Page 117 of Love Me Always

“She couldn’t have just fell off the face of the earth, not our Ana.” Was this guy for real?Our Ana?!

“She was and never will be your Ana. I don’t understand why the fuck you’re in my house!” I lost it, all the anger and pent-up aggression I felt, I released it on the man who clung to Victor like a lost little boy.

I shoved Chad up against the kitchen wall and held the blade of my knife against his Adam’s apple that bobbed nervously in his throat.

“Scared, little boy?” I narrowed my eyes as I pressed the knife into his skin, enough to draw blood. “How does it feel to be on the brink of losing something?” I felt Victor try to pull me away, but it was no use, I was possessed.

“I have lost her. She was my friend.”Was?!Why was he talking about her like she wouldn’t come back, like I wouldn’t bring her home.

“She’s still fucking alive and if you were her friend, you would believe that. Not write her off!” I seethed as I was seconds away from opening this bastard’s throat.

“Lorenzo, he’s harmless, please don’t do this.”I could hear her fucking voice in my head, begging me to stop. “Bring me home to you, I’ll wait for you.”I threw my knife on the floor before I clutched my head. I needed to hear her but at the same time it hurt too much.

“Lorenzo, I—”

“Get the fuck out of my house!” I’d had enough of Chad and his whining voice, it grated on me with each word he spoke.

“Lorenzo, he can help,” Victor tried to reason with me, but I’d made my mind up and it wasn’t easily changed.

“The same applies to you, Victor. If you want him here, then you aren’t welcome either.” I turned, giving Victor his ultimatum.

“Chad, go home, keep digging on whatever lead you can find. Leave no stone unturned,” Victor ordered as he handed a handkerchief to Chad to wipe the blood away from his neck.

“Nicolo, escort him out. I don’t trust this man around what’s mine,” I ordered, and my cousin instantly obeyed.

“Lorenzo, he can help, why won’t you let him?”

“Whose side are you on, Red?” I raised a brow to one of my closest men, and he quietened down almost instantly.

“Emmet, I want you to take the most trusted with you and question any locals that could have seen something. I don’t want them threatened or scared, just a gentle approach.”

“We’ve already done that.” He sighed.

“I don’t give a shit if you’ve done it a thousand times. I want it done again!”

“Boss.” Emmet nodded as he headed to the meeting room to choose his men.

“Lorenzo, do you want to get some sleep?” Victor placed his hand on my shoulder, a gentle, fatherly move.

“I’ll sleep when she’s home.”

“Lorenzo—”

“It’s my fault, isn’t it?” I slapped my palm on the marble island. “I took my eyes off the road for two seconds all because I wanted to tell her I loved her. How was I so fucking stupid?!” I had tried to keep it together and now that it was just us, I finally felt as though I could let it out a little.

“It could have happened to any of us, you can’t blame yourself.”

“I promised to protect her, I tried my best, who hates me enough to take her?! What grubby fucker touched my wife!” I ran my fingers through my hair as I tugged at the strands harder than I should. “Someone planned it all, someone knew the time we landed, they knew our route home, they knew everything! They ran us off the road in order to take Anastacia.”

“She’s a strong woman but then again she has to be to deal with you.” This wasn’t a time for jokes, but hell, we needed it. “She won’t give in to the shit they’ll be throwing at her, you have to know that.”

“I do know it, but that doesn’t mean I can’t worry about her. The thoughts that go through my mind at night are unthinkable.” I checked my phone that still had a smashed screen. My eyes had met Ana’s as she’d smiled back at me; it was a picture she’d captured of us just hours before tragedy struck. “I need to be the one to kill whoever took her.” I captured Victor’s gaze, and I knew he wanted the kill as much as I did but I wouldn’t let him have it.

“Then they’re yours.” He slapped my shoulder as his eyes dropped to his daughter’s name on my arm. “We’ll discuss that when she’s home.”

“There’s fuck all to discuss.” I tried my best to smile, but I didn’t feel I could anymore, nobody deserved it like she did.

“Boss.” Red appeared at the doorway with a plate of food.

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