Chapter 20 - Ramping Up

The pale light of dawn crept into the study, weak and hesitant, brushing against the mess Lisbeth and Ferdinand had made of the room. 

Papers and maps were everywhere, with photos and frantic scrawls barely keeping track of their failed attempt to track Ayra.

Ferdinand leaned back, rubbing at his temples like that would help him think any clearer. “She’s clever,” he muttered, his voice flat and tired. 

They had been awake all night, their frustration mounting as lead after lead fell apart and no other turned up. 

“Too clever,” Lisbeth shot back, pacing like a caged animal. Her hair was a mess, her face drawn and pale. 

It was quite unlike her. "This is insane. How does a kid with no backup, no cash, and no clue manage to stay ahead of us? How has she managed to just disappear?"

At least she's not in Eleanor's hands. That would be a whole other problem were it so. 

Ferdinand sighed. “She’s clever. But we’re running out of time. If we don’t find her soon, Lucian -”

A sharp knock interrupted him, and before either could respond, the door swung open. Lucian strode in quickly. 

He was dressed impeccably as always, though the lines of tension on his face betrayed the long hours of travel he'd just been through. 

“Lucian,” Ferdinand began cautiously, rising from his chair, hiding his shock. “This is... unexpected.”

“Where is she?” Lucian’s tone was icy, his gaze intense and cutting through the father and daughter pair.

Ferdinand hesitated, his mouth opening and closing uselessly. “We’re... still narrowing it down. She’s been -”

“What? Careful?” Lucian interrupted, his voice dangerous. “Or smarter than the two of you combined?”

Lucian’s cold gaze swept across the room. 

“Unexpected for you, perhaps. For me, my presence here was inevitable. I was informed of Ayra’s escape, and I’m here to ensure this situation is rectified.”

Lisbeth glared at him through narrow eyes, her anger visibly mounting as she spat:

“We’ve been working all night -”

“Not hard enough, clearly,” Lucian cut her off, his voice cutting. “If you had been truly committed to finding her, I most certainly would not be here.”

Ferdinand sighed. Lisbeth always got too emotional for her own good when it comes to Ayra. 

“Lucian,” Lisbeth said through gritted teeth, trying, and failing, to force calm into her voice, “we’re doing everything we can—”

“Clearly, that’s not much,” Lucian shot back, his control beginning to crack. 

"Did you truly throw everything you have into finding her, or was this just a half-baked effort? I fail to believe that with all the resources available to the Russo family you are yet to find a single girl.”

Her temper flared instantly. “Do you think I’ve slept? Eaten? Breathed anything but... THIS for the last nineteen hours?! We’ve done everything possible.”

“Then why is she still out there?!” Lucian snapped at them. His usually calm demeanor cracked, revealing the storm of emotions beneath. 

It was the first time Ferdinand had seen the Director so off-put and angry and it was scary in a way. “You’ve had hours to locate her. HOURS! And yet, here you are, still fumbling in the dark.”

Ferdinand stepped forward, tone placating and borderline placating. “Lucian, we’ve deployed significant resources -”

“Significant my foot,” Lucian interrupted. He turned to Ferdinand, his gaze piercing. 

“Tell me, Ferdinand, have you prioritized her capture? Or have you been holding back, waiting for her to make a mistake so you can pounce at your convenience?”

Lisbeth’s cheeks flushed with anger. “That’s absurd!”

"Is it?!"

Ferdinand found the sight of the two usually composed individuals shouting at each other because of one girl kind of funny. It was unreal. 

Lisbeth glared at him, her composure cracking. “I don’t have to justify myself to you.”

“Maybe not,” Lucian said hotly. “But if I find out that you’ve been withholding resources or sabotaging this search in any way, you... Will regret it. A lot.”

Without waiting for their response, he moved to the table, his sharp gaze scanning the map and scrawls. “Where was she last seen?”

Ferdinand pointed with a finger, the other busy lighting a cigar he had pulled from somewhere. “Here. Groceries. And before that, Foxlane street.”

Lucian traced the lines between the marks, muttering under his breath. “Have you tracked her credit card?” 

"Yes, but that just led us to a dead end. She most likely swapped it with someone else's so we're getting wrong readings."

Lucian nodded coldly and pulled out his phone. “I’m taking over. You’ve wasted enough time.”

Lisbeth opened her mouth to argue, but Ferdinand stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Let him,” he said quietly. Lisbeth gritted her teeth and let up begrudgingly. 

The tension in the room was palpable as Lucian turned and began contacting his personal team of informants and trackers. 

Within minutes, he had mobilized a network of resources far beyond what Ferdinand and Lisbeth had been able to pull together.

Watching him work, Ferdinand and Lisbeth exchanged uneasy glances. There was no denying Lucian’s intensity - or his growing mistrust of them, and it put their whole plan in jeopardy. 

“I want every exit route from the city on lockdown and a city- wide search. Focus on rural areas—cabins, empty properties, anything out of the way. I want every car matching her rental’s description flagged immediately.”

Ferdinand watched, vaguely uneasy with the intensity of Lucian's actions. “You’re really invested in this, aren’t you?”

He had pulled off a dozen plus schemes and scams but none with someone of the stature of the Director of the Consortium as the sucker. 

That was scary already in and of itself but the intensity of his emotions - the sheer seriousness in his features - told Ferdinand that he may be making a rather persistent enemy of the Director. Not an enemy he would like to have. 

Lucian finished his last call, slipping the phone into his pocket before turning to Ferdinand. His gaze was cool but threatening. “You have no idea.”