The mansion was quiet, almost unbearably so. The faint hum of the heating system and the occasional tapping against marble titles were the only sounds. Leah lay in their bed, wrapped in blankets, the soft fabric still carrying the faint scent of Izana. Her fingers traced the indentation in the pillow where he had rested, lingering on the paper he had left behind.
She swallowed hard, her throat tight.
"He's out there… somewhere," she whispered, voice barely audible. "I don't know if he'll come back…"
Dante sat in the chair beside her, his arm in a sling, the other hand tapping the armrest nervously. He had been quiet for hours, letting her process, but now he leaned forward, voice low.
"You have to try to rest, Leah," he said gently. "You need strength. You're weak. You can't go after him yet."
Leah shook her head faintly, tears brimming. "I can't help it. I feel… like I should be able to do something. Like I should go after him myself."
"You can't," Elias said from the doorway, arms crossed, voice steady but firm. "Not now. He left for a reason. He's not ready to be found, and you're not ready to see him like that."
She exhaled shakily, pressing the letter into her chest. "He… he left a letter. But it's not enough. I can't stop thinking about where he went, what he's doing, who he's with…"
Dante's jaw tightened. "…He's smart. And he's careful. That's all we know for sure."
Elias's eyes flicked toward the door, then back to her. "Actually…" he began, lowering his voice, "Dante just reminded me. Izana wears a ring. It monitors his vitals. And…" His gaze sharpened, "it can track him."
Leah lifted her head slowly, hope flickering through her exhaustion. "A ring?" she asked softly. "So you can…?"
"Yes," Dante said quickly. "If he's wearing it, we can follow it. See where he goes. But…" He hesitated. "If he takes it off…"
Elias finished the thought, voice grim. "Then we have nothing. We won't know where he is at all."
Leah's stomach twisted. "Do you think he would…?"
Dante didn't answer immediately. Elias just shook his head.
"We have to try," Elias said finally. "We have to follow the signal. If he's out there alone… we can't let anything happen to him."
Leah pressed the letter closer to her chest. "I… I trust you both. But… please, find him quickly."
Dante nodded. "We will. We have to."
Outside, the night air was crisp, carrying the faint scent of rain from earlier. Elias and Dante moved through the mansion grounds in silence, checking the tracking device. The signal from Izana's ring was faint but steady, leading them down the private road that wound around the estate.
"This way," Dante murmured, pointing down the path. The signal was stronger here.
Elias tightened his jacket around him. "Stay sharp. He's not going to make this easy."
They moved cautiously, following the signal through the darkness. Shadows from the trees stretched across the pavement. Every noise made Dante tense.
Then, as they reached the signal's apparent source, Elias froze.
"The ring…" he muttered, crouching to the ground. "It's… here. But…"
Dante's eyes widened as he saw it. The ring lay on the edge of the road, glinting faintly under the moonlight. Someone had removed it.
Elias exhaled sharply, jaw tight. "He took it off."
Dante crouched, picking up the ring. "He left it here. On purpose."
"He doesn't want to be tracked," Elias said quietly. "He's doing this alone."
Dante's hand clenched around the small device. "He's not just running… he's planning."
Back in the mansion, Leah pressed herself into the blankets, clutching Izana's letter as if it could protect him. Her heart pounded in her chest, each second stretching impossibly long.
When Dante's phone buzzed with the failed tracking signal, he quickly showed Elias. "He's gone," Dante said, voice low. "No signal. He knows we're coming."
Leah sensed the shift even before they returned. Her hands shook, the letter crumpled slightly in her grasp.
"He's… gone," she whispered. Her voice broke, and tears began to fall freely. "He's out there… alone… and I don't know if I'll ever see him again."
Dante's face softened as he returned to her room, kneeling by the bed. "He's alive," he said firmly. "That's the only thing we know for sure."
Elias's tone was sharper, edged with worry. "But he's dangerous to himself if he's alone, and we don't know what he's thinking right now."
Leah shook her head, tears sliding down her cheeks. "I can't help him from here. I can't…"
"You can," Dante said quietly, voice heavy. "You can wait. You can stay alive. You can be here when he comes back. That's all you can do."
She clutched the letter to her chest again. "I just… I just want him back."
Elias placed a hand gently over hers. "And we'll do everything we can to bring him back. But right now… he needs space. He's trying to find answers. Answers we can't give him yet."
Leah nodded, swallowing hard, fighting the panic that clawed at her chest. She buried her face in the pillow, inhaling the faint scent of him, whispering softly:
"Please… come back to me."
Outside, somewhere in the night, Izana moved with silent purpose. He did not know how long he would be gone, or if he would return. He only knew one thing: he had to find the answers himself.
And in the mansion, Leah held onto the hope that he would.