Chapter 16 - The Boys Go MissingIt happened in ninety seconds.
That was the number Elena would hate forever.
Ninety seconds between Rafa asking for apple juice and the hallway alarm turning red.
Ninety seconds between Nico walking beside a nurse toward the playroom and the elevator doors closing with the wrong man inside.
Ninety seconds between safety and nightmare.
The man was not armed.
That made it worse.
He wore hospital scrubs, an ID badge, and the tired expression of staff everyone stopped noticing after a long week. Cameras later showed him kneeling near Nico, pointing to Mr. Buttons on the floor.
Rafa followed because Rafa followed Nico.
The elevator opened.
The man smiled.
The boys stepped inside.
Doors closed.
By the time the real nurse turned around, they were gone.
Elena’s scream brought Dominic out of a legal call so fast he nearly threw himself from the chair.
“What?”
“The boys,” Marcus said, already moving. “East elevator.”
Dominic’s world narrowed.
“Lock down every exit.”
“Done.”
“Stairwells.”
“Done.”
“Garage.”
“Two men there.”
Elena grabbed his jacket.
“Find them.”
Her face was beyond fear.
Dominic covered her hand with his.
“I will.”
“No,” she whispered. “You have to.”
He turned to Marcus.
“Live cameras.”
They reached the security room in under a minute.
The screen showed the elevator descending.
Fourth floor.
Third.
Second.
Then it stopped.
Not at the lobby.
Basement service level.
Marcus swore.
Dominic’s voice was ice.
“Camera.”
The service hallway appeared.
Empty.
Then the man in scrubs emerged, holding Rafa against his side, gripping Nico by the wrist.
Nico was not crying.
He was watching.
Smart boy, Dominic thought through terror.
Watch everything.
Rafa’s mouth was open in a silent sob.
Elena made a broken sound.
The man moved toward the laundry exit.
A black van waited outside.
Dominic saw the raven tattoo at the man’s wrist.
Victor’s people.
Even from a holding cell, Victor’s reach remained.
“Marcus,” Dominic said.
“Already moving.”
But Elena was faster.
She ran.
Dominic followed, chair speeding down the hall, alarms flashing around him.
The service corridor was too narrow. Too many corners. Too many doors.
He hated the chair then with a violence that tasted like blood.
At the basement level, Marcus’s men collided with the kidnapper near the laundry exit.
The man dropped Nico.
Nico hit the floor and rolled under a cart.
Rafa screamed.
The kidnapper pulled a knife.
Everything slowed.
Dominic turned the corner at the exact moment Marcus raised his gun.
“No!” Elena screamed.
Rafa was too close.
The kidnapper backed toward the van, knife at Rafa’s side.
Dominic’s voice cut through the chaos.
“Look at me.”
The man’s eyes flicked to him.
Dominic rolled forward.
“Take me.”
Marcus hissed, “Dominic.”
The man laughed nervously.
“What?”
“You need leverage. I am worth more.”
Elena stared at him in horror.
Dominic kept moving.
“My uncle cannot use a dead child. He can use me.”
The kidnapper’s grip shifted.
Rafa sobbed, “Mommy.”
Dominic forced himself not to look at Elena.
“Let the boy go. Take me to Victor’s people. You get paid twice.”
The man hesitated.
Nico moved under the cart.
Dominic saw him.
So did Elena.
Nico pushed Mr. Buttons across the floor.
The rabbit slid behind the kidnapper’s foot.
The man stepped back.
His heel caught.
He stumbled.
Marcus moved.
Elena lunged and ripped Rafa from his arms as security slammed the man into the wall.
The knife clattered across the floor.
Rafa screamed into Elena’s shoulder.
Nico crawled out from under the cart, shaking but silent.
Dominic reached him first.
Not because his chair was fast.
Because Nico ran to him.
The boy collided with Dominic’s chest, tiny fists clutching his shirt.
Dominic froze for half a heartbeat, then wrapped both arms around him.
“I saw everything,” Nico whispered.
Dominic closed his eyes.
“I know. You did good. You did so good.”
Elena sank to the floor with Rafa, sobbing into his hair.
Marcus stood over the restrained man, breathing hard.
Dominic looked at him.
“Alive.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
Dominic repeated, “Alive.”
Walsh needed testimony.
The court needed proof.
Elena needed him clean.
His sons needed him not to become the thing chasing them.
The man was taken alive.
That night, both boys slept in Elena’s bed, one tucked on each side of her. Dominic sat in the doorway until morning.
At 4:06 a.m., Nico woke.
“Dominic?”
“Yes.”
“Were you scared?”
Dominic looked at Elena asleep between their sons, tear tracks still visible on her face.
“Yes.”
“Me too.”
“I know.”
Nico was quiet.
Then he whispered, “You can be Daddy sometimes.”
Dominic stopped breathing.
Nico’s eyes closed again.
May you like
The room remained still.
Dominic lowered his head and wept without sound.
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