Page 1 of Between Control and Chaos
One
Luca
“What do you mean my wife is missing? Is Zeke all right?” I rush past my father in haste, hurrying to the playroom to find Zeke standing and coloring at the easel.
“As you can see, Zeke is fine,” my father says, his expression grim.
How long has he known Harper has been missing? Why didn’t anyone call me the moment her disappearance was noticed?
I’m choking back silent sobs, my heart in my throat with worry. I hurry out of the playroom, not wanting Zeke to overhear and start crying.
He’s been doing so well, finally sleeping in his bed again and mostly sleeping through the night. We have Nikki and Paige to thank for helping get him back into his routine after the nightmares.
Nightmares caused by Santino DeLuca.
I blame my father, Dante, for those hellish dreams. Had he protected my family as promised, Zeke would be blissfully unaware of the dangers of the world. And Harper, she’d be home safe.
“Where is Harper? What do you mean she’s missing?” I rattle off one question after another. “She’s supposed to be at work.”
Clearly, she made it here to drop off Zeke. Did she not make it work? “Did anyone find her car?” I grab my keys from my pocket, prepared to drive the path to the bar to see if she broke down.
It’d dark outside; perhaps she followed the road or foolishly took a shortcut and got lost in the woods. The bar isn’t that far from the compound.
“Something happened at the bar,” Dante says and glances at Moreno, who is walking down the hallway, approaching us. “We’re not quite sure what. She was bartending and then—she was gone.”
“Gone?” I repeat. Harper wouldn’t just disappear. Not while at work. “What about her phone?”
“Still at the bar,” my father says.
“Her car?” I glance from my father to Moreno.
“Also at the bar. I don’t believe she left willingly.”
“Of course not!” She wouldn’t leave Zeke. I’d like to think she wouldn’t leave me, either, but I know for a fact that she’d never abandon her son.
“We’re going over surveillance, but there isn’t much to go on. There’s no surveillance inside the bar, for obvious reasons, and the camera outside doesn’t show much. The window from when she was last seen until someone noticed she was missing is rather wide. There are several vehicles leaving during that time frame.”
Are they telling me they have nothing? “No leads?”
“We have a few ideas,” Moreno says and glances at Dante, “but they are more like theories with potential for who might have taken Harper.”
“So, we’re in agreement she didn’t run away. Good.” I fold my arms across my chest. Not that I believe Harper would have fled again. “What about the DeLucas?” I ask. It seems the most plausible explanation. They are the obvious enemies.
“I have someone on the inside. If it’s the DeLucas, we’ll know soon.”
“Are you sure you can trust your source? Weren’t you concerned he betrayed you?” I ask, remembering when Harper confronted Dante, just a few short weeks ago in his office. After Santino’s death.
“She and I have no reason to believe in her betrayal. It is more likely she was unaware until it was too late. We still have good intel coming in from her.”
“Who is your source?” If Dante trusts me, he should give me that information.
Dante shakes his head. “No one you should know. The fact I’ve told you it’s a woman is dangerous enough for her. If she has information, she’ll provide it to us shortly.”
“How soon?” Does he not realize the urgency in finding Harper? The longer she’s gone, the less chance we’ll have of recovering her alive.
I click my tongue and grimace. “What about—there was this guy at the bar, he ordered drinks for himself and for Harper. What if it’s him?” Something felt off about that night, at least to me.
Dante’s eyes tighten. “When was this?”
