Chapter 117: SOMETHING IS WRONG

~ELENA~

I burst into the house like a storm tearing through glass.

“Vincenzo! Nico! Riccardo!”

My voice shatters the silence, raw and frantic, echoing down the corridor. My lungs burn as I stumble into the sitting room, chest heaving, heart slamming so violently it feels like it might rip its way out of me.

They rush in almost immediately.

All three of them.

Barefoot. Half-awake. Tense.

Vincenzo is first….his eyes sharp despite the hour, body already positioned in front of me like a shield.

Nico follows, jaw tight, scanning the room instinctively as if expecting danger to materialize out of thin air.

Riccardo comes last, concern etched deep into his face when he sees me.

“Elena?” Riccardo says urgently. “What’s wrong?”

I bend forward, hands braced on my knees, dragging in air like I’ve been underwater too long.

“I— I need to speak to my mom,” I gasp. “Right now. Please. I need to talk to her now.”

Vincenzo’s brows draw together.

“Your mom?” He steps closer, lowering his voice. “Elena, slow down. What happened?”

“I can’t….” My head shakes wildly. “I just need to hear her voice. I need to know she’s okay.”

Nico exhales sharply.

“You’re shaking,” he says, noticing what I hadn’t. “What did you see? What did you find?”

Riccardo moves closer, placing a steadying hand on my arm.

“Why the rush? It’s still night. It’s barely morning,” he says.

“I don’t care what time it is!” My voice cracks, panic clawing its way out of my throat. “Please, just— call her.”

Vincenzo stiffens. “Elena… you know we don’t have phones here.”

The words hit me, but they don’t slow me down.

“Then use anything,” I plead. “A laptop. A tablet. Anything that connects. I just need to hear her voice.”

Nico frowns. “Even if we could, it’s too early. No signal is stable until daybreak.”

Riccardo nods. “We’ll reach out as soon as the sun is up. I promise.”

I grab Riccardo’s shirt, fingers curling into the fabric like it’s the only thing keeping me upright.

“I can’t wait,” I whisper desperately. “I can’t.”

They exchange looks….sharp, silent, loaded.

Vincenzo’s gaze returns to me, darker now.

“Elena,” he says carefully, “you don’t act like this over nothing.”

Nico crosses his arms. “You ran into the house screaming our names like someone was dying.”

Riccardo’s voice softens. “Talk to us. Please.”

My throat tightens. My heart pounds so loud I’m sure they can hear it.

“I—” My lips tremble. “I found something.”

All three of them go still.

Vincenzo’s posture hardens instantly. “Where?”

“The attic,” I whisper. “And… the pool.”

Nico’s eyes narrow. “What about the pool?”

I swallow hard, fear rising again, thick and choking.

“I think my mother might be in danger.”

Silence crashes into the room like a gunshot.

Riccardo stiffens. “What?”

“I remembered how she looked when I left,” I say, words spilling out now, fast and broken. “The way she held me. The way she spoke to me…..like she was afraid. Like she was saying goodbye.”

Vincenzo’s jaw tightens.

“Elena, you’re spiraling,” he tells me.

“No,” I snap, tears burning my eyes. “I’m not. Something is wrong. I can feel it.”

Nico steps closer, his voice low. “What does this have to do with Lorenzo?”

The name hangs in the air.

Heavy. Dangerous.

My breathing turns shallow. “Everything.”

Riccardo’s face pales slightly. “What aren’t you telling us?”

I clutch the evidence tighter against my chest without even realizing it.

“I just need to speak to her,” I whisper again, desperation breaking through. “Please. If something happens to her and I did nothing….”

Vincenzo curses under his breath.

“Daybreak,” he says firmly. “The moment the sky lightens, we use the laptop. We contact her. No delays.”

“But….”

He grips my chin gently but firmly, forcing me to look at him. His eyes are intense, burning.

“Listen to me,” he says. “If you run blind into fear, you make mistakes. And mistakes in this family get people killed.”

Nico nods. “Stay here. With us.”

Riccardo squeezes my arm.

“You’re not alone,” he says softly.

I nod weakly, though my heart refuses to calm.

Because somewhere, miles away….My mother is alone.

And the night isn’t over yet, in fact, it refuses to move.

It stretches, heavy and cruel, pressing down on my chest until breathing feels like work.

I sit curled into the corner of the couch, knees drawn to my chest, arms wrapped so tightly around myself it almost hurts. Almost….because nothing hurts more than the fear already tearing me apart from the inside.

Every sound makes me flinch.

The tick of the wall clock. The whisper of wind against the windows. Little sounds when one of the brothers shifts positions.

They stay with me. All of them. Taking turns pretending they aren’t watching me unravel.

But I am unraveling.

My eyes burn, dry and aching because I can’t cry yet. My body trembles with exhaustion, but sleep won’t come.

Every time I close my eyes, I see my mother’s face…..her smile that wasn’t really a smile, the way her hands shook as she held mine, the way she looked at me like she was already grieving.

Please be okay. Please be okay. Please…

I whisper it over and over in my head like a prayer I’m afraid won’t be answered.

Riccardo brings me a blanket at some point. He drapes it gently over my shoulders like I might shatter if he isn’t careful.

Nico sets a glass of water on the table in front of me, untouched.

Vincenzo stands by the window most of the night, watching the darkness like he’s daring it to move.

Time crawls. Minutes feel like hours. Hours feel endless.

My heart jumps every time headlights pass on the distant road. Every single time.

Then, finally, the sky begins to change.

It’s subtle at first. A thinning of darkness. A soft, gray promise bleeding into the edges of the night.

Morning.

I straighten instantly, heart slamming against my ribs.

“It’s light,” I whisper, my voice hoarse.

Riccardo nods.

“Enough. Calm down, Elena. We'll call your mom now,” he tells me.

Nico is already pulling the laptop from the cabinet, setting it on the table with quick, efficient movements.

Vincenzo closes the curtains slightly, shielding us from the outside, his jaw tight.

“This will work,” Riccardo says gently, opening the screen. “It has to.”

I move closer, my hands shaking so badly I have to press them together to keep them still. My breath comes fast, shallow, and painful.

The screen lights up. The loading symbol spins.

“Come on,” I whisper. “Please… please…”

Just one ring. That’s all I need. Just her voice. Just proof that she's alive and okay.

I am so tense that I decide to go into the kitchen to make myself some tea that will calm my nerves while the laptop comes on.

I’m still making tea when I hear it…..the sound of a car pulling up the long, gravel drive. No one is supposed to come here. Ever.

My pulse spikes. I freeze, teacup halfway to my lips.

Headlights flood the sitting room. Bright. Sudden. Blinding.

All three brothers freeze. They stand up almost instantly….Riccardo first, his eyes narrowing as he looks out the window.

Nico, already reaching for his gun while Vincenzo is silent and tense.

My heart drops.

The heavy knock that follows feels like thunder and something breaks inside me before they even open the door.

“It must be one of Father's men or even Father himself seeing that none of the guards outside stopped whoever it is from driving in,” Vincenzo says. “But I sense something is wrong for whoever it is to be here very early in the morning.”

Vincenzo is right. He isn't the only one feeling that way.

Something is wrong. I can feel it strongly in my spirit.

And why do I feel whatever is wrong is going to affect me??

God help me!