DARKNESS IGNITES DESIRES

LILIANA

I pace through the empty halls of our grand estate, my sandals slapping against the polished marble floors. The silence is suffocating – a sharp contrast to the chimes of laughter and whispers Kyle and I shared two days ago.

I can't help the feeling of despair as it rips through me, taunting me with the possibility of him still being around if I hadn't gone up the stairs that day.

As I approach the steps to make my way back into the house, I catch the hushed whispers of the domestic staff and their topic of gossip is about the possible abduction of their boss. They cease their gossip the moment they spot me, making a show of religiously tending to their chores. But I'm no fool.

I lift my chin, square my shoulders so as not to betray my emotions, and make my way into the living room. Once in, I slump against the wall as a shuddering breath leaves my lips.

“Ma'am, you have a call from Mr. Mikhail.” I raise my eyes. It's the bodyguard assigned to me by Theodore, my husband's assistant.

I raise the phone to my ear with a strangled, “Hello?”

“I've just gotten in contact with some of his business associates and none of them have seen him since you left for your honeymoon last month. I'm driving to the house now and then we can figure out the next step to take .”

I want to hurl my phone at the wall for such unfruitful news. I want to yell at him to search further but I manage to keep it together. I toss a glance at the bodyguard to find him turned away from me.

My fingers comb through my hair in a desperate action. After two uneventful days of worry, it is sure to be knotted tight in different places. I sigh for the umpteenth time.

“Okay.” I simply say, hopelessness nipping at the edges of my composure. The call ends with a click that sets reality sinking in.

I would never see Kyle again.

I drop my phone in the console on the table and sink into one of the plush cushion chairs that do not offer any form of succor.

“Your mother has been trying to reach you as well. She's outside the gate as we speak but we haven't let her in as you ordered.” The buff man standing like a fortress, informs me.

I eye him wearily. “I don't need her to cut off the last remaining threads of sanity that I'm holding onto with her incessant demands. Keep her there. When she's fed up, she can leave.”

I know I might have sounded harsh, and inhumane even to my birth mother but some things are not as they seem. Right now, there are far more pressing things to worry about than a woman spewing empty threats outside.

I remain in my seat, too wrapped up in my head to hear the door open