KAEL

The next twelve hours crawled by like years.

I watched surveillance feeds until the images blurred together. Drank coffee that had gone cold hours ago. Fielded calls from FBI agents who wanted to "coordinate" and politicians who’d heard about the kidnapping through their networks.

Olivia showed up.

I heard her before I saw her, the sound of crying, desperate and broken. Ash was trying to comfort her, but Olivia pushed past everyone until she found me.

"Please." Her face was blotchy from tears, her eyes red and swollen. "Please find her. Please."

I stood, catching her as she nearly collapsed. "Olivia..."

"She’s my sister." The words came out in gasps between sobs. "She’s all I have. Kaleb keeps asking when Aria is coming home and I don’t know what to tell him."

Her pain cut through my own haze of exhaustion and fear.

"I will find her," I said, forcing my voice to stay steady. "I promise you, Olivia. I won’t stop until she’s home."

She clung to me, her whole body shaking. "She has to be okay. The baby, "

"I know." My throat tightened. "I know."

Ash guided Olivia to a chair in the corner, bringing her water, staying close. Olivia refused to leave, just sat there waiting, praying, her hands clasped so tightly her knuckles were white.

One more person whose world would shatter if we didn’t find Aria alive.

Four hours later came with another development: the news broke.

"SARAH BROWN FOUND DEAD – LINKED TO ARIA THORNE KIDNAPPING"

The headline scrolled across every news channel. My communications team scrambled to manage the press, to keep the feeding frenzy from interfering with the investigation.

Sarah’s parents had been notified. I hadn’t been there, couldn’t be there. Detective Raines had handled it, delivered the news that their daughter was dead, murdered, her body found in a rundown apartment she’d been using as a hideout.

They’d been devastated, apparently. But saw it coming. Their troubled daughter didn’t hide her deteriorating mental state well.

The funeral would be in a few days.

Hour forty-two: the surveillance team reported movement.

"We’ve got activity at the target location," Hayes said, pulling up the feed. "Three armed men entered through the service entrance twenty minutes ago. Two more standing guard outside."

I moved to his station, my heart hammering. "Any sign of Aria?"

"Not yet. But the level of security suggests they’re protecting something, or someone."

"Los Fantasmas?"

"The guards match the profile. Tattoos, military bearing, high-end weapons." He zoomed in on one of the men. "This one’s in our database. Known associate of Javier Ruiz."

El Cuchillo.

One of Los Fantasmas’ top enforcers.

"She’s there," I said with absolute certainty. "Aria’s in that building."

"We still need confirmation before, "

My phone rang.

Unknown number.

The entire room went silent.

Hayes immediately started signaling to the tech team. "Don’t answer yet, let us set up the trace."

I watched them scramble, connecting equipment, typing commands into computers. Every second felt like an eternity.

"Okay," the tech finally said. "Answer. Keep him talking as long as you can."

I answered, lifting the phone to my ear.

"Who is this?"

A pause. Then a voice I’d hoped never to hear again.

"Hello, brother."

The voice slithered through the phone like poison, casual and calm, as if we were old friends catching up over drinks instead of enemies separated by a kidnapping and murder.

Andrew.

Every muscle in my body went rigid. Around me, the command center held its collective breath. Hayes’s hand moved in a sharp gesture, and the tech team sprang into action, fingers flying across keyboards, equipment humming to life as they began the trace.

I forced myself to breathe. To think.

Keep him talking. Get information. Find Aria.

"Andrew." His name tasted like ash in my mouth.

"I assume you’ve been looking for your fiancée," he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice. The smug satisfaction of someone holding all the cards.

My free hand clenched into a fist so tight my nails bit into my palm. "Where is she?"

"Safe. For now." A pause, deliberately drawn out. "Whether she stays that way depends on you."

The threat was clear. Unmistakable.

"If you hurt her, " I started, my voice dropping to something dangerous.

"You’ll what?" Andrew cut me off smoothly. "You’re not exactly in a position to threaten me, Kael. I have something you want. You have something I want. This is just business." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Business.

He was talking about Aria, about her life, about our baby, like it was a corporate negotiation.

"What do you want?" The words came out through gritted teeth.

"What’s mine." His tone hardened. "Roman Holdings. Every asset. Every account. Every property. The shipping routes. The real estate portfolio. The offshore accounts. All of it."

My mind raced. He wanted everything. The entire empire Ewan had built over decades, that I’d been running for the one year plus.

"Sign it all over to me," Andrew continued, "and I’ll return Aria. Alive. You have my word."

His word.

As if that meant anything coming from a man who’d just had signed himself away to cold-blooded criminals.

"You’re insane if you think, "

"Am I?" He laughed, the sound cold and sharp. "Because from where I’m standing, you don’t have a choice. You can keep your precious company and lose the woman you love. Or you can save her and walk away with nothing."

Across from me, the tech lead was making frantic gestures, mouthing words: Keep him talking!

I needed more time. Needed to give them a chance to pin down his location.

"Even if I wanted to sign everything over," I said, forcing my voice to stay measured, "it would take weeks. Legal proceedings. Board approval. Transfer of assets, "

"Don’t insult my intelligence." Andrew’s voice sharpened. "We both know you can expedite the process. You have the connections. The influence. Make it happen."

"How do I even know you have her?" I demanded. "How do I know she’s alive?"

Silence.

Then: "Of course. You need proof."

The sound of movement came through the line, footsteps, a door opening. Muffled voices in the background.

And then,

"Kael...?"

Her voice hit me like a physical blow.

Aria.

She sounded weak. Scared. Nothing like the fierce woman who’d slapped me in that club parking lot, who’d stood up to me in my own office, who’d looked at me with such love before everything went to shit.

"Kael, " she continued, her words coming faster now, desperate. "Where are you? I’m undergrou—"

A scuffle. The sound of something hitting flesh. A sharp gasp of pain.

"Aria!" I was on my feet, the phone gripped so tightly in my hand I thought it might shatter. "ARIA!"

Underground. She was underground. Our guess was correct.

"Satisfied?" Andrew’s voice returned, smooth and unruffled, as if he hadn’t just had someone strike the woman carrying my child.

My vision went red at the edges.

"You son of a—"

"48 hours, Kael." He spoke over me, each word deliberate. "That’s how long you have to make your decision. Sign over Roman Holdings, or she dies. It’s really very simple."

"Andrew, listen to me, "

"I’ll be in touch with instructions on how to transfer everything." His tone was business-like now, as if we’d just concluded a meeting. "Oh, and don’t bother tracing this call. I’m not stupid. The signal’s bouncing through proxies across three continents. By the time you narrow it down, I’ll be long gone."

"Wait—"

The line went dead.