Chapter 12
Damon’s heart slammed against his chest as his eyes swept the living room, searching for something–no, for someone.
For a second, he almost believed Emily would just walk out from behind the couch, smiling like she always did.
“Emily…” he called, again and again, her name catching on the panic clawing up his throat.
A terrifying thought crept in, one he tried to shove away: Had Emily really left him?
No. He couldn’t accept that. He wouldn’t.
“Emily, are you messing with me? Come out, okay? This isn’t funny at all.” His voice cracked. “I know I screwed up this morning, but Lea and I are just friends, I swear. Please, Emily, you have to believe me!”
He kept calling out, pacing the room, eyes darting into every corner, every shadow, desperate for a glimpse of her–any hint that she was just hiding, waiting to jump out and tell him it was all a joke.
But then he noticed something that made his blood run cold. The house felt empty–too empty. Their photos together were gone. Emily’s makeup bag, her shoes by the door, the scarf she always left draped over the armchair–all missing.
How could this be? Where had everything gone?
Damon felt like he was coming unglued.
The nightmare he’d had at noon flashed through his mind. Refusing to give up, he grabbed his phone and dialed her number, hand shaking.
All he got was the cold, endless beep of a call that would never be answered. He tried messaging her, but a glaring red exclamation mark popped up.
She’d blocked him.
He stared at his phone in shock, hands trembling, fear swallowing him whole. He opened her social media profiles–every single one was gone.
She’d deleted everything.
His mind spun, blank and frantic. Where could she have gone? He racked his brain, but Emily barely had family left–her dad had passed away when she was little, and her mom was gone
too.
All he could do was call her friends, praying someone knew something.
“Hey, this is Damon. Is Emily with you?”
“What? Damon, what are you talking about? Why would Emily be here?”
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Chapter 12
He made call after call, but no one had seen her. Not even his own friends had a clue,
Despair crashed over him in waves, threatening to drown him.
He felt like he was trapped in a nightmare, a world where Emily didn’t exist anymore. The love he felt for her was overwhelming, taking up every bit of his heart. Now that she was gone, it felt like someone had ripped something vital out of him. The pain was blinding.
“Emily, please,” he shouted, voice ragged, eyes burning red with tears. “Stop hiding. I just want to see you. Please.”
But the silence only pressed in harder.
Why had this happened? What had he done?
Every memory of Emily flashed through his mind–her smile, her laughter, the way she looked at him. He couldn’t help but replay the times he’d ignored her lately, the way he’d put Lea first, how he’d brushed off Emily’s feelings.
And then he remembered that day–when she overheard him speaking Italian to his brother, the way she’d suddenly gone stiff and quiet.
He turned to the housekeeper, voice rough. “Did Emily ever study Italian?”
The housekeeper glanced at him, worry clouding her eyes. “Miss Emily has been learning foreign languages for years. She even had a private tutor. Didn’t you know, sir?”
Something inside Damon snapped. The realization hit him like a punch to the gut.
Chapter 13
Chapter 13
