One Hundred & Thirty Four

One Hundred & Thirty Four
Darius returned to the mansion just after sunset. The house felt wrong the moment he stepped inside… too quiet, too still. His chest tightened with a strange, sharp unease.

One of the guards approached quickly. “Sir…Miss Amara, she left.”

Darius stopped walking. “What do you mean, left?” His voice was calm, but something dark flickered in his eyes.

“She took a suitcase,” the guard said carefully. “Got into a taxi. She didn’t say where she was going.”

The words hit him like a blow.

“A suitcase?” Darius repeated, disbelief creeping in. His heart began to race. “When?”

“About an hour ago.”

Darius didn’t wait to hear anything else. He moved fast, almost running through the halls.

“Amara!” he called, his voice echoing through the house. “Amara!”

No answer.

He checked the bedroom… her closet half empty, the bed untouched. His chest tightened painfully. He rushed to the sitting room, then the kitchen, his steps growing more desperate with every empty space.

“Amara,” he said again, quieter now, fear slipping into his voice. “Please.”

That’s when he saw it.

A folded piece of paper on the table.

His hands trembled as he picked it up. He already knew it was from her. He could feel it.

Don’t come looking for me. It’s over between us

The words blurred as his vision filled with tears he refused to let fall.

“No,” he whispered, shaking his head. “No… this doesn’t make sense. This can’t be happening.@

His heart pounded hard against his ribs, panic clawing up his throat. He pulled out his phone and dialed her number immediately.

It rang.

Once. Twice. Then went to voicemail.

He tried again. And again.

“Pick up,” he said hoarsely, pacing the room. “Amara, please pick up.”

Nothing.

The silence was unbearable.

His hands curled into fists as dread settled deep in his chest. She hadn’t just gone out. She hadn’t needed space.

She had left him for good.

And the worst part.. the thing that tore him apart the most… was that he didn’t know why. Didn’t know what he had done. Didn’t know where she was, or if she was safe.

The woman he loved was gone.

And for the first time in years, Darius felt truly afraid.

Darius turned back to the guards slowly. His face was tight, his jaw locked, eyes dark with fear and anger fighting for control.

“You just had one simple job to watch her” he said angrily “ what happened did someone visit? was it Don Matteo?” he asked.

The guards exchanged a look. One of them stepped forward. “No sir. Your uncle, sir. Lorenzo Venynar.”

Everything inside Darius went cold.

“What … What did he say to her?” Darius asked quietly. Too quietly.

“We didn’t hear much,” the guard replied. “They talked in the sitting room. She looked… uncomfortable. Upset. After he left, she went upstairs. An hour later, she came down with a suitcase.”

Darius closed his eyes for a brief second. His chest burned. He already knew. He felt it.

Lorenzo.

He pulled out his phone with shaking hands and dialed without thinking. The call connected almost immediately.

“What did you do?” Darius demanded the second the line opened.

A pause. Then Lorenzo’s calm voice came through. “I told her the truth.”

Darius’s breath hitched. “What truth?” he snapped. “You had no right to speak to her at all.”

“She deserved to know what kind of world she walked into,” Lorenzo replied coldly. “And what kind of man you are.”

Darius’s hand tightened around the phone. “You went behind my back to talk to her. I told you to stay off my business.”

“I warned her,” Lorenzo said. “That she was a pawn. That her father destroyed our family. That being with you would only end in pain. She needed to know the truth. If she was sensible a enough she would leave.”

“You won,” Darius said, his voice shaking now. “She’s gone. She left without telling anyone where she was.”

There was silence on the line for a moment.

Then Lorenzo spoke, slower. “Then she made the right choice.”

Something inside Darius snapped.

“You had no right,” he said again, each word heavy with fury and pain. “I should have told her the truth not you. Why uncle why?”

“She is his daughter,” Lorenzo replied sharply. “And you know what that means. Stop this stupidity boy I’m getting sick of it.”

“No,” Darius said, his voice low and dangerous. “She is not him.. and I know you already know she’s not Don Matteo’s daughter yet you did this.”

Lorenzo exhaled. “It doesn’t matter now what I know.Love made you weak, Darius. I did what you couldn’t.”

The call ended.

Darius stared at his phone, his hands trembling. Slowly, he lowered it.

The house felt emptier than ever.

He dragged a hand down his face, breathing hard, trying to think. Amara was alone. Hurt. Running with nowhere to go. That thought tore at him worse than anything else.

“She thinks I used her,” he whispered to himself. “She thinks everything was a lie.”

His chest ached.

Then his expression hardened.

“No,” he said firmly. “I’m not letting this end like this.”

He turned to the guards, eyes blazing with determination beneath the heartbreak.

“Find her,” he ordered. “Airports. Bus stations. Hotels. Credit cards. Cameras. Everywhere.”

One of them hesitated. “Sir… we don’t know where to start..”

“I don’t care,” Darius cut in. “Find her and if you had one your job well she would still be standing here.” He snapped

He looked back toward the door she had walked out of, his heart heavy but resolved.

“No matter where you run, Amara,” he murmured, “I will find you. I’m never letting you go.”