Mafia Lord's Mute Sweetheart

Chapter 46: Chapter 46 Why Daisy was tolerating that scumbag

Alessio’s jaw tightened. He turned and walked toward the back of the venue, his footsteps silent on the floor. His expression did not change, but something behind his eyes grew darker.

He found a server carrying a tray of champagne, a young man with a nervous smile and sweat on his forehead.

Alessio stopped him. "The woman in the red dress. Where did she go?"

The server blinked, his smile faltering. "I... I do not know, sir. I have not seen her. I’ve been in the kitchen most of the night."

Alessio walked away without thanking him.

He asked a woman in a silver gown. She shrugged and turned back to her conversation.

He asked a man by the staircase. The man shook his head and walked away quickly, not wanting to be involved.

No one had seen her. She had vanished like she had never been there at all.

Alessio turned and walked toward the back of the venue, toward the offices, toward the security room. His jaw was tight and his hands were curled into loose fists at his sides.

He did not ask permission or knock. He pushed open the door and stepped inside.

The security room was small and cramped, filled with the sounds of electronics and the soft glow of monitors. A young man in a uniform sat in front of a wall of screens, each one showing a different angle of the venue. He spun around in his chair, his eyes wide.

"Sir, this is a restricted area. You cannot—"

Alessio moved faster than the man could react. In one smooth motion, he crossed the room, grabbed the front of the man’s uniform, and slammed him against the wall. The man’s head knocked against the plaster and his eyes went wide with shock.

"Where is the footage? Where can I watch?" Alessio’s voice was low, calm, and utterly terrifying. His green eyes were cold as ice as he looked at the complicated setup of security.

The man’s hands flew up, palms out. "I... I don’t—"

Alessio pressed his forearm against the man’s chest, pinning him in place. With his other hand, he reached behind his back and pulled out his gun. The metal glinted under the fluorescent lights, cold and dark.

He pressed the barrel against the man’s thigh.

"I am going to ask you one more time," Alessio said. His voice did not rise. It did not need to. "The footage. Where is it?"

The man’s face was white as paper. His whole body was trembling. He pointed toward the wall of monitors with a shaking finger.

"The... the system is there. I can... I can pull up anything you want. Just please... please don’t—"

Alessio did not move the gun. He kept it pressed against the man’s thigh, a cold reminder of what was at stake.

"The main corridor," Alessio said. "The last thirty minutes. Now."

The man nodded frantically, his head bobbing up and down. Alessio released him and stepped back, keeping the gun in his hand, keeping it visible.

The man scrambled to his desk, his fingers fumbling over the keyboard. His hands were shaking so badly he mistyped three times before he finally got it right.

Screens changed, and footage appeared.

Alessio stepped closer to the monitors, his gun still in his hand, his eyes fixed on the screens.

He saw Daisy standing near the dance floor.

Then she looked toward the door where he had disappeared.

Then Cedric appeared.

He grabbed her wrist hard. Daisy’s face shifted from peaceful to scared in less than a second, her eyes widening, her mouth opening in a silent gasp.

Alessio’s jaw tightened. His grip on the gun did not waver.

Cedric pulled her through the crowd, his grip brutal, his face angry. People stepped aside, pretending not to see. No one stopped him. No one even looked.

The footage followed them into the corridor. Alessio watched as Cedric pushed her against the wall. Watched as Daisy’s hands came up, gesturing frantically, her signs desperate and pleading. Watched as Cedric ignored her, as he leaned closer, as he pinned her wrist above her head.

"Replay it," Alessio said.

The man did not hesitate this time. His fingers flew across the keyboard.

The footage started again. Alessio watched Daisy’s hands again, her frantic signs, her desperate gestures. He did not understand all of them. He had only learned a little sign language, a few phrases, a few words, enough to say hello and thank you and may I have this dance. But he understood from her body language that she was having some kind of episode, that she was scared, that something was wrong inside her head.

And that scumbag Cedric did not even notice. He did not even care. He just wanted to kiss her, to take what he wanted, to prove something to himself.

Alessio turned away from the monitors. He tucked his gun back into its holster, hidden beneath his jacket.

"If anyone asks," he said, his voice cold and flat, "you never saw me. You never showed me anything. And if I find out that you told someone..." He let the sentence unfinished but clear.

The man nodded rapidly. "I won’t say anything. I swear. I won’t tell a soul."

Alessio walked out of the security room without another word.

The door swung shut behind him, leaving the young man alone in the security room, his hands still shaking, his heart still pounding.

Alessio walked out of the security room and stood in the empty corridor, the door clicking shut behind him. The music from the ballroom was muffled here, reduced to a distant rhythm and the voices of the guests faded into a low murmur. He was alone.

He did not move for a long moment.

Alessio frowned.

He did not understand why he was thinking about her. He did not understand why he had gone looking for her in the first place. She was not his responsibility. She was not his wife or his sister or his friend. She was a stranger, a woman he had met only a handful of times, a woman who belonged to another man.

However, he should not be thinking about why Daisy was tolerating that scumbag.

He quickly shook his head. No, he should not be interested in anyone’s matters this much. He needed to maintain distance from now.