Chapter 191
Vitale's brows instantly knitted together, a surge of fury from being woken up gathering around him like a tangible force.
With his eyes still closed, he fumbled for the vibrating phone on the nightstand, not even glancing at the caller ID before pressing the answer button. His voice was thick with irritation and an unmistakable edge of menace from being disturbed, "You'd better have something important, Amboni! Otherwise, I swear, even if you're my friend, I'll make you regret waking me up at this hour!"
On the other end of the line, Amboni's voice lacked its usual teasing or casual tone. Instead, it carried a rare seriousness and a hint of panic.
He ignored Vitale's threat and spoke a single sentence with the clearest speed possible.
Just one sentence.
And it was enough to wipe away all of Vitale's sleepiness, anger, and even the lingering satisfaction from earlier intimacy, evaporating them completely.
He jolted upright in bed, his bare upper body tense, muscles taut. His blue eyes narrowed sharply in the darkness, like a predator sensing a deadly threat.
Isabella, sleeping beside him, seemed disturbed by his sudden movement. She let out a soft whimper, instinctively shifting closer to him before sinking back into deep sleep.
But Vitale had no time to care.
All his attention was locked on the phone, on the news Amboni had just delivered.
"Eva woke up. Just half an hour ago, Jerry's team detected her brainwave activity returning to normal. Her vital signs are stable, and they've confirmed she's regained consciousness."
Eva woke up.
Vitale's blue eyes contracted sharply, all traces of sleep vanishing in an instant.
He propped himself up, the thin blanket sliding down to reveal his lean, muscular upper body and the bandaged wound on his left arm.
He instinctively glanced at the figure beside him. Isabella was still fast asleep, lying on her side. Her golden hair was messily spread across the pillow, covering most of her face, leaving only her delicate chin and slightly swollen lips visible—lips that carried a lazy, satisfied curve.
Under the blanket, her smooth shoulders and faint outline of her curves could be seen.
The memory of their intense lovemaking from a few hours ago was still vivid—a session so passionate it felt like their souls were burning together. It was the first true connection they'd shared after surviving life-threatening fear, arguments, confessions, and reconciliation.
Mixed with the wild joy of regaining what was almost lost, the desperate need to confirm each other's existence, cautious exploration, and finally, complete release of passion, it had drained nearly all their physical and emotional energy.
No wonder Isabella was sleeping so deeply now, undisturbed even by the noise of his phone call.
Vitale forced himself to tear his gaze away from Isabella and refocus on the phone.
Eva waking up was indeed good news. It meant his bait was starting to work.
But there was something off about Amboni's tone.
"Bad news too?" Vitale's voice turned cold.
Amboni sighed on the other end, his tone a bit strange, "The bad news is, according to Jerry's initial observations and tests, Eva seems to have lost her memory. She doesn't remember who she is, doesn't remember Barton, doesn't remember Thorn of Justice, and doesn't even know why she's being held here."
Vitale's brows twisted into a tight knot.
Memory loss?
At a critical moment like this?
"Are you sure she's really lost her memory?" Vitale's voice carried undisguised doubt and sharpness. "Not faking it? You know Eva's not simple."
"Of course I'm not sure!" Amboni shot back immediately, a hint of frustration in his voice. "How could I tell something like that? Jerry's here."
"You know what our good doctor is capable of. He has a whole set of testing methods—physiological responses, micro-expressions, brainwave changes, even pupil dilation—to determine if someone's lying or if their cognition is genuinely impaired."
"He's done the initial tests, and his conclusion is that Eva's memory loss, at least under the current testing methods, appears to be real."
"Her brain did suffer from the impact of the explosion and lingering effects of drugs, showing clear memory gaps and confusion."
Hearing that Jerry had tested her, Vitale's doubts eased a little.
He had absolute trust in Jerry's professional skills, especially when it came to assessing physical and mental states.
If Jerry's initial judgment was that the memory loss was real, the likelihood was very high.
But it was still a problem.
A memory-less Eva was far less valuable as bait.
Would Marco take the risk for someone who might not remember anything and could even end up helping them instead?
And if Isabella found out about Eva's memory loss…
Vitale quickly cut off that thought.
Now wasn't the time to think about that.
"I'm coming over right now," he said curtly, then hung up the phone.
Even though every muscle in his body was protesting, craving to crawl back into the warm bed and hold Isabella for a few more hours of sleep.
Even though the dull ache in his head was a constant reminder that he needed rest.
Even though the intimacy they'd just shared left him in a strange state of satisfied emptiness mixed with exhaustion.
Vitale knew he had to get up immediately.
Eva was the most critical lead in tracking down Marco and Barton at this stage. Any change in her condition could directly impact the direction of the entire plan.
Vitale had to confirm it in person, talk to Jerry himself, and make decisions for the next steps.
He carefully but quickly lifted the blanket and got out of bed, his bare feet stepping silently onto the soft carpet.
Vitale walked to the wardrobe and pulled out a set of clean spare clothes.
A simple black T-shirt and cargo pants.
While getting dressed, his gaze involuntarily drifted back to Isabella, who was sound asleep on the bed.
She slept so deeply, so peacefully.
Her golden hair rose and fell slightly with her steady breathing, a faint flush from their earlier passion still lingering on her cheeks. The corners of her mouth seemed to curve with a hint of satisfaction.
This completely trusting, defenseless sleeping face was like the most precious painting, instantly softening Vitale's heart and making it even harder for him to leave.
Once dressed, he walked back to the bedside, leaned down, and placed an extremely gentle kiss on Isabella's smooth forehead.
His lips touched her slightly cool skin, carrying endless affection and a barely noticeable trace of apology.
Sorry, I can't be here when you wake up.
In her sleep, Isabella seemed to sense something. She let out a soft murmur and shifted slightly, but didn't wake up.
She was too exhausted, both mentally and physically. This long-overdue, intense fusion of emotions and bodies had nearly drained the last of her energy.
Vitale took one last deep look at her, as if to etch her current image into his heart.
Then he straightened up, his eyes turning sharp and calm once more.
He turned and left the bedroom silently, gently closing the door behind him.
Meanwhile, in a dark, damp temporary hideout in Arcturus's sewer system, reeking of mold and garbage, the atmosphere was suffocatingly tense.
Barton, the head of Thorn of Justice in Arcturus, was slumped against a rusty old iron barrel, scavenged from who-knows-where.
The usual friendly, almost naive smile on his face was long gone.
In its place was undisguised irritation and anxiety.
His eyes were bloodshot, his chin covered in messy stubble, and his work jacket stained with dirt. He looked much older and more worn out than usual.
They had been hiding like rats in the city's vast, complex underground tunnels and abandoned buildings for days.
Vitale's reaction speed and the intensity of his retaliation had far exceeded their expectations.
Their dock hideout was burned down, the cliff observation post was raided, and nearly all their known contact points and safe houses were either destroyed or under tight surveillance.
They had lost a lot of people, and the few remaining, including Aldo, were as jumpy as scared animals.
Worst of all, they seemed to be trapped in Arcturus.
Vitale's men had blocked all major exits from the city—roads, railways, even private airports were crawling with informants.
They had tried sneaking out in disguise a few times, but nearly got caught each time, forcing them to retreat back to this filthy den.
"Damn it," Barton muttered under his breath, forcing down the last bit of tasteless jerky in his mouth.
His cigars had run out long ago, and now he didn't even have that small comfort.
Irritation gnawed at his sanity like a venomous snake.
He was used to having everything under control, used to manipulating situations with a kind facade and precise calculations.
Being on the run like this, losing control, made him extremely uncomfortable, even sparking a rare sense of fear.
Aldo and the other two remaining core members huddled in a corner, barely daring to breathe.
They knew Barton too well.
Normally, he seemed easygoing, but when things slipped out of his grasp, the fangs he bared were more terrifying than any thug's.
Right now, Barton was like a tiger trapped in a cage, starving and restless, ready to lash out at any moment.
"Eva…" Barton suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse, breaking the suffocating silence. "Still no news?"
Aldo flinched, quickly responding with a tremble in his voice, "Yes, boss. The guys we sent to gather info said Eva might have been killed by Vitale's people."
"Near the cliff, the car exploded, and someone said they saw inside…"
"Bullshit!" Barton cut him off sharply, a frightening glint in his murky eyes. "Impossible! My Eva couldn't be taken out so easily by someone like Vitale!"
He leaned forward, gripping the edge of the iron barrel, staring at Aldo with a tone of absolute certainty, almost obsessive, "You all know what Eva's capable of. I trained her myself! She's one of the best hunters in Thorn of Justice! She's smarter than all of you combined, and ten times better in a fight! Vitale's men might trap her, hurt her, but to just blow her up like that? No way!"
Aldo, intimidated by his intensity, lowered his head, not daring to argue.
But deep down, he couldn't help feeling that in a situation like that, facing an opponent like Vitale and such tight encirclement, even Eva's chances of survival were slim.