Chapter 100 The wine chat
Dante and Luca walked in silence to the bar down the street. It was a small place with dim lights, soft music, and not many customers. The kind of place people used when they needed to talk about things that hurt.
Inside, Dante chose a table in the far corner. Luca sat opposite him.
A waiter approached, and Luca ordered a bottle of red wine without asking Dante’s preference. Dante didn’t care. His mind was far away.
The wine came. The waiter filled their glasses.
For several minutes, they didn’t touch them.
They just sat there, the silence heavy between them.
Dante’s leg bounced under the table. Luca watched him for a moment, then finally spoke.
“Why are you suddenly concerned about her?” he asked quietly.
Dante lifted his eyes. His throat tightened. “Suddenly?”
“Yes,” Luca replied calmly. “You tried to move on. You pushed her away. You made plans with Isabelle. And now you’re shaking because she’s missing?”
Dante stared at him.
The words stung, but they were not wrong.
Instead of answering, Dante asked, “When did you suddenly become close to her?”
Luca leaned back in his seat, eyebrow lifting. “Does it matter?”
“It does,” Dante said. “Because of what I saw in the footage, the way you looked at her.”
They stared at each other.
Both men were silent. Both men holding things back.
After a long moment, Luca asked again, quieter this time, “Dante after everything, why are you suddenly concerned about her?”
Dante took a breath.
His voice was unsteady when he spoke. “Because… because a part of me is still with her.”
Luca’s eyes softened a little.
Dante swallowed hard. “And when I realized she was gone, something in me just.” His voice cracked slightly, and he looked down at the table. “I got scared. Like really scared.”
Luca looked at him for a long time, studying his face, his shaking hands, the pain that Dante didn’t hide anymore.
Finally, Luca nodded slowly. “Well, soon we’ll know the truth.”
Dante lifted his eyes. “What truth?”
Luca didn’t answer that.
He reached for his glass instead and took his first sip of wine. Dante did the same, although the liquid burned his throat more than usual.
Luca then asked, “How are the wedding plans going?”
Dante let out a humorless laugh. “You’re asking like it’s something I actually care about.”
Luca tilted his head. “Jean-Paul seems to care.”
“Jean-Paul cares about money,” Dante said. “Power. Merging companies. I’m not a teenager who wants to get married just because his father wants some deal signed.”
“Then why go through with it?” Luca asked.
Dante looked away. Because he didn't know how to fight his father. Because he didn’t want to destroy the company.
Because he didn’t want to drag his late mother's name into ridicule.
But he didn’t say all those things.
Instead, he said, “I don’t know.”
Luca swirled his wine. “And Sienna?”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
After a moment, he spoke quietly. “She brought peace into my life.”
Luca raised an eyebrow.
Dante continued, his voice lower now. “When she was around, my mind wasn’t full of noise. I didn’t feel like I was losing myself every day. She didn’t judge me. She didn’t want anything from me. She just understood me.”
His fingers tightened around his glass.
“She saw me,” he whispered. “Even the broken parts.”
Luca remained silent, watching him.
Then he leaned forward, elbows on the table. “Dante, what if this marriage”
He paused, choosing his words carefully.
“is being used to cover up illegal activities?”
Dante’s head snapped up. “What?”
Luca didn’t flinch. “Think about it. Your father is pushing the wedding too fast. He’s tying the company to Isabelle’s family. Everything is rushed. Everything is secretive.”
Dante shook his head. “No, that can’t be.”
“Really?” Luca cut him off. “Because from where I’m standing, something is not right.”
Dante’s heart pounded.
What if Luca was telling the truth? What if there's an Illegal activity, his father was involved in? Why the forced engagement and merger?
“No,” he whispered again, but this time he didn’t sound sure.
Luca leaned back. “Well, now that Sienna is missing, I think we should stop guessing and swing into action. We don't know if she's still alive.”
Dante looked up sharply.
Luca’s expression was calm.
“We’d better make a police report,” Luca said.
Something inside Dante snapped into clarity. Yes. He wasn’t letting the situation spiral any further.
“Let’s head to the police station now,” Dante said, standing up.
Luca finished the last sip of his wine and rose slowly. “After you.”
They walked out of the bar together.
Sienna woke up in darkness. Her head throbbed. Her throat burned.
Sienna slowly opened her eyes, blinking hard.
She wasn’t in Luca’s car. She wasn’t outside the supermarket. She wasn’t anywhere familiar.
The room was dim, lit only by a small bulb hanging crookedly from the ceiling.
Her hands were tied in front of her with thick cable ties. Her legs too.
She gasped and pulled at the restraints, but they didn’t move. Pain bit into her wrists.
A scream ripped out of her chest. “Hello?! Somebody help me! Please!”
Her voice bounced off the walls but nothing answered.
Her heart raced so hard she thought it might burst.
She tried again, louder. “Please! I didn’t do anything!”
She didn't hear any footsteps. No voices.
Silence was the only response to her screaming.
Tears stung her eyes.
She remembered she left the house with Luca to go to the supermarket. She remembered Luca going inside to get his keys, then the bus. The two men. She remembered the pain on her neck like a sting. Then the dizziness.
God! She had been taken.
Sienna pulled at the ties again, her breath shaking. “Please, let me go please…”
She didn't hear any sound.
Her breathing grew rapid, almost panicked.
Then, she heard footsteps.
Her whole body froze.
She heard voices echoing through the hallway outside.
Two men. Maybe three. She couldn’t tell.
She leaned closer to the door, pressing her ear against the cold metal.
She could hear them talking, but the words were muffled. She tried harder, pushing until her cheek hurt.
Still nothing clear.
Her heart thudded painfully inside her chest.
Please don’t let them come in. Please don’t let them touch me. Please don’t let them.
The voices grew louder and closer.
She held her breath.
The door handle rattled.
Sienna scrambled backward, hitting the wall behind her. Her eyes filled with tears, her chest tight with terror.
The footsteps stopped right outside her door.
A shadow moved underneath the crack.
The door swung open fully, and instead of one figure, two masked men stepped into the room.
Sienna’s breath caught in her throat.
“P-please, please don’t.” she whispered, her voice trembling so much it barely came out.
The men didn’t reply. They didn’t even hesitate.
One of them reached for her arm and loosed the cables.
“No!” she screamed, scrambling backward even though her legs were still tied. “Help! Somebody please help me!”
Her voice echoed through the hall, but no one answered. No footsteps came. No door opened. Nothing.
Her body shook so badly she could hardly breathe.
The taller man grabbed her under the arms. The other grabbed her feet and removed the cables.
“Stop! Let me go!” she cried, twisting her body, tears running down her face.“Please! I didn’t do anything!”
Her struggle didn’t matter.
The men didn’t speak a word.They didn’t look at her face. They didn’t slow down.
They just tightened their grip.
Sienna screamed again, louder this time, her throat burning. “Help!”
But the men only pulled harder.
Her back dragged along the rough floor as they carried her out of the room, her shoulders hitting the door frame on the way out. Pain shot through her body.
Her heart pounded so violently she thought she might faint again.
Where are they taking me? What do they want? Is someone going to kill me?
The hallway outside was narrow and dark. The air smelled like dust and metal. She tried to dig her heels into the floor to stop them, but her tied legs only scraped uselessly.
“Please” she sobbed. “Please don’t hurt me.”
Still no answer. No reaction.
Just cold silence and rough hands dragging her toward something she couldn’t see.
Something she didn’t want to know.
Her mind spun with panic, her chest aching, her breaths sharp and fast.
“Oh! Someone help me.Please.
Dante! Luca! Anyone!”
The two men turned a corner with her still thrashing in their grip.
And then she saw a bright room at the end of the hall.
A shadow moving inside.
Someone was waiting. Probably someone was here to save her.
The men carried her straight toward it.
Her screams filled the entire corridor.