Vengeful Matrimony | ✔️

Chapter 78

NICHOLAS

I wasn't superstitious by any means, but as I flipped through endless files in my office, I had this weird urge to call Giselle and check up on everyone.

This wasn't the normal paranoia I felt whenever I left the house. No. This one was stronger, almost like a gut feeling you got when something was about to go wrong. Fear trickled down my spine and goosebumps decorated my skin. I was a firm believer in trusting your guts, so I reached for my phone to dial Giselle's number.

It went to voicemail twice.

Panic clawed at my chest, burrowing deep in my heart. Something was wrong. When she didn't pick up her call for the fifth time, I called Sara, who answered on the third ring.

"Where's Giselle?" I asked before she could get the first word in.

"She went out with Gemma and a guard."

"What about Orion?"

"He's right here stuffing his face with cookies," she replied, warmth and affection slipping into her voice.

I even managed a chuckle. It was safe to say Orion had bewitched everyone in the house. Especially Sara. She spoiled him rotten with baked treats, and he was all too happy to stuff his face with them.

"When did Giselle leave the house?" I asked.

"About two to three hours. Is there any problem, Niko?"

"What did they say they were going to get?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you, but I'll say it to calm your racing heart. They went to get pregnancy tests. Giselle has been having morning sickness. Gemma convinced her to take a test."

I'd noticed the morning sickness, and I was going to bring up the topic to her tonight, but it seemed like Gemma beat me to it.

"Chances are, they took the test before they got home, found out she was pregnant, and then they headed to the hospital. They'll be home soon," Sara reassured me. "Don't lose your mind with worry."

"Thank you. Please, call me when she gets back."

"I will," she promised before hanging up.

I threw my phone on the pile of paperwork, throwing my head back against the chair.

Paranoia.

It was just paranoia.

***

It wasn't paranoia.

It was eight in the evening, and Giselle still wasn't back. I knew she wasn't out there having fun with friends, as Matteo had suggested. That was unlike her. She'd have called me first.

The cherry on this already fucked up cake was that she didn't take her phone, which had a tracker on it, and Gemma's phone continually went to voicemail until it stopped ringing altogether. I couldn't even reach the guard who'd accompanied them.

Something was most definitely wrong. Something bad had happened to her. I could feel it.

"Tell me you have something for me," I said to Adriano who just walked into the living room.

He nodded, setting his laptop down on the coffee table. "We tracked the car to a gas station. It was closed when we got there, and Giselle was nowhere to be found. Neither was Gemma."

"What about the guard?" I asked, fighting desperately to ignore the panic that was tripling in my chest.

"We found him dead in the trunk with his throat slit. There were no signs of anyone else being there. I found these in the bathroom." He reached into his pocket, pulling out something wrapped in a tissue.