To Love in Full

Chapter 47: Ya'aburnee

Ya'aburnee (n.) "You bury me"; the hope that you will die before your love because you cannot live without them.

Nicolo's P.O.V.

"Did any leads come through from last night?" an unnecessarily optimistic voice spoke out as I heard shuffling coming into the conference room.

I turned towards the sound of the voice to find Manny making his way towards me with two cups of coffee in his hands. My tired eyes glowered past him and watched as the rest of my men entered the room.

"We'll find her," Manny assured me, giving a hopeful smile while he placed the coffee in front of me.

"You need rest Nico. We'll take the morning shift," Leone said, but I disregarded his attempt of taking me away from this search for Arabella.

"Is she here with us right now?" I asked derisively, glaring at the man who seemed to not be thinking clearly, even after a night full of rest.

I scowled as I glanced and turned my attention towards the rest of the people, daring my men to answer the damn question. Some guards stood at the back of the room with uneasiness as they were not willing to occupy the empty seats at the table. Manny refused to meet my stare, glancing down at his hands when I turned towards him and Dante held sorrow across his face, to which I returned a solemn glance out of pity.

"Then I will not rest," I spoke out, answering my own question while I continued my work.

"Searching through hours of security footage throughout Sicily will be useless if you do not get any sleep, Nico," Leone challenged me and I scowled at his foolish remark.

"I looked through as much as I could, Leone..." I trailed on while admiring my gun on the glass table.

"...I even searched through the footage from the estate," I said, and held eye contact with the man who last spoke to my Arabella.

"You were with her last night. The last person to speak to her, the last one to see her," I accused Gabe who now sat in fear, or perhaps guilt.

"Nico," Manny said quietly in a cautious voice.

I suddenly reached out for the gun, but Manny had quickly grabbed it from me. This did not stop me from pulling out my knife as I made my way towards Gabe and thought about what he could have done with Arabella's disappearance.

"Do you have anything to do with this?" I demanded him to answer as I pulled him out of his chair and forced him against the wall with my glistening blade against his neck.

"I-I didn't do a-anything, I swear!" he stuttered fearfully while raising his hands in surrender. I studied his face carefully to read any signs of him passing on a shitty lie, but he failed to mask his nervousness as his body's natural reaction began to take over. The sweat that had slid past his brow made contact with my skin as a droplet fell onto my fist that gripped the collar of his shirt.

"Nico, please you have to believe me!" he pleaded with me once my knife threatened to slit his throat.

At this point the sun had fully risen, casting rays of bright light into the room, which seemed to be the cause of my upcoming migraine, but ultimately served as a reminder for the third day of Arabella's disappearance. Another day without her.

This had worried me greatly as I thought about the danger she was in, the fear and pain she must have felt, emotions that she does not deserve to feel, but instead should be felt by those who harmed her.

I suddenly released my hold on him when the doors to the conference room were forced open. I furrowed my brows while I watched Alexander's chest heave as he stumbled through the doorway and struggled to catch his breath. He looks like a fucking mess, I thought, staring into his bloodshot eyes that showed no signs of rest.