and data on the screen in front of me. "Last known location: Global Summit, Cape Town. Cameras, press, and even a full speech she gave. After that? Nothing. No travel logs, no check-ins, no cards used. Like she... vanished."
I stared at the screen. My hands were clenched behind my back. "What about her phone?"
"Still in Cape Town. Turned off. Or maybe left behind. She could've dropped off the grid completely. If I didn't know her, I'd say she was hiding."
"You don't know her," I said quietly. "Not like I do." Kate gave side eye to my statement.
The silence after that was heavy. I pulled out my phone and dialed Luca.
He picked up on the second ring.
"Luca. Where is Lina?"
There was a pause. A shift in breath. Then he spoke, his voice more serious than I'd ever heard it.
"She disappeared."
The words dropped like a blade.
My breath caught. "What do you mean disappeared?"
"I mean, she's gone, Christian. No one's seen her for a week. She left a note for Sarah. It said, 'Don't look for me. I'll be back soon.' That's all. Left her phone behind. Walked out into the night with only a backpack, no one's been able to trace."
I sank into the chair, numbness spreading through me like frostbite. The walls of my office, the ceiling, the air, everything closed in. My lungs burned with the effort to breathe through the rising panic.
Gone.
Not lost. Not late.
Gone.
"Why would she do that?" I asked, but it came out broken. More a whisper than a question.
Luca sighed, and I could feel the weariness in his voice. "We think she found something. Something that shook her. Sarah said she wasn't herself the whole summit. Addison, Miles, and Sarah they've been searching nonstop. Even he... that guy, he can't track her. Her trail's cold."
I tugged my tie, where I felt like something sharp and unbearable was settling in. A pain I couldn't explain. Not worry. Not frustration.
Something deeper. Helplessness.
"Christian," Luca continued, softer now. "She's not just gone. She wanted to be gone. And that scares all of us."
It terrified me. Because Lina never ran like this. She faced things. Head-on. Even when it broke her. So whatever made her disappear now must've been strong enough to shatter her completely.
"Send me Sarah's number," I said. My voice came out hollow. Steady only by force of will.
"You going to Cape Town?" Luca questioned.
"If I have to burn down the continent to find her, yes."
He didn't argue. "Sending now."
As the line disconnected, I sat there, staring into the storm outside my window.
And for the first time in years, I didn't feel in control. Not of the situation. Not my thoughts. Not of the ache spreading through my chest. I had power, money, networks but none of it could find the one person who mattered.
Lina was gone.
And I was drowning in a silence where her voice used to be...