His Final Vanishing

I saw my boyfriend, Vincent, outside a high-end restaurant with his childhood friend, Sophia, right after he’d disappeared for the tenth time.

He was swaggering, bragging to his friends.

"You have to train women. You can't be too good to them. You have to keep them guessing! I even got Alessandro to 'protect' her for me. I'll make my big comeback when the time is right."

When I got home, I looked at the handsome, imposing Alessandro.

I slipped up behind him, lacing my fingers with his. My nose brushed against his shoulder, a deliberate accident.

"Alessandro," I murmured, "since Vincent doesn't want me anymore... why don't you have me instead?"

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1

After Vincent vanished for the tenth time on a "secret mission," I spotted him on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

He was holding court with a few friends in front of a three-star Michelin restaurant, a smug grin plastered on his face.

"Vincent, this mission of yours must have been, what, two weeks now?"

"Yeah, so what if it's been two weeks?" Vincent's nonchalant voice drifted over.

"Man, isn't Elena going crazy with worry?"

"Seriously, she cares about you so much. How could you just abandon her like that!"

"Exactly, don't be so selfish. Just go back to her! A girl can only take so much."

Vincent cut them off with a lazy drawl.

"Mission? Of course it's fake. A man has to maintain a sense of mystery at all times. That's what makes women cling to you."

"I have Alessandro keeping an eye on her for me. When the time is right, I'll show up again."

"Vincent, you’ve got some serious game. How did you even come up with this 'secret mission' trick?"

"That was all me, of course!" A girl beside him proudly slung her arm over Vincent's shoulder.

"With that pea brain of his, you think he could come up with such a brilliant idea?"

Vincent laughed, slinging an arm around her shoulders. "Oh, shut up, Sophia! But you're right—when this is all over, I'll be sure to reward you handsomely!"

The girl smirked, leaning closer to his face, her long fingers stroking the man's Adam's apple.

"Vincent, how do you plan to reward me, hmm?"

I didn't confront him. I just quietly slipped away, melting back into the shadows of the street corner.

I turned and headed for the supermarket, methodically picking out an armful of fresh vegetables and prime cuts of meat.

After getting home, I came up behind Alessandro, who was in the kitchen preparing dinner.

"Any leads on Vincent?"

"No," I murmured, my nose brushing against Alessandro's ear as if by accident.

"What should I do? This time, I think Vincent might really be gone for good."

Today, I had originally planned to go to my aunt's gallery in Midtown for help.

She's been running a chain of galleries in Manhattan for decades and is very well-connected.

The first time Vincent disappeared on a "mission," she was the one who helped me find him.

Back then, I hammered on his door for an hour before he finally opened it.

He was wearing a slightly disheveled bathrobe, leaning roguishly against the small table in the entryway.

I had been looking for him for three days, unable to eat or sleep, driven mad with worry.

Without a word, my eyes red, I tackled him to the ground.

"Elena... Elena, you can't live without me, can you..."

"Vincent, I just can't!"

"You just vanished! Where the hell were you? I was sick with worry!"

"Ah, Elena, don't..."

"Are you going to run away again?" I panted in his ear.

"Do you dare?"

His arms wrapped around my neck, and he spoke, breathless and satisfied, "Elena, I swear, I'll never run away again..."

I should have known. The first time was just the beginning.

Over the past three years, his disappearances had become more and more frequent.

If I said one wrong thing, if I did something that didn't please him, he would immediately pull another vanishing act.

I had long grown weary of this cat-and-mouse game and had tried to talk to him about it many times, but he seemed to relish it, getting a thrill from the power it gave him.

This time, I was going to disappoint him.