Chapter 21 - The suspicion

The silence in the Logan penthouse was no longer a luxury; it was the heavy, suffocating weight that precedes a landslide.

Olivia stood in the foyer, her phone a cold slab in her hand, as the world she had fought to protect crumbled into dust.

Through the principal, Olivia finally reached the Bernards. The call was a jagged collision of two worlds breaking apart in real-time.

"I don't have her," Olivia whispered into the receiver, her voice cracking as she leaned against the cold marble wall for support. "Chloe is gone, too. My sister... she’s missing."

On the other end, Mrs. Bernard let out a sound that wasn't quite a cry….it was a visceral jagged wail.

The two women, strangers bound by a shared tragedy, wept together in a raw, unfiltered symphony of grief. Olivia’s tears were silent and hot, soaking into the emerald silk of her dress.

The heavy, lonely burden of being the "strong one" finally snapped. The image of Chloe - fearful and trapped - made Olivia’s knees give out.

She sank to the floor, the phone pressed to her ear, listening to Mrs. Bernard’s uncontrollable sobs until there were no more tears left in either of them.

By dawn, the police had officially opened a missing persons case. The morning news was flooded with school portraits of Mark and Chloe.

In a cramped apartment across town, Weiller watched the news through a thick haze of cigarette smoke. His hands shook as he saw Chloe’s face on the screen.

"Damn it, Sebastian," he hissed, his eyes darting to the door.

He knew how this played out. If the kids had been snatched, it meant the "clean-up" phase had begun.

He was the last loose thread - the man who knew too much about the Hughes' old accounts and Sebastian’s offshore shadows.

Tension coiled in his gut like a snake. He didn't turn on the lights. In the shadows, he threw a few clothes and a stack of cash into a battered duffel bag.

Every floorboard creak made him jump. He had to vanish before the sun went down.

Back at the penthouse, Aiden was staring at the city skyline when his phone erupted. It was Sebastian.

"What did you do to the girl, Aiden?" Sebastian’s voice was a low, dangerous rumble.

Aiden didn't even blink. "What do you mean, Father?"

"Don't be silly! The news is crawling with her face. If you think kidnapping your wife’s sister is a way to gain leverage over me, you’ve miscalculated. Where are you keeping her?"

For the first time in years, a sound escaped Aiden that wasn't a growl. He burst into a short, scornful laugh - a cold, metallic sound.

"The kettle calling the pot black," Aiden said, his voice dripping with venom. "I should be asking you that question, Sebastian.

Who else would be desperate enough to snatch a schoolgirl to keep a business deal quiet? Stop playing smart, Father. Go ahead and fool the press, but don't think you can fool me."

"Aiden, I am telling you….."

Click.

Aiden tossed the phone onto the leather sofa as if it were trash. He reached for a glass of dark wine, taking a slow, deliberate sip. His heart was racing with a cold, calculated fury.

In his office, Sebastian sat stunned. He knew Aiden. His son was many things, but he wasn't a liar of that magnitude. If Aiden said he didn't have her, he didn't.

"Then who?" Sebastian whispered to the empty room. "Who else is playing in my garden?"

Aiden didn't trust the silence. He looked toward the hallway where Olivia was tucked away in her room.

The thought of her being attacked again…or worse, being the next one to vanish….sent a chill through him that no wine could warm.

He sat at his desk and opened an encrypted software. He wasn't just tracking the fleet anymore.

He secretly accessed the GPS units of the two specific cars Olivia used most often - the old sedan and the backup SUV. He synced the data directly to his personal watch and phone.

“I can’t lose the only person who sees me for who I am,” he thought, his bruised knuckles tightening.

It wasn't just about the deal anymore. He was building a digital cage around her, not to trap her, but to ensure that if she moved an inch into danger, he would be there to strike.

Olivia received a text from Chloe. Her heart skipped a beat. “Come to 6158 Broad Beach Rd, Malibu, CA 90265. I'm with Weiller, I found the truth. Please come alone”