Dance of Madness: Chapter 36

I wake with a start. Sunlight streams over my face, and I blink away sleep as I sit up in bed. I glance around before my eyes land on Nero’s phone lying on the beside table. My eyes widen when I see the time: it’s fucking ten.

I grin and start to snuggle back into the sheets. I’m exhausted, and I clearly needed the sleep. But then a thought hits me, and I bolt back upright.

“Nero?” I call out. I frown as I glance at his phone again. He went to get coffee like five hours ago.

“Nero!”

I slide out of bed, wrapping the comforter around me as I pad out of the room. I poke my head into the bathroom. Empty.

“Hello?”

I check the second floor, then the first. I even swallow the lingering sense of dread as I descend to the basement and check there.

Nothing.

I scramble back upstairs, panic starting to build in my chest. It feels off for him to come back then leave again without saying anything or leaving a note. Besides, his phone is still here.

Said phone suddenly rings, making me jump. Then my eyes land on the screen.

It’s his sister, Gabby.

I hit the answer button.

“Asshole!” she’s already barking. “Where the fuck have you⁠—”

“Gabby?” I interrupt. “It’s Milena, hi.”

“Oh—is my brother with you?”

There’s a tense note in her voice that makes me shiver.

“Gabby, what’s⁠—”

“Is he with you!” she screams.

“No,” I say quietly. “He was. He… He went out for coffee. But that was hours ago, and he left his phone here…”

“Fuck!” she blurts, sounding scared.

“Gabby!” I choke. “What the fuck is⁠—”

“I don’t know,” she replies. “But something’s wrong. No one can reach him. Not me, not even Dom.”

A cold sensation finger-walks up my back.

“Milena… Where are you, exactly?” she says quietly. “Are you at your house?”

“No, I’m⁠—”

“Are you with your father?”

I frown. “Gabby, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” she chokes. “But two nights ago, your father and like twenty of his men were parked outside our house. And when Nero came home, the two of them had words. I don’t know what about, Nero wouldn’t tell me. But…” She takes a shaky breath. “I mean, Milena,” she mumbles. “How often is a Bratva kingpin okay with his one and only daughter shacking up with an Italian guy like my brother.

That cold sensation creeping up my spine wraps around my throat and pierces into me, slicing toward my heart as I start yanking on some clothes.

“I’m scared, Milena,” Gabby whispers. “Like, really scared that⁠—”

“I’m going to get him, Gabby,” I hiss. “Right now.”