CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
“SHE'S GONE WITHOUT A TRACE”

GIOVANNI CASTIGLIONE

I frown, looking down at the multiple messages I left for Scarlett since this morning but she didn’t answer one of them. She didn’t even read one either. I tried calling her multiple times too but it goes straight to voicemail.

“I sent Scarlett a million messages but she hasn’t responded to one of them.” I tell Vito, pacing around the living room.

“Just stop pacing, brother.” He says, waving me off and beckoning for me to sit down on the recliner seat. “You’re making me worried if you pace around like that.”

I stop pacing to face him. “I am worried.” I jerk my head toward the phone in my hand. “She hasn’t been answering any of my messages or calls. Are you even sure you dropped her off in the parking lot? You saw her enter the school, right?”

Vito nods. “Yes, big brother.” He sighs. “She walked with Eden into school and she was safe and sounds.”

“Then why isn’t she responding to my calls or messages?”

“Maybe it’s because she’s in class and can’t take out her phone when she pleases.” He says in a sarcastic tone. “She can’t take out her phone and text you every five seconds, big brother.”

I sigh loudly and finally plop myself down onto the recliner. I prop my phone back into my jean pocket and started to drum my fingers against my thigh to get rid of some time.

“Just stay calm.” Vito says. “She’s probably in Math class trying to figure out a problem, so leave her be for a while and if she doesn’t respond when the end of the day comes, we’ll drive to school and check up on her ourselves.”

I nod at him.

• • •

I nearly dropped my phone when I felt it vibrating in my hand.

I just wanted to check up on her again especially after Vito had told me not to bother her anymore, so seeing a message coming from her made me feel relieved because she finally responded after a few hours.

Scarlett: I’m fine, Castiglione. Stop messaging me so much.

“She messaged me back.” I tell Vito.

“See?” He smiles. “I told you that you had nothing to worry about.”

I frown, rereading the message over and over again.

You know that gut feeling you get when something’s off? I was having one of those and I couldn’t ignore it. Something was definitely wrong. Something definitely felt off with the message she sent me.

“What’s wrong?” Vito asks, sensing my sudden worry.

“Her message feels off.” I tell him. “She rarely, if ever, calls me Castiglione. It’s always Asstiglione or even Giovanni. But never Castiglione.”

Vito shakes his head at me. “Maybe she was deep in thought when she typed the message. Don’t make assumptions.”

I ignore him when I turned on my heels. “I’m going to school.” I tell him over my shoulder while I propped my phone into my jean pocket again. “I can’t shake the feeling that something’s not right.”

Of course he follows me.

“If you’re so worried about her, I’m worried too, brother. You rarely have bad feelings about things so this must be serious.” He says, catching up to me in three long strides.

He follows me out of the mansion.

Once we were in Vito’s car, he starts it and drives out of the front gates.

A few minutes into the drive, Vito turns to me when he made sure there wasn’t any cars in front of him.  “Didn’t she say anything else to you after the message she sent you?”

“Nope.” I shake my head. “Nothing.” I reread the same message from earlier over and over again.

I’m fine, Castiglione. Stop messaging me so much.

She didn’t message something else after that.

“That’s why I’m so on edge. Usually when I ignore her message, she sends one back to ask me if I’m in a bad mood for not replying to her.”

I feel an uneasy feeling roaming in the pit of my stomach, making me feel on edge as we made our way to the school. It was unbearable and it just made me want to see Scarlett in front of me to know if she was okay or not.

When we arrive at the school, I spot Eden leaning against the pillar just like every morning when I drop Scarlett off for school.

I get out of Vito’s car, not waiting to see if he follows me or not.

I walk towards Eden, trying to shield my face as best I can. I didn’t want to cause suspicion, especially not by the school. She’s the only one who knows that I’ve been driving Scarlett to and from school every morning, and when I’m not driving her, Wolff does.

She sees me and steps away from the pillar. “Have you come back to the school this morning to pick Scarlett up?” She asks, worriedly.

She held her phone in her hands, checking it every second to see if there wasn’t a message she might’ve missed.

“She isn’t with you?”

It was a stupid ass question but I just needed to make sure.

Eden shakes her head at me, looking at her phone again.

“No. She hasn’t been answering my calls or replying to my messages. I thought you picked her up again this morning because she just disappeared after I told her, uhm, something.”

I nod. “I need to know what you told her. It might be a clue to where she is.” I tell her and Eden picks at her nails nervously.

“I told her that Diablo—the guy who has this sort of grudge against her—that his brother was shot in a mall. She completely freaked out and just left.” Eden says, toying with one of the locks of her hair. “She was in the bathroom but when I went back to check on her a while later, she wasn’t there anymore.”

Shit.

“Where is this Diablo guy?” I ask her, ignoring the weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. It started to worsen with each second that passed and I didn’t see Scarlett anywhere. Hell, not even her best friend knew where she was.

Eden shrugs. “He already left about like maybe five minutes ago…”

“Do you have any clue where she might be?”

Eden shakes her head. “No. I literally have no clue… She isn’t responding to my messages or answers my calls. I’m really worried, Giovanni.”

I nod, releasing a defeated breath. “If she contacts you, please let me know.” I tell her and she nods.

I take my phone out of my pocket with my fine hand and hand her my phone. “Just enter your number and let me know once she answers your calls or replies to your messages.”

Eden nods, taking my phone before typing in her number. She hands me back my phone and shifts from one foot to the other.

“Find her, please.”

“I’ll try.” I promise her. “Thank you.”

She smiles and waves at me before I back away from her, back to Vito’s car.

He was still parked where I left him, waiting in the car with the window rolled down and his one arm leaned out of the window.

When I get in the car, he turns to me but I just shake my head, feeling anger and worry start to build up with every second that passed.

“Let’s try the house again? Maybe she went back there to find some sort of closure or something?” Vito suggest but he doesn’t wait until I answer him, he only starts the car and drives out of the parking lot.

The drive to her house feels excruciatingly slow. But once we arrive at her house, I physically start to relax. She might be here. Vito was right, she might’ve wanted some closure—or maybe she was saying goodbye to the house once and for all.

I hope she’s here. I hope with every fibre of my being that she’s here, because if she isn’t here, I’m going to lose my shit. I am going to lose my shit and there won’t be anyone around to get me back from it.

Vito barely stops the car when I already got out.

I shut the door behind me and walk to the front door fast. I open the front door but my hope falters when she isn’t in the living room.

Vito squeezes my shoulder from behind. “Don’t lose hope yet, brother.”

“I’m trying so hard not to, brother—” I tell him through gritted teeth.

“Wait, there’s someone behind the couch.” Vito says, already making his way to the couch.

As I near the couch behind him, I watch as Vito crouched down to turn the body around to see who it was.

“It’s Jeremiah.” Vito says, pressing his fingers onto his pulse. I stop breathing until Vito speaks again. “He’s alive.”

Vito shakes Jeremiah by the shoulders but he doesn’t wake up straight away, he was shaken for about three more seconds before his eyelashes finally flutters and he wakes up.

“Jeremiah, what happened? Where’s Scarlett?”

Jeremiah’s eyes widen as he gets up from the ground faster than Vito can stop him. He’s already up the stairs when Vito and I started to follow him.

He checks the rooms but she wasn’t there.

Until we make it to one of the bedrooms.

Her phone was lying on the ground but she was nowhere to be seen.

Jeremiah’s shoulders sag as he watches the phone lying on the ground, trying to piece together what happened, just like Vito and I did.

Vito walks over to a desk and grabs a piece of paper and pen before he walks back to Jeremiah. He hands him the pen and paper.

“Jeremiah, we need you to tell us what exactly happened.”

He didn’t need to be asked twice when he started to write.

He hands the piece of paper back to Vito and Vito reads it loudly. She was in the room while I was sitting on the couch, waiting for her. But someone came into the house and knocked me out. I’m sorry.

Vito places his hand on Jeremiah’s shoulder. “Can you think of someone who’d want to take her? Anyone at all?” I ask him.

Jeremiah shakes his head and I feel my entire world crumble around me.

Scarlett was gone. She was gone without a trace and we had no clue where to look for her. We didn’t even know who took her in the first place, making this entire situation ten times harder.

The not-knowing was killing me.

The not-knowing was eating me alive.

Where the hell are you, Scarlett? I thought.