Chapter 187
Elara’s POV
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The penthouse felt wrong when they got home. Too bright, too clean, too normal for a place where children had been stolen from their grandmother’s arms.
Elara walked through the door and found their living room full of people. Mimi was pacing near the windows, phone pressed to her ear. Dante sat at the dining table with his laptop open, fingers flying across the keyboard. Richard stood near the bar with a glass of whiskey he wasn’t drinking. And Emeka was curled up on the couch looking uncharacteristically serious.
Her mother sat in the armchair nearest the door, her face pale and drawn. When she saw Elara she stood up immediately.
“Did you find them? Please tell me you found them.”
Elara shook her head and watched her mother’s face crumble.
“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, I should have known something was wrong, I should have questioned the paramedics, I should have…”
“Mom, stop.” Elara crossed the room and pulled her mother into a hug. “This isn’t your fault. Whoever did this planned it perfectly. They counted on you being a grandmother who’d do anything to protect her grandchildren.”
“But I didn’t protect them. I handed them over to strangers and now they’re gone.”
Marcus closed the door and locked it, checking the deadbolt twice like that would somehow undo what had already happened. Elara watched him and felt her heart break a little more. He looked exhausted, the kind of bone-deep tired that came from running on adrenaline and fear for hours.
“Any updates?” Dante asked, closing his laptop.
“They were in a warehouse in Hunts Point,” Marcus said. “But they’d been moved before we got there. Forensics found baby items, evidence they were held there recently.”
Mimi stopped pacing. “So we know they’re alive.”
“As of a few hours ago, yes. Someone bought baby food at a bodega nearby. We have security footage but the face isn’t clear enough for identification yet.”
Emeka unfolded himself from the couch and walked over to Elara. “How are you holding up, babe?”
“I’m not. But I don’t have the luxury of falling apart right now so I’m just… existing.”
“That’s valid. Existing is underrated in crisis situations.”
Despite everything, Elara felt a ghost of a smile. Leave it to Emeka to find the exactly right thing to say.
17:11 Mon, May 11 …
Chapter 187
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Richard set down his untouched whiskey and approached Marcus. “What do you need from me? Money, connections, anything. Name it and it’s yours.”
“I need the police to do their jobs faster. But I don’t think you can buy that.”
“You’d be surprised what I can buy. I still have friends in the mayor’s office, the police commissioner owes me favors. Let me make some calls.”
Marcus looked like he wanted to argue but didn’t have the energy. “Fine. Call whoever you want. Just find my children.”
Elara’s mother had started crying again, quiet tears that she kept wiping away like she didn’t deserve to express grief when her failure had caused this. Elara guided her back to the armchair and knelt beside it.
“Mom, I need you to listen to me. The police said whoever did this has been planning it for a while. They had a fake ambulance, fake paramedics, fake credentials. They staged a car accident to create the perfect opportunity. This wasn’t random and it wasn’t your fault.”
“But if I’d been more careful….”
“You were careful. You did exactly what any reasonable person would do when medical professionals said your grandchildren needed emergency care. You trusted them because why wouldn’t you?”
Mimi came over and handed Elara’s mother a glass of water. “She’s right. Stop torturing yourself. Save that energy for when we get the babies back and you can spoil them rotten to make up for this.”
When we get them back. Not if. The certainty in Mimi’s voice made Elara want to cry.
Marcus had moved to the windows and was staring out at the city like he could somehow see where his children were being held. Elara stood and went to him, sliding her hand into his.
“Talk to me,” she said quietly.
“I keep thinking about all the ways this is my fault. All the enemies I’ve made, all the people who hate me enough to hurt my family. The list is too long, El. I’ve spent so much time building empires and destroying competitors that I created an entire army of people who might want revenge.”
“This isn’t about revenge. This is about money or leverage or something specific. Random enemies don’t plan elaborate kidnappings with fake ambulances.”
“Then who? Who hates us this much?”
Elara thought about Penelope in prison, about Aurora who’d disappeared after her schemes fell apart, about Luca who’d signed away his rights. None of them had the resources or freedom to orchestrate something like
this.
“I don’t know. But we’ll figure it out.”
Marcus turned to look at her and Elara saw fear in his eyes that matched her own. “What if we don’t? What if we’re too late or we make the wrong choice or…..”
17:11 Mon, May 11 M.
Chapter 187
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“Stop We can’t think like that. Alexander and Catherine are alive. Someone is taking care of them because they need them alive for whatever plan they have. That gives us time.”
“Time for what?”
“Time to be smarter than whoever took them. Time to find them and bring them home.”
Dante’s phone rang and he answered it immediately. “Yeah. Uh-huh. Send it over.” He hung up and looked at Marcus. “Facial recognition came back on the woman from the bodega footage. No matches in the criminal database but the software did a wider search through social media and public records.”
“And?”
“Still processing. But they’re running it against everyone connected to your family, your company, Elara’s boutique. If she’s in the system anywhere, we’ll find her.”
Emeka had wandered into the nursery and came back out looking shaken. “The room looks like they just left. There are bottles in the warmer and toys on the floor and it’s so fucking wrong that they’re not here.”
“Don’t,” Elara said. “Don’t go in there. I can’t handle thinking about their empty room right now.”
“Sorry, babe. I wasn’t thinking.”
Richard’s phone rang and he stepped out onto the balcony to take the call. Through the glass Elara could see him talking animatedly, gesturing with his free hand. Calling in favors, applying pressure, doing what rich men did when they wanted results.
Mimi came over and hugged Elara from behind, resting her chin on her shoulder. “They’re going to be okay. I know you don’t believe that right now but I need you to try. Alexander and Catherine are fighters. They’re Thornes. They’re going to survive this.”
“I want to believe that.”
“Then believe it. Because the alternative isn’t an option.”
They stood like that for a while, Marcus at the window, Elara in Mimi’s arms, everyone else scattered around the living room waiting for news that might never come.
Elara’s phone buzzed. She pulled it out expecting another useless update from the police.
But it was the building security calling.
She answered. “Yes?”
“Mrs. Thorne, I’m sorry to bother you but there’s someone here to see you.”
Elara’s heart stopped. “Who?”
“He didn’t give a name. Just said it was urgent and he needed to speak with you personally.”
“What does he look like?”
17:11 Mon, May 11 M…
Chapter 187
“Tall, well-dressed, maybe late thirties. He’s persistent.”
The room went silent. Everyone was looking at Elara now.
“Send him up,” Elara said.
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“Actually, ma’am, he asked that you come down to the lobby. Said he’d prefer to speak with you privately.”
“Alright, fine,” she replied.
The elevator ride down felt endless. Elara’s mind raced through possibilities. A witness who saw something? A co-conspirator with a conscience? Someone trying to help or hurt?
The lobby was empty except for the security guard and a man standing near the entrance.
Tall, well-dressed, familiar in a way that made Elara’s stomach drop.
Julius turned around when he heard her approach, and smiled.
“Elara. Thank you for coming down. I know it’s late but I really needed to see you.”
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