Chapter 143

Adriano's POV

Something was off.

I didn't know what but the moment I ended the call with Nik and sat down to work, something in my head kept nagging at me.

At first, I thought it was the unusual silence in the house but I figured that was because everyone was probably asleep.

I had expected Melanie to come find and chastize me for taking too long but since she didn't, that meant that the day finally got to her and she succumbed to sleep.

My girl was a rockstar tonight, and like I expected, she had my entire family eating from the palm of her hands throughout the dinner. I was sure they saw exactly what I did from the moment I set my eyes on her.

By now Nik should be mobilizing the guys to infiltrate the last warehouse. He got intel that Pushkin finally moved all the girls to one place and he just got the location. I trusted Nik could handle this without me, after all, he had just singlehandedly negotiated a new deal with the Irish.

Tonight I was going to end it sleeping next to the woman I love and by tomorrow once I was sure that all the girls that Alex held hostage were safe, then I'll worry about taking care of him. Still, something kept nagging at me so I decided that I had done eough work and headed to the bedroom.

The moment I stepped inside, I realized what was wrong.

Melanie was not in bed.

I checked the bathroom and I still came up empty. Moving quickly, I went inside the closet and that's when I noticed it. Some of her clothes were gone, along with some shoes and since her duffel bag was missing, I assumed that's where she packed her things.

By the look of things, she packed in a hurry, barely closing drawers properly. I felt my chest tighten and it became hard to breathe, , the realization of what was happening finally dawning on me.

She was gone. Melanie left me.

Before I knew what I was doing, I let out a loud scream and shattered the bottles of product that were on the vanity desk.

How could she do this to me?

No, my little nurse wouldn't do things without a reason. Something must have sent her running for the hills.

But the question was, how the hell was she able to bypass security in this compound and escape in the middle of the night?

Someone was going to answer for that or I'm going to wipe off the sorry excuse of a security guard who let this happen.

I walked out of the closet when I heard a knock on the bedroom door.

"Mr. Alfonso, is everything okay?" Alice asked from the other side of the door. "I heard a particularly disturbing scream and the sound of shattered glass."

I opened the door.

"She's gone," I said.

Her eyes widened when she realized what I was referring to.

"That's not possible," she said.

"Do I look like someone who makes jokes, Alice?" I asked and she shook her head.

"Now the Melanie I know would not do anything without a concrete reason so if you have any idea why she would do something like this, tell me," I said.

Alice tried to look everywhere else but at me and I immediately knew something was up.

"Speak, Alice," I ordered.

"Uhm… I don't know if this counts as a reason or not but Melanie once told me that Erica paid her a visit while she was at work. She was angry but I don't think Erica was able to convince her to leave you," Alice said.

I haven't heard that name spoken out loud in a while and I still feel as angry as the last time I saw her. Scratch that, I was even more mad now that I knew that there was a chance Erica's conniving ass was behind Melanie's disappearance.

"Then you don't know Erica well. She's capable of doing anything she sets her mind to," I said, then it all clicked.

Pushkin resurfaces and causing trouble after all these years and Erica showing herself to Melanie. They were working together again.

I wondered why I didn't think of that at first and now, they've gone and involved my woman. I don't know what Erica did to make Melanie run away from home but I needed to find her as soon as possible because there was no way Erica would let her go like that.

No, Erica was a woman scorned and out for revenge. One of the best way for her to carry that out is to hurt someone dear to me and she had figured out that Melanie was that one person who had the power to break me.

Melanie was in danger!

"Stay in the house and be extra alert tonight. Call any off duty guards and tell them to get to their posts. I'll deal with the security later but now I need all hands on deck," I told Alice who was fast on my heels as I headed downstairs.

"Okay, I'll do that but may I ask what's going on?"

"Melanie is in danger and I need you to be protected while I go get her back," I said, pulling out my phone to dial Nik's number.

"Oh dear," I heard Alice murmur while I put the phone to my ear.

"Hey, boss. I was just about to call you. The mission was a success," Nik said. "We were able to rescue every girl unharmed, I can't say the same about the Russian guards though considering the number of dead bodies here."

"I need all the boys and then some," I said.

"Huh, I don't understand what you mean is there another mission I'm not aware of?" he asked.

"Yes, and this one just came up and it takes priority over everything else," I answered.

"Just tell me what it is and we'll be there ASAP," Nik responded.

"Melanie is in danger. I need you to get extra guns and a vest for me. I'll send you the location so I'll meet you there. You are to remain hidden until I get there."

I ended the call and pulled up the app that was tracking Melanie's location.