Chapter 269

Emilia was still sitting at the table.

Every time someone entered the room, she looked up. Every time a phone rang, she reached for hers.

Christian understood the desperation.

He hated that he understood it.

"Sir," the security chief said, ending his call. "We have a more precise reading on Miss Benneth’s phone."

Christian turned immediately.

"Still offshore. The signal is moving east, then turning south. We believe it’s aboard a vessel travelling away from the coastal routes."

"Can you identify it?"

"Not yet. We have three possible vessels in the area, but the signal alone isn’t enough to establish which one."

"Then what do you need?"

"Another reading. Or confirmation from the port authorities."

"Get both."

"Already requested."

Christian looked towards the map.

A small marker pulsed over the water.

He hated how little it told him.

The security chief nodded and moved back to his station. At the other end of the room, Adrian ended his call.

He approached them with his phone in hand.

"We have a likely location for Selena."

Emilia was on her feet before he finished speaking. "Where?"

Adrian looked at Christian first, then back at her.

"The signal from her phone has settled. It’s on land, at an address a few kilometres outside the city."

"Is she there?"

"We don’t know."

"Then we go there."

"We will," Adrian said. "But we need to approach carefully."

"Carefully?" Emilia repeated. Her voice was quiet, but the fear beneath it made the word sound almost like an accusation. "My mother has been missing for six hours. My Dad was at her apartment, and there were signs of struggle in the apartment. Her phone is now at an address none of us recognize. What exactly are we waiting for?"

"Nothing," Adrian replied. "I’m arranging a team now."

Emilia looked at the map.

Her mother was somewhere on land. Kylie was somewhere on the water.

The distance between them might as well have been the distance between two different worlds.

She pressed her hand to her mouth.

"Kylie doesn’t even know what’s happening."

Christian’s gaze moved towards Emilia. He couldn’t stop imagining her waking up alone.

He closed his eyes for one brief moment.

When he opened them, Emilia was staring at her phone.

Her expression had changed.

"Emilia?"

She didn’t answer.

Adrian stepped towards her. "What is it?"

Her phone vibrated again.

She looked down at the screen.

It was a message from an unknown number.

For several seconds, she simply stared at it, as though she could make the words change by refusing to read them.

Then she opened it.

The message was short.

Unknown Number: Come with the necklace I gave you when you were seven. Come alone. Mum is with me. I’m still your dad. I’m not going to hurt you.

Beneath it was an address.

Emilia stopped breathing.

The room seemed to fall away around her.

She read the message again, and then a third time. Her fingers tightened around the phone until the edges pressed into her palm.

Adrian noticed immediately.

"Emilia."

She lifted her eyes to him.

For one second, she looked as though she didn’t recognize him. Then she turned the phone towards him.

He read the message.

His expression changed.

Adrian rarely gave people the satisfaction of watching him react. But the softness left his eyes, and his jaw tightened.

Christian stepped closer. "What is it?"

Adrian passed him the phone.

Christian read the message. Then he looked at the address. His entire body went still.

"I know this place."

Emilia turned to him sharply.

"This is the address we traced your mother’s phone to."

The words landed with terrible finality.

Emilia looked back at the message.

The address beneath it was the same one. The same place. The same location where Selena’s phone had been transmitting from.

Her mother was there. Or her phone was. And Dante wanted Emilia to come alone. With the necklace.

The necklace he’d given her when she was seven years old.

She remembered it suddenly, with a clarity that made her stomach twist.

A small pendant.

A chain that had been too long for her neck, so her mother had fastened it with a little clasp at the back. Dante had placed it in her palm and told her it was something special.

She had been seven.

Old enough to remember the smile he wore when he gave it to her. Young enough to believe it meant he loved her.

For years, she had kept it.

"He’s telling me Mum is with him."

"He’s telling you what he wants you to believe."

Emilia shook her head. "He wouldn’t send me this if he didn’t want me to come."

Adrian’s expression hardened.

"That doesn’t mean your mother is there."

She looked at him.

For a moment, something wounded passed across her face. "I know that."

"I need you to understand that he could be using her to get to you."

"I know."

"Emilia—"

"I said I know."

Her voice broke on the last word.

The room went quiet.

She looked down at her phone again, blinking rapidly.

"I know he could be lying. I know this could be a trap. I know every word he says could be another lie." She swallowed. "But what if he’s telling the truth about her?"

Adrian didn’t answer immediately.

Because that was the question neither of them could afford to ignore.

What if Selena was there? What if refusing to go meant her mother paid for it?

Christian watched Emilia’s expression.

He knew that kind of trap. Not the specific circumstances, but the shape of it.

Give someone a choice between their own safety and the safety of someone they love, then make them feel responsible for whatever happens next.

It was how control worked.

It was how people like Dante kept their victims moving in the direction they wanted.

"Can we see the necklace he’s asking of?" Christian asked.

"It a normal necklace. With a B initial." Emilia looked at him. "He wants it badly enough to tell you exactly where to bring it. That means it’s important to him."

Christian studied her. "Emilia."

She looked away.

"I don’t know why he gave it to me. I don’t know why he wants it now. I don’t know what he thinks it contains or what he believes it can do." She took a breath. "I just know that he wants me to bring it."

Adrian stepped closer to her.

Emilia blinked, and bite her lower lip, she seemed to be fighting the urge to cry.

Then her phone vibrated again.

Everyone looked at it.

Unknown number: You have one hour. Don’t bring Adrian. Don’t bring Christian. Don’t bring the police. Bring the necklace, and your mother walks out with you.

Emilia’s face drained of colour.

Christian took the phone from her before she could read it again. His eyes moved over the words.

One hour.

Dante was setting a deadline. Which meant he believed he had the advantage. Or wanted them to think he did.

Christian looked at Adrian. "We need to move."

Adrian nodded.

Emilia pulled her hand free. "No."

Both men turned towards her.

She stood beside the table, her phone still in Christian’s hand, her eyes fixed on the message.

"No," she repeated, more firmly. "Adrian can go to my mum. I want to go to Kylie. I need to see Kylie."

Adrian’s expression softened. "Kylie would be fine. You’ll give me the necklace, and stay here."

Emilia drew in a shaky breath.

"I know what he is. I know what he’s capable of. And I know that if I go alone, I might not come back." She looked from Adrian to Christian. "But I am not going to sit here while my sister is possibly being held somewhere by faces she doesn’t know. She might habe no chnce of survival. She’s on the sea. My dad might not even hurt my mum but I can’t say the same for Kylie."

"Emilia—"

"I need to see her."

The words were quiet, and unwavering. "I need to know she’s alive."

Adrian looked at her for a long moment. Then he nodded once. "All right."

Christian turned sharply towards him. "Adrian."

"We are not sending her in alone," Adrian said. "But we are not going to pretend she has no say in what happens next."

Emilia’s eyes shone.

She looked down quickly, trying to regain control.

Adrian stepped closer.

"We’ll get your mother. We’ll find out what Dante wants with that necklace. And we’ll do it without giving him everything he’s asking for."

"How?"

"We plan."

He squeezed her hand.

"We don’t rush into the address because he gave us an hour. We don’t let him choose the ground, the timing, and the terms without understanding what he’s trying to achieve."

Christian looked at the address again. "We can have a team there in minutes."

"Then get them there," Adrian said. "Quietly. I want the building identified, every exit covered, and the surrounding streets monitored. No one approaches the property until we know who’s inside."

Christian was already moving. He handed Emilia’s phone back to her.

"Forward the message to my team. Don’t reply yet."

She did as he asked.

Adrian turned towards the security chief.

"Get me everything on the property. Ownership, access points, neighbouring buildings, anything that tells us what we’re walking into."

The man nodded and began issuing instructions.

Within seconds, the room was moving again.