Chapter 118: Where Are They?

Isabelle’s Point of View:

“It’s gonna take a long fucking time and a lot of fucking things before I even love you ever again.” He said, looking in my eyes before leaving me alone in the room. His words hit my heart like a dagger. My breath was hitched up as tears swelled up in my eyes.

He didn’t love me anymore? How was it even possible? How could he stop loving me?

I slowly tripped down on the bed, my mind lost elsewhere. I replayed the conversation over and over again in my head, guilt making my heart heavy. The hurt in his eyes when he said that I broke his heart, it was tearing me apart—ripping my soul piece by piece. One mistake, and everything was lost. I could see it in his eyes, I had lost him.

I sobbed as the reality hit me with each passing second. He didn’t even wanna talk to me anymore, let alone love me. I just wanted this all to be a bad dream, but it was of no use. I succumbed to the pain as I closed my eyes and lay down on the bed, crying myself to sleep.

***

The next few days were a blur. He disappeared again from the next day, and so did most of the people from the mafia. I didn’t question it, because I knew there was no use. After what he said, he wouldn’t talk to me.

Lucy, my assistant, walked up to me one normal afternoon.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Roman,” She had a wonderful smile on her face. I always admired how happy and cheerful she still seemed to be, after living in a place as dark as this.

The word ‘Roman’ reminded me of him again, but I had to get used to it. Even if he clearly didn’t want anything to do with me anymore, I was still his wife.

I put up a small fake smile, flashing it back at her. “Afternoon, Lucy.”

“I was wondering, uh… why don’t you go back to your place for a couple of days?” she asked, her voice a little scared.

“Why? What’s wrong?” I asked, a bit concerned.

“No, it’s just… you’ve been here for almost over a week now, and you know… it’s gonna take a while till anyone comes back.”

I wanted to ask where they were, but it was a big risk of looking completely dumb. She would probably think I was super stupid to not know where my husband and practically our entire Mafia had gone to for so many days, and would most probably stop talking to me at all. On the other hand, this was my only chance to actually figure out what was happening.

“Well, Lucy,” I said, letting out a small sigh. “Wh—” I stopped in my tracks, this sounded too dumb. I had to think of something else. “Why don’t you go to your place?” I questioned back.

She let out a small chuckle, which sounded more sad than happy. “I don’t have a place, Mrs. Roman. My husband is fighting a war right now, and this—this is all I have.”

A war?

I knew her husband. He was one of the best soldiers for our Mafia. If he was fighting a war… then so was Achilles and everyone else. But a war against who? And why? And… just what?

“Mrs. Roman?” She called me out of my trail of thoughts, and I looked at her.

“Lucy,” I said, “I couldn’t… um, talk to Achilles before he left for war. Can you tell me more about what’s happening?”

She was a little surprised that I was asking for information from her, but obliged. “Um, yes, sure, Mrs. Roman. I, uh, I talked to Robert before he left. He told me that the war was against The Blood Ravens, and that the–the chances of him returning… they… they were slim…” Her voice quivered as she continued, “He, um, he told me that it could take several months before the war ends and that they’ll use all the force they have because they are against the deadliest Mafia ever.”

My hands went up to cover my mouth as I heard that. Ace went into such a brutal fight without even saying anything at all. He didn’t even tell me. I–I knew something was up, but I figured it was another of his missions. Not this. I was aware he was mad at me, but… something so serious, and he just decided that I didn’t need to know? What if something happened to… him? Did he hate me so much to let me live with the fact that he didn’t love me anymore?

“I’m—I’m sure boss will be fine, Mrs. Roman,” She said with a small sad smile, as she realised my expressions turned worried.

I shook my head, getting myself together. “I know. And so will Robert.”

She smiled whole-heartedly. “It’s kind of you to say that.”

I nodded with another smile.

“Didn’t boss tell you he was going to war?” Her question threw me off guard as I looked at her.

How could he, when he didn’t even wanna see my face anymore?

“Uh, he must be—must be very stressed so must’ve slipped his mind,” I came up with an excuse and added, “Anyway. I—I suppose we are both trapped here till all of them come back, huh?”

She smiled. “Doesn’t have to be miserable. They have a kitchen right around the corner. Wanna bake a cake?”

I chuckled lightly at her excitement. “Yes, sure,” I said as we both went. I needed something to get my mind off things, and making friends wouldn’t be the worst thing at this time. Lucy was a really nice woman too.

We took our time making one of the most delicious chocolate cakes I’ve ever eaten—at least in a while, anyway. It was much more perfect than I had anticipated, considering neither of us were experts at it.

After having an hour-long talk about just normal things and having the cake, I felt much more comfortable and at ease. I knew the situation between me and Achilles, and Lucy and Robert was wildly different. Lucy told me that her husband had kissed her several times, said his goodbyes a couple of times and told her that he loved her a million times before he left.

For me, it was the fact that my husband didn’t love me anymore.

But at the same time, both of us were in the same situation too. We both had our better halves, who we loved so much, fighting between life and death. I guess that really brought us closer.

As we were done, I headed back to my room and took some time reading some e-books on my phone. They always helped me escape the nuisance of the real world. Days passed, just doing daily things, talking to Lucy for a couple of hours everyday, doing some fun activities—whatever can happen in a mafia base, when it was finally three weeks since I had last seen Achilles.

Even though both me and Lucy pretended we were happy and hopeful, the days just made us more and more nervous till today. It was night time when the door finally opened and 1/3rd of the soldiers walked in, along with Achilles.

As soon as I saw him, I ran up to him, wrapping my hands around his body.