[BL] The Mafia Boss Wants My Body

Chapter 238: Chapter 238: Gone Without a Trace No Way Back

The movement made Matteo turn around at once.

His body instinctively shifted as if to follow, but the hurt and wounded pride he had been carrying for the past two days held him back.

He remained where he was, watching as Adrian stormed out of the suite and disappeared beyond the door.

The moment the door slammed shut, reality came crashing through Matteo’s anger.

He lunged for his phone and immediately called Harry.

"He’s leaving. Follow him. Don’t let him out of your sight."

Harry and the security team moved at once, their boots pounding across the plush hallway carpet as they hurried toward the elevators.

But the moment they caught up, Adrian spun around, his face streaked with tears and burning with raw fury.

"Get the fuck away from me!" he screamed, his voice ringing through the silent corridor.

"Leave me alone! Every single one of you!"

He took a shaky step backward, glaring at them.

"No one follows me. No one comes near me. And no one touches me. If any of you take one more step toward me, I swear to God... I’ll end it right here."

The desperation in Adrian’s eyes caught the hardened bodyguards off guard, making them hesitate for a brief moment.

Seizing the opportunity, Adrian stepped backward into the waiting elevator, his hand slamming against the Close Door button.

When the elevator doors opened in the lobby, Adrian was nowhere to be found.

The guards stationed on the ground floor kept a close watch on the hotel’s VIP entrance, but Adrian never came through.

Realizing something was wrong, they quickly rushed back inside and searched the bustling marble lobby, but found nothing.

Moments later, Harry and the rest of the security team burst out of the emergency stairwell.

They searched in every direction.

But Adrian had already vanished.

Harry immediately raised a hand to his earpiece and contacted Matteo.

"Boss, we lost him. He threatened the team upstairs, forcing all of us to hold back. The ground-floor detail confirms he never came through the main lobby entrance. He’s gone."

The cold detachment vanished from Matteo’s face, replaced by a surge of panic.

"What do you mean he’s gone?" He demanded. "Search everywhere! Lock down the building and find him!"

"Yes, Boss!" Harry replied.

Matteo’s men fanned out across the hotel, searching the restaurants, lounge bars, and corridors, but they found absolutely no trace of Adrian.

Realizing they were running out of time, Harry rushed the team to the hotel’s surveillance room and ordered the security staff to pull up the CCTV footage immediately.

The monitors revealed exactly how Adrian had escaped.

The footage showed Adrian stepping out of the elevator on the ground floor. But instead of heading toward the private VIP parking area where Matteo’s convoy was waiting, he quietly turned in the opposite direction.

The guards stationed outside remained focused on the VIP entrance, expecting Adrian to come through at any moment.

When several minutes passed and he never appeared, they rushed back inside to check the lobby.

By then, it was already too late.

At that exact moment, a large corporate event was letting out from the hotel’s main ballroom.

Blending effortlessly into the crowd of well-dressed guests, Adrian slipped through the hotel’s main pedestrian entrance and disappeared into the bustling city streets before anyone realized he was gone.

When the footage was relayed to Matteo, the last remnants of his pride shattered.

His trembling fingers immediately reached for his phone and frantically dialed Adrian’s number.

But the call never rang.

It went straight to voicemail.

Adrian had switched off his phone.

Realizing he had no way of reaching him, Matteo dialed the one person who could bridge the gap.

The moment the line connected, he didn’t even bother with a greeting.

"Mark. I need you to call Charles right now. Have him try to reach Adrian."

Mark paused on the other end, detecting the uncharacteristic panic in his brother’s voice. "Teo, slow down. Is everything okay over there?"

"Please, just do what I asked you first!" Matteo barked, his voice cracking under the pressure. "Just call Charles!"

Sensing the urgency in Matteo’s voice, Mark didn’t ask any more questions.

He ended the call and immediately dialed Charles, who had left his house just an hour earlier.

The moment Charles answered, his voice was filled with panic.

"Mark! Thank God you called. I was just about to call you."

"Charles, listen to me," Mark cut in. "Can you please try calling Adrian? Matteo is losing his mind. I don’t know what’s going on."

"I spoke to him less than an hour ago," Charles said, his breath hitching. "Adrian called me, Mark... but he couldn’t even get a proper sentence out. He was just sobbing hysterically into the phone. I kept asking him what happened and who hurt him, but the call suddenly cut off. I’ve been trying to call him back ever since, but his phone is completely unreachable. I was just about to call you so you could get hold of Matteo and find out what the hell is going on!"

After ending the call with Charles, Mark immediately called Matteo back.

His expression was grim as he relayed everything he had just heard.

"Teo, Charles said Adrian called him crying uncontrollably. He couldn’t even speak properly. Then the call suddenly cut off, and his phone has been unreachable ever since."

"Fuck!" Matteo roared, slamming his fist violently against the suite wall. The sharp pain shooting through his hand was nothing compared to the crushing guilt tearing through his chest.

"What is going on with you?" Mark demanded, his voice turning stern. "Talk to me, Teo. What the hell did you do?"

After a brief pause, he asked the question he had been dreading.

"Did you hit him?"

"No! Of course I didn’t fucking hit him! I’d never do that to him. You know me!" Matteo snarled, running a hand through his hair as he paced the room naked, the weight of what he had done crashing down on him.

"Then what happened?" Mark pressed.

"I can’t... I don’t know how to explain this to you without you blaming me," Matteo muttered, his voice breaking. "I need to find him first. I’ll call you back later. Just tell Charles to keep his phone with him and keep trying Adrian’s number!"

Without waiting for a response, Matteo ended the call.

He tried calling Adrian’s number over and over again, but each attempt was met with the same cold, automated voice informing him that the phone was switched off.

His men spread out across the surrounding city blocks, searching transit stations, cafés, and nearby streets, but Adrian had vanished without a trace.

Running out of options, Matteo sent a discreet security vehicle back to Elena’s family estate.

He instructed his guards to pretend they were delivering a package for Adrian that should have been delivered earlier but had been delayed, using the excuse to find out whether Adrian had returned to the estate.

The guard approached the mansion’s grand entrance, presented the package to the butler, and politely asked whether Adrian was available to receive it.

The butler shook his head apologetically.

"I’m sorry, sir. Mr. Adrian left earlier this morning. He completed everything he came here for and has already left."

When Harry called to report back, Matteo lowered his head into his hands.

Alone in the wreckage of his hotel suite, he was consumed by the terrifying realization that his own pride might have driven the man he loved beyond his reach.

He clung to a desperate thread of hope, telling himself that Adrian was simply furious and needed time to cool down.

He waited for hours, pacing the empty penthouse suite, expecting the door to open or his phone to ring.

But afternoon faded into evening... And Adrian never came back.

His phone remained completely unreachable.

By evening, Matteo’s anger had been completely replaced by cold panic.

Desperate for answers, he asked Charles to go to Adrian’s house and check if he had returned there.

But when Charles arrived and questioned the staff, the housemaid shook her head.

"Mr. Adrian hasn’t been home for quite some time," she told him. "His room is empty."

Charles immediately called Matteo.

"I just spoke to the housemaid," he said. "She said Adrian hasn’t been home for quite some time. He’s not there."

With nowhere else to turn and his options rapidly running out, Matteo forced himself to call Maya. She was his last hope of finding Adrian.

The moment she answered, Matteo hurriedly explained everything, his voice raw with a vulnerability none of his men had ever heard before.

Maya listened quietly before telling him she hadn’t seen Adrian.

Yet, after hearing that Adrian was missing and emotionally distraught, she didn’t sound panicked at all.

Instead, her voice remained calm.

"Matteo, breathe," Maya said with a soft sigh. "Adrian will reach out to you when he’s ready. Honestly, you’ve spoiled him far too much. He’s just throwing a tantrum. He’ll be perfectly fine."

Hearing her calm, unbothered reaction, a wave of relief washed over Matteo.

He knew Maya well.

If Adrian were truly in danger, she would have been just as worried as he was.

The fact that she sounded so calm could only mean one thing.

Adrian was safe.

Either he was hiding at Maya’s place to keep his distance from Matteo...

Or Maya knew exactly where her brother was.

Relieved that Adrian wasn’t wandering the streets alone or in danger...