Made of Steel

47. Collapse

Cassandra Reid

My eyes burn like hell, every muscle in my body feels stiff, and the cold doesn't go away until it soaks into my bones. The headache and my rebel stomach don't help either.

They have been taken away. My children...

No matter how hard I try to hold back my tears, it's impossible. Two hours have passed since I regained consciousness, the same time Fede and Ella have been missing. Neither the police nor the guards find any clues, no one has called for ransom, and although Adriano tends to keep a cool head, he begins to lose patience. It is as if earth had swallowed them.

Someone brushes my shoulder and I jump automatically.

"Honey, you're freezing," I turn my head to meet Alexa Di Lauro's sad but serene expression. She is too much like my husband, even in the way she acts. My mother-in-law covers me with a warm blanket before giving me a motherly smile. "Better."

How does she do it? I'm a mess, I've thrown up three times in the last hour, I can't stop crying silently and I haven't said a single word. I feel incompetent because I can't comfort anyone.

"Ma'am," the housekeeper hands me a cup of tea, "here you are."

I proceed to drink it, but as soon as the aroma of the tea fills my nostrils, acidic liquid travels down my throat. I jump up and run to the bathroom on the first floor.

As soon as I bend over, contents of my stomach spill out uncontrollably until every drop is squeezed out. I don't know where it comes from, because I haven't tasted food for a whole day.

Coughing mixes with retching along with tears and I am not able to hold myself up. Luckily, Alexa shows up in a timely manner to prevent my fall.

My head hangs in the air at the same time the real crying breaks out. I put my hands to my belly letting out deep screams of pain. It's like my body is alive of its own and I can't control it.

I consider myself a strong person who does not give up or lose focus. I don't recognize myself right now and I hate feeling like this.

I have no idea how long it takes, but I finally get control of myself and regain my stability. With the help of my mother-in-law, I move to the bathroom to rinse my mouth and, incidentally, my gaunt face.

Once I dry myself, I breathe more serenely again. Apparently, I needed to release some tension.

"Better?", Alexa asks, meeting my gaze in the mirror.

"Yeah," I nod as I rub my nose. I must not seem like the perfect model daughter-in-law right now, "thank you."

"How much time do you have?", she asks me out of the blue. In response, my eyes widen as I struggle to keep my balance. "Don't look at me like that, I'm a woman and I've lived this before."

"Three or four weeks", I expel the air contained in my lungs slowly.

"Apparently, my son doesn't know," she deduces while I reaffirm, shaking my head from side to side. "I can tell you guys aren't having a good run, but once we get this mess sorted out, you need to fix it."

"I don't know if this can be fixed," I think out loud, staring at the ground.

She comes closer to me to lift my chin with extreme delicacy.

"You always can", she affirms in a confident pose. "You are a Di Lauro and for us there is nothing impossible. For now, let's focus on finding my grandchildren first, do you think?"

I nod silently before following her back to the main room. Men have been holed up in the office for some time now.

I sit on the big sofa and immediately, I hear the loud sound of a door followed by my husband's wild footsteps.