Isat on the edge of Dom’s bed as he threw up in the bathroom. He’d been sick recently, spending every moment he wasn’t looking for Bianca on his knees with his head in a toilet.
She’d been gone for just over a week now.
If it weren’t for her things left behind and the way my heart ached at her absence, I’d have not known she existed. She just… vanished. Poof. Gone into the thin air with no witnesses. The only thing the camera in my room showed was her on her phone and then leaving quickly. So she’d been lured out.
“I shouldn’t have left her alone. This is my fault.” Dom slumped into his leather chair and buried his face in his hands.
“It’s not your fault.” Levin handed him a glass of whiskey. Dom downed it in one go and handed it back to him.
“I have to call my father,” Dom mumbled after a moment of silence.
Levin and I shot each other uneasy looks. We figured he didn’t have her since if he did, he’d have already been in contact. We’d decided we weren’t going to alert him to her disappearance.
“I thought we weren’t doing that,” I said as Dom pulled his phone out.
“We’ve looked everywhere. Enzo said he’s heard nothing. Ivanov denies anything to do with it. Who else is there? It has to be my father.” Dom wiped his nose and put the phone to his ear.
His lips tightened as he sat forward in his seat.
“Father,” he said into the phone. A hard look passed over his face as Matteo must have been delivering his bad guy monologue.
“I’m not calling to apologize. I’m calling to see if you took my wife.” Dom grew silent, a muscle thrumming along his jaw. He scoffed. “I’m sure. You can try, but I have more important things to worry about right now.” He was quiet again for a moment. “You think I want to do that? That I even trust you? …Fine. Yes. No. I’m really not interested. Yes. Unlikely, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility. No, I’m not like you, father. I actually give a damn about her. No. Absolutely not. Not yet. I was trying, and no, I’d fucking blow it up again. Of course. Yes. I’ll consider it. I’ll be in touch.” Dom hung up and went back to rubbing his eyes.
“What did he say?” Levin asked.
“He doesn’t have her and made sure to remind me if I’d have given her to him this wouldn’t have happened. He asked about an heir. Just his typical bullshit, but he seemed more amused than concerned. Prick.”
“Do you think he was telling the truth?” I ventured.
“Yes. He was angry that I’d lost her even through the mild amusement. He wants to meet with me.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said, glancing at Levin who leaned against Dom’s small kitchen counter, a frown on his face.
“Which is why I won’t be doing it until I find Bianca. If I bother with him at all.”
“What about D’Angelou? Do you think he took her?” Levin glanced from Dom to me then back to Dom.
Dom shook his head. “No. We’ve been over this. If he had her, she’d be back with Ivanov by now, and he’s clearly in the dark too. I just… don’t know.” His voice cracked. He buried his face in his hands for a moment before staring straight ahead. “She didn’t even know how much I loved her and wanted to fix things. She didn’t know I was going to let everything go and give her what she wanted. I was coming home to tell her. To promise her.”
“Man, B knows you love her,” I said gently. “She was upset. You know she loves you too.”
“I don’t know that she feels anything. She could already be dead.” He got to his feet abruptly. Without warning, he smashed his fist through his wall then continued to beat on it, his teeth bared and his cheeks damp.
“Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!” he shouted. Levin got to him before I did and pulled him away. Blood ran down his hand in rivets, dripping onto the hardwood floors. Levin hauled him against his body and hugged him. Dom’s body shook as he clung to Levin.
I got up and joined them, deciding maybe a group fucking hug was what we all needed right then.
But I couldn’t lie to myself.
What we needed was baby B back.
* * *
We stayed in Dom’s room. We’d been sleeping there every night since B was taken. I don’t know if it was strength in numbers or what, but it felt good to have one another as we worked through shit. I crashed in bed with Dom and Levin slept on the sofa in the sitting room.
I woke up to an empty bed and the sound of the shower going. Sitting up, I rubbed my eyes and grabbed my phone. It was just after nine in the morning. We’d not been attending classes, but we knew we had to at least try. Dom had given the administration office some bullshit story about Bianca needing time away for her mental health. And no one questioned Dominic De Santis when he told them something. So her absence here was just overlooked.
With every lead we had cold, we’d decided maybe we’d hear something in the crowd if we returned. Stella had been MIA. I figured we’d terrified her with the gun situation. She’d be back though. She always came back.