CHAPTER 126: SHE’S GONE

Dalton felt as though he had just awakened from a deep sleep, and a throbbing headache immediately struck him, making his head spin.

He looked at the other side of the bed, and the sheet appeared smooth, as if it had never been slept on. When he glanced at the clock on the nightstand, it read 10 in the morning. He thought that Maya must have stayed up late watching a TV series and had fallen asleep on the couch.

He became lost in thought, trying to recall what he had done the previous day. The only thing he could remember was drinking the ginger tea that Nana Rose had made for him. He hurried to the living room in search of his wife.

His head of security, Aiden, and Nana Rose were sitting on the couch, looking distraught. At that moment, Dalton knew. He could feel it deep in his bones, through the pain surging throughout his entire being: Vico had stolen Maya from him.

His fears and nightmares have become a stark reality: he has lost Maya, his wife. She is gone.

"Maya!" he screamed frantically, his voice filled with anguish. "She can’t be gone!"

Dalton grabbed his head of security by the collar and shouted in his face, "How did you let this happen?"

The security chief remained calm. "Sir, your godmother was involved. She revealed your location to Vico and confessed to drugging both of you."

Dalton’s deadpan eyes shifted to Nana Rose, who had been crying the entire time. Confusion and the pain of betrayal surged through him, causing him to drop to his knees

He crawls to his godmother, the woman who raised him, the woman who wrapped him in her arms to comfort him after nightmares when he was a child. The woman who showed him what love and care were, the first woman he ever trusted and loved. He looks at her with scorn and hurt. "Why would you connive with that monster to steal my Maya away from me?" His voice trembles.

Nana Rose cried, "I’m sorry! I was just trying to protect you! She shot you, didn’t she? She nearly ended your life, and her evil father told me he convinced her to kill you!"

"And you actually believe that, Godmother? Are you five?" Dalton screamed at his godmother for the first time in his life.

"And why shouldn’t I believe that? Maya is his daughter! His blood runs through her veins! She even took her father’s surname, De Luca!" Nana Rose countered.

Dalton’s anger flared. "I thought you were a wise old woman who could judge a situation fairly. Why didn’t you come to me or even Aiden to clear your doubts about my wife?"

He ran his fingers through his hair. "Instead, you trusted that devil and helped him steal the only thing I desire most in this world: Maya."

"I’m sorry; I thought I was protecting you. She nearly killed you, my dear boy. Do you have any idea how terrified I was when I found out about that?"

Dalton pushed himself off the floor and moved a few paces away from Nana Rose; he couldn’t bear to be this close to her any longer.

"It was an accident! Vico gave her the choice of either killing me or letting her friends die. And Maya, being the beautiful soul that she is, decided to sacrifice herself to save me and her friends. She decided to end her life instead. " His voice quieted down. "She pointed the gun at her head, ready to kill herself. I intervened and struggled to take the gun away from her. The gun went off, and a bullet hit my chest," he recounted.

"Oh, oh," Nana Rose exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hand in shock. "I didn’t know."

"You didn’t know because you didn’t come to me! Instead, you trusted that monster!" he shouted, his anger set ablaze.

"Dalton." Aiden touched his arm, preventing him from unleashing his next outburst at Nana Rose. "We’ll deal with her later," Aiden murmured to only his hearing. "We need to come up with a plan to get Maya back."

Dalton sighed as he left the room and ventured outside into the cold. His head of security and Aiden followed him.

The head of security began debriefing Dalton on what had transpired. "My men and I were ambushed by Vico’s men. He brought fifty of them for this operation. We were outnumbered, but we put up a good fight."

"Christ!" Aiden cursed. "I hope neither of our men fell."

The head of security shook his head. "No, we were few but highly skilled; we took out some of Vico’s men."

Aiden smirked. "Good."

The head of security continued speaking. "The fight against Vico’s men was merely a distraction they set up to sneak in and kidnap Mr. Black’s wife. The fact that both of them were drugged by Nana Rose made it even easier. Mr. Black was unconscious and unable to protect his wife, while she was also incapacitated and unable to call for help."

Dalton winced internally. Nana Rose played a pivotal role in the kidnapping of his wife. The pain of losing Maya and Nana Rose’s betrayal was crippling his heart. It hurt so much that he could no longer stand; he had to sit on the ground like a madman.

Aiden looked at him with sadness, and rage. "We will get her back, I’m going to search every corner of Italy and find where that bastard took her!"

Dalton felt disappointed. "I thought you already knew where Vico took my wife, Aiden."

Aiden dug his head in shame. "I’m sorry for letting you down. The whole of Italy is Vico’s main territory, so he has the upper hand. I got a few Intel, and some dangerous friends in Italy, but they are of no use. Vico is a powerful force not only in Italy but also in Europe."

Dalton stood up, attempting to regain his composure, but he felt shattered inside. For the first time since he was a child, painful tears stung his green eyes. "Please, Aiden, use any resources you have to find my Maya," he pleaded, sounding vulnerable.

Aiden didn’t want the head of security to see Dalton in that state, so he gestured for him to leave, and he complied.

Dalton fell to his knees, a raw outburst of pain and anger erupting from his lips as tears streamed down his face while he begged for his wife to be returned.

She was the sun, illuminating his dark world. With her gone, the light has vanished, and his life is now an abyss of darkness and sorrow. None of the wealth he possesses matters because Maya is what he desires most in this world, and he needs to get her back. He has to, or he won’t survive without her.