Chapter 73 The Day Before the Silence
The day began better than most.
Alessandro noticed it immediately, though he couldn’t say why.
Nothing dramatic had changed. The city still breathed the same salt-heavy air. The office still smelled faintly of coffee and old wood. The men around him still carried the quiet tension that had become normal in recent months.
But something felt… lighter.
Maybe it was the way Isabella had looked that morning.
The way she had said it.
I have a surprise for you later.
He found himself thinking about it more than he should.
By mid-morning he had already checked his watch three times.
“Something wrong?” Rafael asked from across the table.
Alessandro looked up from the documents spread before him.
“No.”
Rafael leaned back slightly, unconvinced. “You’ve read the same line for five minutes.”
Alessandro closed the folder.
“Then it must not be important.”
That wasn’t entirely true. The deal they were reviewing was solid — another small expansion Isabella had suggested weeks earlier. A distribution agreement that looked insignificant on paper but opened three secondary routes quietly.
Her idea.
Another one.
He hadn’t told her yet how well it was performing.
He wanted to see her face when he did.
“She’s good at this,” Rafael said suddenly, as if reading Alessandro’s thoughts.
Alessandro didn’t pretend not to know who he meant.
“Yes,” he said simply.
He had underestimated that part of her.
Not her intelligence — he had always known that.
But her instinct.
Isabella saw structures differently than most people. She didn’t think in terms of power. She thought in terms of movement — how systems shifted when no one was looking.
It made her dangerous.
It also made her invaluable.
“Should I finalize this?” Rafael asked.
Alessandro nodded.
“Yes. Quietly.”
The meeting ended shortly after. He had many things to do but his mind would not allow him to concentrate. All he wanted was to just leave and go to her. Kiss her. Cuddle her. Look at those beautiful eyes that made his heart melt.
By early afternoon, the work that normally consumed his entire day was already under control. Calls made. Contracts reviewed. A shipment confirmed.
Normal things.
He stood by the window for a moment, watching traffic crawl through the narrow streets below.
His thoughts drifted back to that morning again.
You’ll like it.
The way she had said it hadn’t sounded like business.
It had sounded… personal. Maybe she wanted to surprise him in a sexy way although that was not really like her. She had that beautiful innocent look in her eyes that made even the coldest people melt. She made those around her better just by smiling to them. That was one of the many reasons he loved her..
That thought stayed with him when he left the office.
Instead of heading straight home, he stopped at a small florist two streets away. The shop was old — the kind that still wrapped bouquets in brown paper instead of plastic.
The woman behind the counter recognized him.
“Roses?” she asked.
He shook his head.
“No.”
He studied the rows of flowers for a moment before pointing.
“Those.”
The woman smiled knowingly as she wrapped them.
“Someone must have done something right.”
He didn’t answer.
But he was thinking the same thing. He also added a little teddy bear to his surprise since he knew how much she loved them. She had an entire collection of them but still wouldnt mind having more.
By the time he reached the house, the sky had softened toward evening. The sun sat low enough to cast long shadows across the road.
He parked in the driveway and sat there for a second longer than necessary.
The house looked the same as it always did.
Quiet.
Still.
Safe.
He grabbed the flowers from the passenger seat and stepped out of the car.
“Bella?” he called as he pushed the front door open.
His voice echoed lightly through the hallway.
No answer.
That wasn’t unusual.
Sometimes she worked upstairs. Sometimes she fell asleep on the couch with her notebooks scattered around her.
He stepped inside.
“Isabella?”
The kitchen was empty.
The living room untouched.
He set the flowers on the counter and walked deeper into the house.
A small frown formed between his brows.
“Bella?”
Still nothing.
Upstairs.
He took the steps two at a time.
Bedroom.
Bathroom.
Office.
Empty.
The quiet changed.
It wasn’t peaceful anymore.
It was wrong.
Alessandro stood in the middle of the hallway, listening to the house like it might answer him.
“Isabella.”
This time he didn’t call her name.
He said it.
Like a question.
Like a warning.
And for the first time that day, the unease he had ignored all afternoon settled firmly in his chest.
Because the house was still.
Too still.
And Isabella wasn’t there.