14

"You're carrying my child?" Giovanni scoffed, his deep voice vibrating through the quiet room. He looked her dead in the eye, completely unbothered by his father’s presence. "That's impossible.I have never slept with you."

Elena didn't blink. The wicked smirk on her face only deepened, turning entirely venomous.

"Are you sure about that, Giovanni?" she asked softly.

Without taking her eyes off him, she reached into her designer bag, pulled out her phone, and tapped the screen. With a cruel smile, she turned the device around and held it up right in front of his face.

A video began to play.

Giovanni’s breath hitched, his entire body locking up as his eyes scanned the screen. It was a bedroom. The lighting was dim, but it was undeniably him. The video clearly showed him and Elena together in bed, caught in a passionate, unmistakable act.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Rossi demanded, stepping forward to look, but Giovanni didn't hear him. The roaring in his ears was too loud.

His mind raced back to a night a few weeks ago. He remembered a high-profile syndicate gala. He remembered taking a drink from the tray. And then... nothing. He had woken up the next morning with his mind completely blank, a splitting headache tearing through his skull, and a vague, unsettling feeling that something was wrong. At the time, he had been absolutely certain that someone had spiked his drink, but he hadn't been able to prove it.

Looking at the video in Elena's hand, the horrifying pieces of the puzzle violently slotted into place.

It had been a setup. She had spiked his drink, taken advantage of his compromised state, and recorded the entire thing just to lock him into this marriage forever.

Elena was just about to open her mouth to gloat when her phone began to ring loudly, shattering the tense silence of the room. The caller ID flashed the name Adrian.

Annoyed by the interruption, Elena tapped the screen to answer. What she didn't realize in her frantic haste was that she had accidentally hit the speakerphone button.

Adrian’s voice blasted through the sitting room, absolutely furious and vibrating with pure panic.

"Elena! Where the hell are you?!" Adrian shouted, his voice echoing off the high ceilings. "Why is Sebastian Moretti constituting a nuisance in the compound right now, demanding to see his child?! He's outside causing a massive scene! Now, what the hell is going on? What does he mean by child? What is going on between the two of you?!"

The entire room went completely, deathly still.

The name *Moretti* hung in the air like a lethal poison. Giovanni’s hatred for the Moretti family ran deeper than anyone else's in the syndicate—they were a rival faction he utterly despised, a blood feud that had lasted for generations.

Giovanni’s knees suddenly felt completely hollow. For the first time in his life, the powerful Don looked entirely weak. He literally sank down into the nearest velvet armchair, the absolute shock draining the color from his face.

He stared up at Elena, his gaze dropping all its heat and turning into a hollow, mocking void. A dark, dangerous realization washed over him, and a slow, chilling chuckle left his throat.

"Did you..." Giovanni whispered, his voice dangerously quiet as he looked at her. "Did you just try to put someone else's pregnancy on me?"

Elena’s face drained of color, her phone slipping slightly in her hand as the blackmail video suddenly became entirely worthless.

Giovanni didn't even give her a chance to speak. The weakness vanished from his posture, replaced by a cold, business-like detachment. He didn't yell. He didn't rage. He simply raised his head and called for his top operative.

"Vivienne."

Vivienne stepped out from the shadows of the foyer instantly, her hand resting ready on her weapon.

"Walk her out," Giovanni commanded flatly, not even bothering to look at Elena anymore. "Get her out of my sight."

Elena gasped as Vivienne tightly gripped her upper arm, forcing her toward the exit. She tried to protest, but the ice-cold look in Vivienne’s eyes told her that if she made a sound, she wouldn’t make it out of the courtyard alive.

Once Elena was thrown out of the villa, a heavy, suffocating silence descended on the sitting room.

Giovanni, his father Rossi, and Antonio locked themselves in the study. The discussion that followed went on for hours. It was a brutal, exhausting strategy session about how to handle the Marchetti fallout and the incoming war with the Moretti family. Voices were raised, glasses of scotch were poured and emptied, and the tension inside the villa remained at an absolute boiling point until the sun finally began to set.

By the time they were done, Rossi and Antonio left the estate, their faces grim.

Exhausted, his mind still reeling from the day’s chaos, Giovanni rubbed his temples and headed back upstairs. The image of Rosa in that burgundy sundress flashed in his mind, and a sudden need to see her, to anchor himself, took over.

He pushed open the heavy oak door to her bedroom.

"Rosa," he murmured, stepping inside.

Silence greeted him.

Giovanni stopped, his eyes scanning the space. The room was empty. The bed was neatly made, and the bathroom door was wide open—no one was inside. He checked the adjoining dressing room. Nothing.

A tight knot formed in his chest. He turned on his heel and strode downstairs, his boots clicking sharply against the marble. He searched the kitchen, the dining room, and the main living areas. He checked the sprawling terrace outside.

She wasn't there. She wasn't anywhere.

A dark, violent wave of suspicion washed over him. The villa was locked down. How could she just vanish?

"Vivienne!" Giovanni roared, his voice echoing through the grand hallways.

Vivienne appeared a second later, her expression turning alert at the sheer panic in the Don's voice. "Don? What is it?"

"Where is Rosa?" Giovanni demanded, his eyes flashing dangerously. "Have you seen her?"

Vivienne’s brow furrowed. "No, Don. I thought she was upstairs under your orders."

Without wasting another syllable, Vivienne instantly tapped her earpiece, contacting the perimeter bodyguards. "All units, report. What is the status of the girl, Rosa? Where is she?"

A tense pause followed. Then, the head of security’s voice crackled back, filled with hesitation. "We... we haven't seen her leave the main house, ma'am. The gates have been locked since the Marchetti incident."

Giovanni grabbed the earpiece directly from Vivienne, his jaw clenching so hard a muscle twitched in his cheek.

"Listen to me," Giovanni growled into the comms, his voice vibrating with absolute fury. "Spread out. Every single one of you. Turn this city upside down. Check every restaurant, check every motel, check virtually everywhere for her! If she is in Italy, you find her!"

The estate erupted into chaos. Engines roared to life in the courtyard, headlights cutting through the darkening evening as dozens of bodyguards deployed into the night.

Giovanni stood in the center of his massive, empty foyer, his hands clenched into fists as the terrifying reality set in. His villa was a fortress, yet she was gone.

Where is Rosa?