I clasped the delicate lace of my bridal gown so tightly that my knuckles turned an ashen white. The pristine fabric, meant to symbolize purity and new beginnings, now enshrouded me like a funerary veil, suffocating the remnants of my former freedom...
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My skin prickled with terror as I imagined the thought of losing her.
The very idea of never seeing her smile or hearing the sound of her laughter made my stomach churn. I couldn't even begin to picture a world without her in it.
My hands shook uncontrollably as I struggled to keep the tears at bay, seeking solace in their embrace. But even that was not enough to drown out the constant ringing of her absence in my heart.
After ensuring that Andrea was safe under the watchful eyes of Alessandro's men at the hospital, we hit the road with no real plan on where to start searching.
"He's fucking smart! He played us both for fools! Andrea was a decoy all along. We fucking fell for it! Fuck!" I vented, my words seething with an untamed mix of frustration and fury.
Alessandro cut through my tirade with a voice as firm as steel, "Don't fucking lose your head, Miguel!" he commanded.
The fear of something happening to her weighed heavily on me. "I can't even imagine coping with the guilt if something were to happen to her," I muttered almost to myself.
"Nothing is going to happen to her, understand? We'll find her!" Alessandro spoke with conviction.
"Where to now?" I asked, desperate for any lead that could bring us closer to her.
Alessandro's voice turned cold, filled with a promise of retaliation, "We're going to make a little house call to the Bailey's. If that spineless scum thinks he can mess with my family and get away with it, he's got another thing coming," he vowed, every word seething with a cold fury.
The drive to the Bailey residence felt like we were racing against time itself, each spin of the car's tires amplifying the urgency pumping through my veins. I tried to steel my nerves, but images of her - her laughter, her tears, her smiles - incessantly haunted me. Alessandro, too, seemed caught up in his storm of thoughts, a silent fury lurking beneath his composed exterior.
As we approached the grand estate, we found a swarm of police cars surrounding the property. Liam Bailey had played his cards right, that much was clear.
"Cazzo! (Fuck!)" "Mierda! (Fuck!)" The frustration erupted from both of us, our outbursts mingling as we lashed out at our surroundings, fueled by sheer vexation.
Alessandro, boiling with rage, cursed under his breath, "I should've seen this coming! That lowlife was always one step ahead!" The steering wheel bore the brunt of his anger as he fiercely pounded on it. "He knew we were onto him!"
Frustrated beyond measure, Alessandro made a call, the phone now blaring on speaker. "What's with the police carnival at the Bailey's? What the fuck is going on?" he barked into the phone.
The man on the other end attempted to explain, "Liam Bailey reached out to us about a death threat his family supposedly received this morning."
Alessandro, however, wasn't buying any of it. "Death threat my ass! More like a fucking cheap ploy!" He was visibly agitated, his grip on the phone tightening.
