"Do not approach her, keep your distance." I grit into my phone.

The cold air chews at my fingers and rakes at my bones. My coat does little to protect me from the bitter wind, and I'm thankful that I'll be back in the states soon.

Dante's surgery hadn't gone as well as hoped. The bullet had managed to fragment into multiple pieces, tearing tissue and more organs than were thought. The surgeons had managed to remove as much as they could, but pieces were still left behind.

This meant that the bullet couldn't be identified.

Which meant we had to go looking for the gun.

It had been more difficult to track down than anticipated. Mia had kept away from security, and towards dark alleyways. She took every precaution to stay out of sight, and after a few hours of searching through security footage, we managed to track the gun down to a public women's restroom. The gun was hidden within the tank of a toilet.

Mia had been very careful. I have to applaud her on how well she managed to avoid being detected.

The gun had been shot a few hours prior, and was empty of ammunition. Mia's fingerprints were all over it, only incriminating herself further. All evidence is pointing towards her.

The only person who can prove or deny anything is in a coma. Sebastian said that it could be weeks before he wakes up, which leaves me with plenty of time to search for Mia.

Which leads me to where I am now.

Waiting outside my private jet, on a call with one of my men in Tokyo who is currently watching Mia from afar in between her flight from Osaka to New York. "She's getting in line now." He says.

"Make sure that she gets to New York, and when you arrive, I don't want you approaching her... Just leave her be." I order.

Once I know that he understands his orders, I hang up and get onto the jet, eager to get out of the cold.

***

I'm drawn out of my thoughts, staring out of the jet's window, when my phone begins to ring, interrupting the cold silence.

"Alistair." I answer.

"Sir, she has just been dropped off at her friend, Alice's house. What would you like us to do?"

Of course that's where she went. I expected nothing more from her. "Stay where you are, unless given any reason, just do not engage. I'll keep in contact." I say.

"But sir, I thought you wanted us to collect her?" Alistair questions.

"Just do as I say." I command before hanging up the phone, not waiting for an answer.

At first I had wanted her immediately. I wanted her to be in my grasp so I could show her just what I felt. How she had made me feel. I wanted to take it all from her, just like she had taken my all from me.

But then I had a better idea.

What's more of a punishment than making her think she's free?

Mia can parade around. She can grow comfortable. She can settle down even. Sure, I'll make her know that I'm looking for her, but I'll do it from a distance. And then, just when she feels like she has a home, I'll take it all from her.

Then, from the kindness of my heart, I'll give her a new home.

And she will live knowing that instead of killing her for what she has done, I gave it all back to her.

I'm once again pulled from my thoughts when my phone buzzes. I open messages and feel the anger begin to boil within me.

Will you really let her touch another man?

Attached below the message is a picture of Mia hugging a man inside her friends house.

I don't think before texting Alistair and telling him to close in.

Fuck the plan, I will not allow her to run to another man, she doesn't get that luxury after what she did to Dante... What she did to me.

She really thinks whoever this man is, can save her?

She's got another thing coming.

***

After twenty minutes of waiting anxiously for a report on what had happened, I finally get a call from Alistair.

"You have her?" I ask immediately after picking up the phone.

"No, we searched the whole place, and there was no one inside. Though it looked as though someone had searched the house. Currently we have a team dusting for fingerprints... We also found blood stains on the floor."

My chest tightens at the mention of the blood. Not at the blood itself, but at whose it is. Could it be Mia's?

I ball my hands into fists. If that man dared to have hurt her...

Only I can do that.

"I'll be in New York in ten hours, by the time I'm back I want the results and Mia's current location."

***

I had met Alistair at the airport after landing, where he had shared the details of the tests. The fingerprints had belonged to Mia, her friend Alice and Scott.

After discovering that Scott had been the one there with Mia, I could barely contain the anger which was boiling within me. He touched her, he held her... And I have no way of knowing if that blood belonged to Mia or not.

And just when I didn't think anything could get any worse... "We were unable to discover Mia's location. It's as if she was wiped from existence. No footprint, no nothing." Alistair told me as we drove off to my New York penthouse.

"What?" I growl.

Alistair says nothing.

When I returned home I couldn't help but smash anything that was in my path.

Mia will pay for thinking that she can ever get away from me.

"You really need to take a break." A familiar voice speaks softly. I look up from my desk to be met with the sight of Hailey who's come through my office door holding a tray of food.

I roll my eyes and close my laptop. "You know I can't do that."

She shrugs and places the tray of food onto my desk. "You should just leave her be. If she really did shoot Dante, I'm sure she did it for a good reason, and if she didn't, then you are putting yourself through all of this pain for nothing."

"I know that she shot him." I state darkly.

"You said it yourself that you couldn't even identify the type of bullet that hit Dante." Hailey persists.

She's really starting to get on my nerves.

"What else am I supposed to think when all evidence is pointing towards her? I promised Dante that whoever did this to him would pay. Who am I to go back on that promise, when he is still all the way over in Osaka in a coma?" I spit. "Mia is guilty, and as soon as I find her, I will make her regret ever leaving me."

I watch as Hailey clenches her jaw, as if she's searching for the right thing to say. However, before she can open her mouth, the sound of a baby's cries rings through the house.

Hailey stiffens before turning to look back out the door then looking back at me. "I may not know Mia well, but I know you. You wouldn't put someone through pain unless you were one-hundred percent sure they deserved it."

"You should go get your child." I say coldly, opening my laptop once again and returning to my work.

After a few seconds, I hear my office door close and release a breath I hadn't realised I was holding.

"Fucking hell." I whisper, running my hands through my hair. I've been putting my everything into looking for her, but it's like someone has just completely covered her tracks. She's gone, and I have no idea where she is.

And in the meantime, I've resorted to the media and the police. If my men can't find her, maybe the public can with a bit of motivation. There will be no one in the city who won't know the face of Mia. No matter where she runs, someone will recognise her.

I'll make sure of it.

I shove my food around on my plate, feeling too sick to stomach anything.

Both Hailey and Alistair seem to feel the same. And the only sound within the house is the scraping of forks along our plates.

There's still been no sign of Mia, and Dante is still in Osaka in a coma. It's been a month, and every single day that passes, I've grown more and more restless. I can hardly sleep at night, and when I do I have vivid nightmares of memories I never want to relive.

But Mia is barely a thought on my mind now. Not after the news we received last night.

The news that has left the whole underworld shook.

"Have you received the invites?" Hailey asks quietly, before placing a piece of egg in her mouth, chewing slowly.

I nod my head. "Yes, it's happening next week." I state dryly.

"Would you like us to come with you-"

"Hailey, no." Alistair interrupts, turning his head to his wife. His eyes are laced with emotion that I can't quite decipher. He stares at her with an intensity that I have never seen before. Whenever I look at the two of them, I can't help but feel a longing for something like they have. Love. I want love.

"He's right. It'll be too risky, especially considering the circumstances. And besides, you now have Mirabella to look after." I say.

"No one has any reason to hurt me--" Hailey begins, but now I'm the one to cut her off.

"What's to say people won't try getting to me through means of you... I'm sorry Hailey, but it's too dangerous. It is best for everyone that you stay here with your child. I need someone to be here just in case Mia is found when I'm away."

She purses her lips. "Alright." Then I see something flicker in her eyes, her head flicking to Alistair. "You're not going, are you?" She questions.

As the tension thickens in the room, I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. Taking this as an opportunity to leave, I exit the dining room leaving Alistair to explain to Hailey that he'll be accompanying me to Italy.

Opening my messages, my blood begins to boil as I see a new text from an unknown number.

Attached is a location and below it is two words.

You're welcome.

"Alistair!" I yell as I storm back into the dining room where both Hailey and him are still seated.

He snaps his head towards me and stands immediately.

"I think I know where Mia is."

***

"The area is empty, there is no one within a mile, besides the residents within the apartment." Ricardo says over the phone.

I'd sent Ricardo out to check that the location had not been a set up, and in the meantime me and twenty of my men had been waiting within a mile from the apartment that I suspected Mia to be in.

As soon as Ricardo gave me the all clear, I let my men know, and we began closing in. Within two minutes we were pulling into the old apartment driveway.

The place looked run down and decrepit. It had a strange scent which permeated throughout and there was only two cars parked in the car park, making the place look abandoned.

As I stepped out of the car I couldn't help but wonder if Mia truly was here.

It's been so long, I wonder if she looks any different.

With Alistair at my side, we remove our guns from our suit jackets, ready to fire if necessary. I walk towards the front door and just as I'm about to open it, someone on the other side does.

My eyes widen in shock, landing on the familiar chocolate curls falling over her face. And as she looks up at me, her ocean blue eyes pierce mine. She looks exactly the same as the day I first met her.

Finally.

"Hello principessa."

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