Chapter 118 A woman
"It still hasn't been twenty four hours! I don't think we can report it yet!", Celia said as Esteban struggled to calm down.
Celia had notified him out of worry since Isabella didn't pick her call.
They were supposed to meet at the mall, shopping for birthday decorations for Sophia.
Worried sick, Celia headed to Isabella's apartment, where she found the apartment locked.
Esteban had arrived shortly, his brakes making a loud shriek as his car came to a stop.
"Where could she have gone?!", Celia asked.
As far as she knew, Isabella didn't have any family in Umbria.
"Maybe she went somewhere else!
Maybe she's alright!
Her phone is probably dead or something!", Celia said to Esteban.
The man glanced at her with his side, shaking his head as he heard her suggestions.
It didn't even seem plausible to her as something like that had never happened with her.
Everything just seemed off!
Isabella was never like that.
"How about the restaurant...?!", Esteban started.
"Come on!
I literally work there!", Celia said, rolling her eyes.
"Fine!", Esteban said, seeing the connection.
"We need to think of other places she could be!", Celia said, honestly worried sick about her friend.
"Maybe we should call her job!", Esteban suggested again.
"Why?
It's the weekend!
Plus she took today off!", Celia informed him as she proceeded to think about the other places Isabella might be.
"Still!
You should call them!
We never know!", Esteban argued, wanting to hear from her job before he ruled the possibility out.
"Fine then!", Celia said as she brought out her phone.
Esteban watched as she made the enquiry, thus, he wondered why her face contorted.
"What?
What happened?!", Esteban urged.
"They said she quit over the phone!", Celia answered with a raised eyebrow.
"What do you mean?
Maria needs that job!
Why would she do that?
Do you think they're lying?!", Esteban fired question after question.
If it hadn't solidified before, it just did.
Isabella was missing, and from the looks of things...
There were no looks of things!
It was confusing and it had them wondering.
~~
The woman in question burped her daughter as they had just finished munching on the meal that Luciano had provided.
It all seemed surreal to her.
Being found out.
In the back of her mind, she knew it was a matter of time, but she didn't know his feelings would be accompanied by it.
"Come baby!", Isabella said as she directed Sophia to the bathroom she had seen earlier.
She blushed as she remembered his confession. Sophia smiled seeing her mother's face go pink.
Sophia had made a mess while she ate, thus, Isabella instinctively had to bath her.
As she changed her daughter into the clothes she had found in the walk in closet, she heard a knock from the door.
Isabella sniffed wondering if it was Luciano that knocked.
However, she simply smiled to herself as she caught on to what she had been doing.
She shook her head as she stood up to unlock the door.
"Andreas!", Isabella called out
"Hi! Your daughter is about to fall...!", Andreas said as he panicked.
Sophia was indeed trying to fall off the bed.
She had napped and was more than recharged to wander the room and feed her curiosity.
"Sophia!", Isabella called as they ran towards the bed.
Andreas got to her first, grabbing her by the leg, just before she fell and hit her head.
"Well!
That was close!", Andreas commented as he passed a giggling Sophia to her mother.
"It was!", Isabella agreed as she put Sophia on the floor.
She looked around the room, keeping it in mind to 'babyproof' the room to the best of her abilities.
"Anyways!
The Don wants you to know there's a theater...!", Andreas drawled as he saw Isabella's expression.
"To kill boredom of course. He thinks you might be bored out of your mind!", He completed with urgency.
He couldn't tell what she was thinking by the look on her face, however, her next few words made him recall the defiant staff the boss took a liking to.
"He thinks I'll try to feel at home.
In this! In this...
What is this place!?!", Isabella asked as she looked around her room.
"It's the Rossi Villa in Umbria!
And he just wants to make sure you're not bored!", Andreas answered.
He was answered with a blank stare from Isabella.
Then she went to pick up Sophia from beside her crib.
"I had a life before this!
I had a life before my time in the mansion as well...!", Isabella said as she looked at nothing particular.
"I want my friend! The lady you must have seen me with as you hunted me down!", Isabella said as Soohia giggled in her arms.
"I don't know if The Don would welcome the idea of bringing someone into the villa!", Andreas said, considering the security breach that could cause.
However, he was met with another bank stare from Isabella.
The lady had grown. That much he had gathered from the interaction in the room.
"I'll talk to The Don!", Andreas said as he turned to leave the room.
She had learned to hold her own. Afterall, she had run away three years before without looking back.
As Andreas left, Isabella looked through the window.
The sun was setting, thus it was getting dark.
She had seen Luciano earlier that morning, she hadn't seen him since then.
Various thoughts went through her head, like the job she didn't know she had quit, the amount of paperwork she had to sort before sending them to Mrs Carla.
She wondered what awaited them, where they were going and...
Isabella's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of tires crushing gravel.
She looked out, her baby in her arms as she watched the entire ordeal.
Said vans parked in and outside the compound.
The space accommodated them nicely, but it still looked packed coupled with Luciano's vans.
Men with tattoos plastered all over their body came out of the vans, circling one van in particular.
Isabella wondered what the men were protecting.
More like a who.
A woman! Isabella thought as she saw the figure.
Luciano came out soon after, exchanging hugs as he walked her in.
She chuckled softly as she looked at her baby.
"No wonder he had locked us in!", Isabella said.
She really didn't know if there was a threat anymore.
~~
Mrs Carla - Human Resources manager at Green Earth Oil.