Trustfall

Chapter 18 - Jack

My dad walks into my office without knocking.

"Anything new?" I ask him, nearly sitting on the edge of my seat.

He shakes his head and sits down in front of me.

"What do you want then?"

"You should take a break." I glance at the clock; I have been here for several hours.

"I can't, I need to help Alessia-"

"And what about your-"
"It's not for discussion."
He sighs and gets up, he's about to walk out but pauses. "Lorenz and Robin need their dad..." He walks out and closes the door shut.

I sigh and close my computer. I sit for a few minutes, just trying to clear my mind. I open my drawer and take out a whiskey and a glass, I pour a bit up and drink it, it burns in my throat, I pour some more in and drink again before I put everything back into the drawer.

I take my phone out and send a text to the family chat.

We're eating dinner together. It's NOT for discussion. Be in the dining room in thirty minutes.

Then I order some pizzas and get back to try and find my daughter after setting a timer to 25 minutes.

The alarm goes off, and I walk down, through the living room, and out in the hallway.

"I have ordered pizza, when it arrives get them to the dining room," I tell a passing maid.

"Yes sir."

I walk into the dining room where Lorenz and Robin are already sitting.

"Anything new?" they ask me in choir. I shake my head. They sigh.

I sit down in my seat. "How are you, you two?"

And with that Robin starts to cry, I pull him into my arms so he's sitting on my lap.

"It's okay we're going to find her," I assure him.

I sit with Robin in my arms while the others arrive. Robin stops crying and he goes back to his seat.

"And what about you?" I ask Lorenz.

He shrugs. I don't know if he actually means it, or he tries to seem a little tough in front of his brothers.

"I'm here for you, all of you, okay?" I will still do anything for my sons. "Even the smallest things, like a nightmare you come to me," I tell them, not that they have ever done that but that's not the point. The point is that I will always be there for my sons, I can't fail the others because I lose one, I have already done that once, and I won't do it again.

They nod but don't say anything.

The pizza arrives and we sit and eat in silence. It feels wrong eating without Alessia, knowing where she is, she might not even get fed probably.

I glance at Matteo, I don't know why he hasn't treated Alessia the best, I don't think he even knows himself, but I can tell he's worrying about her. We all are.

After a moment the silence is broken by someone storming into the dining room.

"Uncle! We are getting a video call." Baldassare says.

Everyone stands up and runs to the living room.

"Who is it from?"

"We don't know yet." We walk into the living room, and he sits at the nearest computer, the big screen in front of them is showing someone is calling. "Okay, are you recording?" he asks a guy beside him.

"Yes, and we are ready to start the tracking."

"Good... you ready uncle?" he looks at me, I nod and turn my gaze to the big screen.