Adriano’s POV~They stopped asking me questions on the third day I marked Cassandra’s retreat.Before that, they’d tried everything—threats, mockery, the good cop bullshit, even silence, as if I’d break just to hear a voice. I didn’t. I stopped talking after the first hour. My mouth dried, bled, then sealed. They could’ve pulled my nails off and I still wouldn’t have given them the satisfaction of a sound.
Cassandra’s POV~I didn’t go back to Adriano’s villa.I couldn’t. I didn’t want to be reminded of anything anymore. I didn't want to see the butler’s constant worried look. The way he kept lurking around the hallways, trying to eavesdrop on any of my conversations to make sure Adriano was okay. Neither did I want to be reminded of anything about Adriano. I wanted to heal from thi
Cassandra’s POV~My throat felt like it was stuffed with dry, burning sand.No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get a single word out. It was as though something invisible had wrapped its hands around my neck and squeezed. The silence wasn’t helping either. It was too quiet in here, too still. This kind of silence made my skin crawl.Bu
Cassandra’s POV~The letter wouldn’t stop haunting me.I’d read it at least ten times, maybe more after I had taken it home. And each time, my chest burned like something inside me was twisting, cracking, slowly. Adriano’s parents… my father. That one letter flipped everything I thought I knew upside down.I didn’t want it to change anything. But it did.
Cassandra’s POV-It’s been weeks now. The house feels colder now, like it knows he’s gone too.I still make two cups of coffee every morning, his always goes cold.His scent is fading from the sheets, and I hate how I’m forgetting the exact sound of his footsteps.The silence is so loud it rings in my ears. I check my phone too often, even though I know it won’t ring.No word. No sign. No him.People kept whispering of how doomed Adriano was, rumours have spread, alerting everyone that ever cared about him to move on now. That we wouldn’t see him anymore and I couldn’t breathe well ever since those words spread. But how do you breathe when the one person who steadied your lungs is missing?Sometimes, I press my hand where his used to rest on my waist in bed…And cry, like maybe the universe will feel bad and give him back.Some nights I thought I wanted to run. Vanish. Disappear from Adriano’s shadow and whatever this life had become.But now that he was truly gone, arrested, caged,
Adriano’s POVIt’d been more than days since they took me.Four fucking days in this cement hole with nothing but a rusted cot, a leaky pipe, and meals no dog on the street would sniff at. I hadn’t touched the food. Not once. If they were trying to humiliate me, they’d have to try a little harder than that.They’d denied me everything… calls, visitors, even Salvatore. That alone told me how deep this setup ran. Someone up there wanted me silenced.Too bad I don’t go down quiet.I sat on the floor, hunched against the wall, carving shapes into the tile with the jagged edge of a metal shard I’d peeled from the sink days ago. Not because I was losing it but because every man needs his way to pass time without choking on it. And me? I make art out of patience.Then came the beep.My hand didn’t stop carving.The door hissed open, and the cold air of the corridor slid in. I didn’t raise my head yet.“Get up,” one of them barked. Boots stepped in, two sets of boots. “Time for interrogation.