Chapter 244

Chapter 244 Book 3 Chapter 79 ~DANTE~

“What do you mean she just disappeared?” I roar.

I’d gathered as many of our men as I could. I had people searching every f*****g area close to home, and somehow no one knew anything about Willow or where she could be.

“She’s my wife!” I shout. “My wife! I want her back home with me! Do whatever you must to find her. I don’t care what it’s going to cost me. I’ll give everything to have her home back with me. Do you f*****g understand?”

“Yes, sir.” They all say before dispatching.

I was trying hard not to crumble in front of everyone, but Willow’s last words kept repeating in my head. She thought I would be happier without her. She left because she felt like that’s what I would want.

She was wrong, so terribly wrong.

She doesn’t understand how much worse losing her made everything else. I was trying my f*****g best to get Anya out of my heart and mind for her. I was doing everything, but f**k, I’d still managed to mess everything up. I’d still managed to f*****g hurt her.

How could I even be considered a man after what I did to her? She’s my wife. I’m supposed to love, cherish and protect her heart. I did the exact opposite of that. I put someone who’d hurt me multiple times above someone who’s done nothing but wish me the best.

I was a f*****g fool. A big one.

“You need to calm down.” Atticus tries to keep me relaxed. “If you want to find her, you must think clearly. We need to start with places she’s used to being. Places where Anya used to stay. She would most likely go anywhere that she once called home.”

I take a deep breath. “Are you sure? Wouldn’t she want to stay away from places she knows we will look for her?”

He shrugs his shoulder. “We don’t know anything right now. It’s best that we search everywhere we think she can be.”

I angrily punch my hands down on the desk in front of me. The fragile thing breaks in half.

“Hey!” Atticus stops me before I can do more damage. “Stop this, if you injure yourself, you’re not going to be able to find her.

We don’t know where she is. She needs you to be on your best behavior. She doesn’t know anyone out there, Dante. We need to find her quickly. If you care about her, you won’t hurt yourself or even blame yourself for her disappearance.”

“How can I not blame myself?” I demand. “I’m the reason she left. She stayed with me despite every single thing I’d done. I put Anya above her every f*****g chance that I got. Anya has done nothing for me, and Willow is the opposite of her. She loved me, Atticus. She loved me with her whole heart since the moment she met me. I feel like my chest is about to explode with pain.”

I can’t remember the last time I openly told my brother how I felt. I usually held back. But today, I couldn’t. I needed someone to talk to. I needed someone to keep me sane. Willow was the only one who could do that for me, and she wasn’t here.

She wasn’t here.

She’d left because of me. She’d left because I’d hurt her. She’d left because I made her believe I would be happier without her.

“She loves you. You said so yourself.” He reminds me of my own words. “If she truly does, she wouldn’t be able to stay without you for long. She will return to you. But first, we will search; we will search every damn inch of this world if we have to.”

I knew he was trying to cheer me up, but nothing could make me feel better until I saw Willow again.

I wanted to hold her in my arms and beg for her forgiveness over and over again. I wanted to tell her that she was wrong; I wanted to tell her that she was the one I needed to be happy.

I thought I was happy with Anya, but all she brought to me was pain. Willow was the one that brought me happiness.

I couldn’t stay in my room anymore. Every single damn thing reminded me about her in there. Even the bedsheets still smelled like her. I refused to have them changed. They would stay the same until I found her back.

Nothing in that room would change until I’d brought Willow back home with me.

“I asked Austin and his family to help us,” Atticus informs me. “They’ve helped us so much in the past, and they’re good regarding things like this. We will find her, Dante. I promise you; we will find Willow.”