It definitely was going to be a big event. Major hired a station of makeup artists, fashion designers, hair stylists to attend to her very early in the morning. He hadn't yet told her what the event was all about.
She was guessing that she wasn't supposed to know. All she has to do was look good and pretty enough to be his arm candy, so that the other major invitees would be like, "Bacuzzi sir, what a gorgeous wife you have."
Kept on his arm like a leash like she was a fucking bimbo. Father would be disappointed. But she couldn't complain.
This was her first outing with him. The first declaration of him as his legal wife since the nasty rumors started. And better still, if she kept quiet and listened attentively she could get snippets from his conversations that she could report to her father, anything at all that would help him bring Major down.
When they were done making her ten times more beautiful than she really was, she strolled down the stairs to where Major would be waiting in the foyer.
He was talking to his bodyguards, his back to her. His body language felt stressed. But when he heard the click click of her heels on the soft carpet, he turned. And for the first time, the mask cracked. His mouth fell? He blinked like he couldn't understand what he was looking at.
She walked up gracefully towards him, keeping the sway in her hips. Savouring the the hotness of his gaze on the sharp points of her hips.
"Major." She purred, laying her hand on his shoulder. His mask slipped back into place. She sniggered inwardly. She was now staring into dead eyes, touching a rigid stone. Even at that, she felt he deserved a compliment.
"You look good–"
"---as always." He cut her short.
"The women would have a hard time taking their eyes off you." She didn't relent, keeping her fake smile plastered in place.
"As of you." Barely a compliment and delivered in a cold tone. "I would have to punch some men in the guts so they wouldn't leer at you for too long."
A real smile creeped in this time. "Oh, so that would bother you?"
"I'm very overprotective of what is mine. And I consider you…my property." The way he said it. Like she was a classless…being. Inhumane son of a bitch.
She pretended that she didn't hear him, and sashayed away towards the grey Aston Martin. A body guard took her gloved hand and helped her into the vehicle.
"Next time." He barked as he slipped into the other end of the car. "Do not move until I tell you to."
She looked at him, a rebellious shine in her eyes.
He shrugged nonchalantly, looking outside the windows. "Or not…and suffer the consequences."
~~~
It was a painting exhibition.
Major's cousin, Andre, an award winning artist was releasing some of his classified works to the public for the first time.
The gallery was buzzing with life and people; sharp bursts of camera flashes, the soft clinking of champagne glasses, and murmured conversations that hovered like perfume in the air.
Sienna Knight stood beside her husband, radiant in an emerald silk dress that hugged her frame and caught the light every time she shifted. Her hand rested lightly on Major's arm, but her eyes drifted, always drifting. She smiled when she had to. Laughed when she was expected. Said the things that they all wanted to hear, and always most importantly, at the right time.
But under it all, her fingers itched, her pulse raced. Her heart pounded in her chest. She couldn't catch sight of the one man that was the sole reason why she decided to be here. Reese.
Major, stood handsome and commanding in a deep navy suit. He was mid-interview with an Italian business magazine. Sienna excused herself gently, brushing a soft kiss on his cheek.
"Just need some air," she murmured.
He nodded absently, too absorbed in a question about international expansions to notice the brief flicker of something unreadable in her eyes.
She slipped out of the crowd and found her way to the balcony. Cool evening air kissed her skin. Beyond the balustrade, the Grand Canal shimmered with golden light, gondolas slicing through the reflections.
It was a beautiful sight, and she was immersed in it for a really long time. For a while she forgot that she should be looking for Reese in the crowd and this was the last chanceto see him before he would go back to the Americanas.
Her phone beeped loudly in her bag. Sienna pulled out her phone. The screen lit up with a message:
Reese: *a picture of her as she stepped down from the Aston Martin onto the red carpet*
Sienna: *mini squeal* So you were in the crowd?
Reese: Yeah, I was just about to step in to the building when I heard Bacuzzi's name over the loudspeakers. I turned back and I saw you and I was stunned. Had to take a picture.
He stared at the text for too long, the butterflies in her tommy fluttering hard.
Reese: If he didn't tell, because I know he didn't, you're stunning. Prettier than all the women in that crowd.
She smiled. Of course, she knew. But he appreciated it. Her heart thudded.
She looked back towards Major and the interviewer, a thought flashing through her mind. Her heart thundered faster. Her fingers quickly flew over her phone.
Sienna: where are you?
Reese: In the gardens. Admiring the night sky.
Sienna: now I envy the night sky. *laugh emoji*
Reese: It should be you, if you'll just come down and let me have a closer look of you.
She typed quickly:
Sienna: Ten minutes. Back entrance.
She slipped the phone into her clutch and let her eyes drift closefor a moment. The weight of her diamond earrings tugged lightly at her ears, grounding her. One more breath. One more act.
She turned, glided back inside, smiling politely at a passing artist who waved. Then she descended the stairs; not toward the front, where Major's driver waited; but through the side hallway marked "Staff Only."
---
The alley behind the gallery was dark and narrow, lined with crates and broken tiles. Her heels clicked against the uneven pavement. It was quieter here. No laughter. No eyes. She didn't have to fake smiles no more. In fact, her facial muscles ached in pain from all the forced smiles.
She walked with measured pace, feigning slight confusion, glancing over her shoulder like she wasn't quite sure where she was going.
Then—Screech.
A black van swerved into the alley. The back doors slammed open.
Two masked men leapt out, heavily armed with weapons. They sprang for her, a wicked calm in their movements and expressions.
Sienna let out a blood-curdling scream. One gloved hand slammed over her mouth, and the nozzle of a gun was pressed to her neck. She shuddered in stark fear, the hard nudge of the gun preventing her from swallowing the saliva that pooled in her mouth.
"You can make this hard or you can make this easy." The voice growled in her ear.
"No! Please! Help me—Reese!" she shrieked, kicking, flailing—her heel snapped off, scattering across the ground. One man wrapped an arm around her waist, the other yanked a sack over her head. She thrashed dramatically.
"What's going on in there?" A voice snapped from within the van.
"She's being difficult." One of the men yelled.
"Fucking silence her then!" Was the harsh reply. A needle was stabbed into Sienna's neck. Her flailing started to become weak. Slack. Until her limbs slumped.
The van sped off.
Behind it, a single diamond earring glittered on the pavement.
~~~
Major adjusted his cufflinks as he walked to the waiting car, his phone pressed to his ear. He'd just wrapped up the interview and assumed Sienna had returned to the car ahead of him. But the moment the driver opened the door and nodded politely, something felt off.
"She's not here?" Major asked.
"No, sir. I haven't seen her."
Major's brow furrowed. "Check inside the gallery."
Security fanned out. Five minutes passed. Then ten. Still no sign of Sienna.
He phoned her severally, but each call went to voicemail.
What prank is she playing this time? But Sienna isn't one to play pranks.. she wasn't also one to not pick his call. She always answered on the first ring.
Major's heartbeat thundered in his ears. He called her again, another three times. No answer.
His bodyguard and head of security came into view. "So? Where is she?" He yelled exasperatedly at the bodyguard. The defeated look on his face made his blood boil. "What the fuck do you mean?" he flared. "You had one job, just one job, to monitor her movements and you could not. You retard."
The security came forward. "We can grant you access to all the camera's so we can pinpoint where she is."
Face still red, Major reached for the insides of his pocket and withdrew a small sized picture of Sienna. "This is she. In five minutes, I should know of her location."
A puzzled Andre came out, flanked by two huge bodyguards. "Knight. What's going on? Word came to me that your wife missing."
His facial muscles was tight as he paced the length of his car. "She somehow slipped out of her bodyguards site. Phone is ringing. No answer. Which is not typical of her at all."
Andre raked his hands through his hair, speechless. He's never seen Major in such state. Panicked. Not in control. And projecting fear.
The gallery still buzzed with music, life and laughter; the occupants unaware of the pandemonium happening outside.
The security and the bodyguard came running out. They reached him in one breath, panting heavily. "Sir. She was taken. Black van. Going north-east."
They were shouts and scuffles of feet as he and his men slammed into vehicles, driving speedily to catch up with the suspicious van.
How am I going to explain to Ricci that the woman he kept under my care was missing?
Then his phone buzzed. It was an unknown Number. Probably the persos who took her
He answered instantly.
"Knight," he barked into the phone.
A deep, distorted voice replied, "We have your wife."
Everything stilled.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"You'll receive a video shortly. We want five million euros in crypto. You have 48 hours."
"No deal." Major's voice was clipped. He swerved around a corner, pursuing the black van like a madman. "You give me proof she's alive right now or I bury you."
There was a pause. Then—Sienna's voice cracked into the phone. She was shaky, and trembling, as if she was at gunpoint. Join
"Major… please… I—I don't know where I am. They took my ring. I think I'm in some kind of basement. Please don't let them hurt me—"
The line cut.
Some kind of basement.
How was he sure he wasn't chasing after the wrong van. "Alejandro." He spoke to the man in the other vehicle through walkie-talkie. "I want you to interject the van at bypass 23. Talk the alter route."
In three minutes, he had his cars block the van from North, East, West and South.
They came down armed to siege the van, but when they opened it, it was completely empty. It was electronically driven.
"Shit." He swore under his breath. "They drove us away from her, away from them."
Andre slammed his door close and rushed out to him. "What now?"
"I'll tell Ricci, and I'll need to survey those cameras, I want to understand how she was lured out of the gallery, and by who?"
"Do you have any idea of who this would be?"
"I have so many ideas." Major's voice was hard as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "So many enemies, so many threats from the past two weeks."
Major stared at the phone. For the first time in years, his hands shook. As much as he felt invincible over Ricci, he didn't want to step on the sleeping lion.
The house was in chaos. Board members were calling. Security teams had launched an emergency trace, but the number was blocked. Even CCTV footage near the alley was grainy and corrupted. A single image showed Sienna's silhouette disappearing into the darkness.
The diamond earring—one of the pair he'd given her as a wedding gift—sat in a plastic bag labeled "evidence."
Major hadn't slept. He hadn't blinked. Every time he closed his eyes, images of how terrified she would be fried his mind. He heard her soft voice replay over and again in his mind.
He knew that if her abductor was who he thought it was, there was zero chances of her coming back alive.
Then Ricci would declare war on him…and the city.