Ashley set her phone down after hanging up with Gin. Lucian caught her expression and furrowed his brows.

She exhaled slowly and turned to face him.

"Julius’s son..." she began, just as a quiet knock came at the door.

They both looked up. There, Primo stood in the doorway.

"Lucian," Ashley murmured, watching their son. Her jaw tightened as she breathed through the feeling settling in her chest. "I think they’ve already started."

*****

At the same time, at a police station.

"God, Eli!" Alyssa sobbed, pulling her son into her arms.

Her whole body trembled. The tears wouldn’t stop. Every trace of exhaustion had vanished, replaced entirely by the fear of what could have happened — and the overwhelming relief that it hadn’t.

Julius stood beside his wife and son, exhaling slowly. He glanced at his in-laws, who were weeping alongside their daughter.

Elliot, for his part, looked thoroughly confused by all the crying.

"Alyssa." Julius stepped in gently. "The police still need to take his statement."

Alyssa hiccuped and nodded.

Julius looked over at the officer waiting patiently nearby, gave a short nod, then crouched down in front of his son.

"Elliot," he said calmly. "Can you tell me what happened?"

Elliot nodded with a bright smile. "The good brother said I shouldn’t go with strangers even if they have candy."

"Good brother?" Julius frowned. "Do you know what he looked like?"

The boy shook his head. "He was wearing a face mask."

"And he brought you here?"

Elliot nodded, still smiling.

Julius said nothing, his jaw tightening. This could be a coincidence — but deep down, he knew it wasn’t. Whoever had brought Elliot here was sending a message. A warning.

It wouldn’t be surprising, given that he was pursuing one of the most powerful underground organizations in the world. This could be Dominion telling him to back off. A warning that they knew his son, his family — and that if he didn’t stop, the people he loved would pay for it.

The thought sat heavy in his chest until Elliot spoke again.

"Is the first brother going to be okay?" the boy asked, looking around at the adults.

"The first brother?" Alyssa repeated.

Elliot nodded. "The one who took me from the snack shop."

Everyone’s expressions shifted.

"Elliot, what do you mean?" his grandfather asked. "Were there two people?"

"The first brother was a little scary," Elliot said matter-of-factly. "He gave me the candy and then covered my nose and mouth with something. But I remembered Daddy said to hold my breath. So I held my breath like I was underwater and played dead!"

He giggled. "When we got to the building, the good brother was already there. He saved me from the bad brother and told me not to go with strangers. I said I didn’t go with a stranger — the bad brother covered my mouth and took me without asking!"

"The good brother said he’d bring me here. He was really nice," Elliot added cheerfully. "He even told jokes so I wouldn’t cry."

The room went completely quiet.

"Those two..." Julius chose his next words carefully. "They weren’t working together?"

"What, Daddy?"

"Were they not friends?"

Elliot rubbed his chin and looked up, thinking. "Friends don’t fight," he said. "But they did fight. The second brother did this —" he raised both fists and threw a few small jabs and kicks into the air — "and the first brother was shocked and asked the second brother who he was."

"The good brother did that," Elliot confirmed. "And then he brought me here."

That was enough for the adults to piece together what had happened. Someone had attempted to take Elliot. Someone else had intervened, stopped it, and brought the boy to safety. It gave both the police and Julius very different things to consider.

"Oh!" Elliot perked up as if something had just come back to him. "The good brother said it was thanks to the Madam."

"Madam?" Julius asked.

Elliot nodded. "He said the Madam thought something bad might happen, so she sent the good brother to watch over me." He laughed. "They’re like Eli’s Angels!"

Another silence fell over the room. Everyone looked at the boy — and for the first time, they all noticed the same thing: despite everything that had happened, Elliot didn’t look frightened or shaken in the slightest. He looked as though he’d just come back from an outing.

"Is that so?" Julius let out a slow breath of relief. He glanced at the officer, who gave him a nod.

Then he turned to Alyssa. "Take him home. Take Mom and Dad too. A friend of mine will drive you."

Alyssa pressed her lips together and nodded. She wanted Julius close — this hadn’t traumatized Elliot, but it had certainly traumatized her. Still, she understood. Julius was a cop, and he needed to get to the bottom of this.

A colleague came to collect the family while Julius stayed behind. He turned to the officer.

"Where is he?" he asked. No name needed — the officer already knew who he meant.

The lead detective on the missing children case.

"In the office," said the officer. "I’ll take you to him. He said he wants to see you."

Julius followed him down the hall. When they reached the office, he found a long-haired man with an unkempt beard, standing near an investigation board with a paper cup of coffee in hand.

"I want to see the CCTV footage from the store," Julius said without preamble. "I want to get to the bottom of this myself."

"There’s no need."

Julius frowned at his indifference. "What does that mean?"

"It means even if you pulled the footage, it won’t give you anything useful," the man said, glancing at him. "All it shows is your son walking toward one of the aisles, and then your father-in-law searching for him. He was taken from a blind spot."

The man sauntered over to a chair and dropped into it, feet propped up on the table. "As for the street footage — they appeared once, and then nothing. Whoever took your son either knows exactly where every blind spot is, or..."

He paused, cocking his head toward Julius.

"He’s capable of hacking into a government system to make sure he left no trace," the man said, his tone pointed. "Either way, you’re lucky someone was already watching over your son. Otherwise, his photo would be up there."

He gestured toward the board behind him, lined with photographs of missing children.

"You—" Julius’s hands balled into fists.

The long-haired man shrugged. "Don’t get angry at me. I’m just telling you — someone has finally figured out how to get to the ever-upright Julius without needing a briefcase full of cash."