Addicted to Captive Love The Mafia Godfather’s Substitute Heiress Chapter 07

Addicted to Captive Love The Mafia Godfather’s Substitute Heiress Chapter 07

Thierry’s POV

I leaned against the cold, damp basement wall, the shackles around my wrists so heavy that my hands had almost gone numb.

Half an hour earlier, I had still been waiting like some pathetic prisoner, waiting for that door to open again and for that little maniac to walk in the way she had over the past few days, her face flushed as she stubbornly called my name.

I had even made up my mind. If she came back, I would tell her the truth—all of my secrets.

The lock turned, and my heartbeat seemed to lurch with it.

There was a click.

The door opened.

But it was not her.

Casimir leaned against the doorframe, twirling the silver key between his fingers.

“She’s gone,” he said.

For a moment, my mind went completely blank.

“What?” My voice came out so hoarse it barely sounded like mine.

“Celandine,” Casimir said, each word clipped and deliberate, like he was reading out a death sentence. “She returned everything the Wynn family ever gave her. The house, the car, the savings. Then she booked a flight, dragged her suitcase out, and disappeared.”

Casimir tossed the key over without much care.

The sharp sound of metal striking concrete rang through the empty basement.

“Before she left, she even sent me a message telling me exactly where you were.” He scoffed. “That girl they raised as your sister really is good to you, isn’t she?”

The key lay at my feet.

I stared at it, my fingers beginning to tremble beyond my control.

I tried to bend down and pick it up, but the shackles around my wrists limited every movement. I dropped to my knees, my fingertips brushing the cold metal. It took me three tries before I finally managed to fit the key into the lock.

Then I grabbed a shirt someone had left nearby and pulled it on without caring whose it was.

I rushed out of the basement, tore out of the safe house, and threw myself into the car.

I slammed the gas pedal all the way down.

An hour later, I shoved open the front doors of the Wynn estate.

The hall was deathly silent.

Everyone turned to look at me.

My gaze swept across every face like a searchlight before locking hard onto Madre.

“Where is Celandine?”

My chest rose and fell violently, and my voice was warped by sheer panic.

Madre stared at me in shock, one hand flying to her mouth. “You… weren’t you locked up by Celandine? How did you…”

Yes. Everyone knew Celandine had locked me in that basement, and that I had let her.

But I had no time to explain.

I rushed over and grabbed Madre by the shoulders, hard enough that she flinched.

“Where is she?”

No one answered.

A chill shot straight up my spine.

Jovan suddenly spoke, and there was none of his usual laughter in his voice. “Thierry, she booked a ticket to Sicily. But we checked the passenger list. She never boarded.”

My heart seemed to stop for a beat.

“She’s missing,” Casimir said calmly as he walked in behind me. “Like she vanished off the face of the earth.”

I slid down against the door until I was sitting on the floor, with only one thought left in my mind.

What if a rival family had found her? What if that Polish crew had gotten to her?

The Wynn family’s Principessa had always been the perfect target, just like Celandine had been when she was fifteen.

I sat there against the door as the scene from the basement replayed in my head over and over.

“Thierry, since we aren’t siblings, could you like me even a little? Even just a little?”

What had I said then?

I had told her there was someone I loved.

It was not a lie, but it was not the whole truth either.

I had only watched as the light in her eyes went out, little by little.

I had watched Celandine force a smile and say, “Then congratulations.”

I had watched her turn around and walk out of the basement, one step at a time.

Celandine, I’m sorry.

I regretted everything.