<b>Chapter </b>164
<b>Chapter </b><b>164 </b>
Sutton burst into the house not long after the call from Prince Alexei’s people. Luca was right behind her but nothing was going <b>to </b><b>slow </b>Sutton down. They’d never grown up with the worry of kidnapping hanging over their heads, but with theirbined wealth <b>with </b>their husbands, the threat had be terrifyingly real. The fear in Sutton’s eyes told ir everything she needed to know<b>, </b>this was <b>a </b><b>nightmare </b>they’d never prepared for.
was
ir could see they had dressed in a hurry. Her sister’s face w
they both draw strength from each other.
pale, eyes wide with barely controlled panic. She hugged her sister tight <b>as </b>
“Where’s Miles?” The first words out of ir mouth, her voice tight wi
worry.
“The nanny is earning her pay today.” Sutton had a nanny but she hated leaving Miles with her for any reason. ir could see the guilt warring with the need to be here for Keira.
“Show me everything,” Her sister demanded, her voice cracking slightly.
ir handed over her phone, her own fingers trembling. Sutton studied the photo and text message, her expression hardening from worry to something harder, more focused. “The phone number isn’t encrypted. That tells me it’s most likely a burner which isn’t traceable.”
Luca grunted because Sutton had used a burner while she had modeled as Audrey when Luca had first met her. When she disappeared, it had
made it impossible for him to track her down. Only fate had stepped in the way for them both<b>, </b>bringing them back together.
“They think they’re dealing with amateurs,” she muttered, a dangerous edge to her voice. “Big mistake. I’m going to see what I can find out
about the photo they sent. I’m just hoping they don’t have anyone tech savvy on their team. I need my equipment.”
“I’ll get it,” Luca said before heading out to their car to get Sutton’sputer. Luca was the business mind but Sutton was the brains when it
came toputers and tech. Luca was back in less than a few minutes.
“The Wystovian security team is on their way,” Roman informed them, his jaw tight with tension. “And my team is already mobilizing.”
Luca asked Roman, “Have you contacted all airports and ports to make sure they can’t get them out of the country?”
Roman looked shocked that was even a possibility. ir felt her stomach drop at the thought, Keira taken overseas would mean their chances of finding her would plummet. “I was worried about how much we could do without tipping off the police.”
Luca pulled out his phone, his voice hard with purpose. “I can get the ports covered due to my father’s business connections. Can you arrange having people at any small airstrips in the state? It’s doubtful they will move them through arge airport but the smaller ones.”
Roman nodded, getting his phone out. “Peters, I have a job for you…” He moved off into another room while Luca arranged to have the ports
covered, his voice low and urgent.
Sutton looked at ir, holding up theptopputer Luca had handed her. Her eyes reflected fear that was mirrored in ir’s eyes. Roman’s office okay for me to set up?”
<b>“</b><b>IS </b>
“God yes. While the men do their part and you do yours, what do you want me to do?” They moved quickly into Roman’s office and Sutton set herputer up in the middle of Roman’s desk, her fingers already twitching to get started.
“Pass me your phone.”
ir handed it over, feeling utterly helpless as Sutton quickly connected it to theptop.
Within an hour, Roman’s office wasn’t big enough to be transformed into an operations center. So everyone moved <b>into </b><b>the </b>living <b>room </b><b>using </b>the long dining table, the space now humming with controlled urgency.
<b>1/3 </b>
Roman’s the security team Peters had arranged four men and two women had arrived and set <b>up </b><bmunications </b><b>equipment </b><b>in </b><b>the </b>dining <b>room</b><b>, </b>their faces grim and professional. They asked a hundred questions.
<b>When </b>the Wystovian team arrived, led by a man named Mitchell, he briefed everyone on what had happened the <b>night </b><b>before</b>, <b>his </b><b>clipped </b>tones betraying no emotion.
“We did look into Keira to make sure she wasn’t involved.”
“Involved?” Sutton questioned, her voice rising sharply. “What do you mean involved? If you are suggesting for one minute <b>our </b>sister had anything to do with your prince getting kidnapped, I swear to God you can get out and we will find them on our own.” The fury in her voice made everyone in the room tense.
“Prince Alexei and Miss Warner arguedst night and against policy, the prince sent his personal guard away, leaving him unprotected. <b>We </b>needed to make sure Miss Warner wasn’t involved with the kidnappers.”
Sutton stood so abruptly her chair nearly toppled, and Luca grabbed her arm, stopping her from advancing on Mitchell. Sutton red <b>at </b><b>her </b>husband, her eyes zing. “You can let me go. I’m not going to kill him… yet.” Luca didn’t look so sure but let her go, staying close <b>enough </b><b>to </b>intervene if needed.
“You have to understand money is a strong motivator,” Mitchell continued, seemingly oblivious to the danger he was in.
“So what–you went diving into our sister’s financials? Was that the real reason we weren’t contacted?” ir demanded, her own anger boiling over. The thought of them investigating Keira while she was in danger made her sick.
Mitchell had the decency to look ufortable. “We had to rule out all possibilities. Your sister was observed having a heated argument with the prince shortly before they both disappeared. Protocol dictated we investigate all angles.”
“And what did your investigation reveal?” Roman asked, his voice dangerously calm, though ir could see the white–knuckled grip he had on the back of a chair.
“That Ms. Warner is clearly a victim, not an aplice,” Mitchell admitted. “Her financial records show no suspicious activity, and her background check came back clean.”
“I could have told you that,” ir snapped, protectively cradling her baby bump. “Instead of wasting valuable time that could have been spent looking for them.”
Sutton was already back at herputer, fingers flying across the keyboard, channeling her rage into action. “While we waited for you jokers to turn up, I ran the photo they sent us though some software. The image embedded metadata that wasn’t properly scrubbed. Amateurs.” She nced up, a fierce gleam in her eye. “The image was taken with an iPhone 13, and..she zoomed in on a portion of the background,
“there. Now what is that?”
Luca leaned over her shoulder, his face inches from the screen. “What are you seeing?”
“A window behind Keira. And through that window…” Sutton enhanced the image further with her software, her breath catching, <b>“</b>…It looks like a crane of sorts…”
“That’s a gantry crane. That narrows it down,” Luca said, moving to a map one of Roman’s security team had spread across the table. <b>“</b><b>Gantry </b>cranes are used to load shipping containers. They are only found at ports. There isn’t enough detail to figure out thepany <b>the </b>crane belongs to.”
“The eastern harbor has the highest concentration of abandoned warehouses,” Mitchell added, seemingly eager to be helpful <b>after </b><b>the </b>tension. “If they wanted istion<b>, </b>that’s where they’d go.”
“Have any more messagese through?” ir asked, looking at both Sutton and Mitchell<b>, </b>her heart pounding <b>with </b><b>dread </b><b>and </b><b>hope</b>.
<b>“</b>The King is working to negotiate payment if needed,” Mitchell said, not quite meeting <b>her </b>eyes.
15.10 Tue, 12 Aug ora
<b>They </b><b>didn’t </b><b>tell </b>them if it included Keira or not. The omission hung in the air like a threat.
<b>Sutton </b>picked up ir’s phone and checked, her shoulders sagging slightly. “Nothing. Why are they taking so long<b>? </b><b>They </b><b>said </b><b>they </b>would be <b>in </b><b>contact </b>with instructions<b>.</b><b>” </b>
Roman answered, his voice grim. “They could be waiting on payment for Prince Alexei first or waiting to contact us to increase our <b>panic</b>”
“Well, it’s working,” ir grumbled, her hand instinctively moving to her stomach again.
The doorbell went. Everyone looked around, tension instantly crackling in the air. “Are we waiting on anyone else?” Sutton <b>asked</b><b>, </b><b>reaching </b>for Luca’s hand as he moved to her side.
ir and Roman shook their heads and moved toward their front door, Roman positioning himself slightly in front of his pregnant <b>wife</b>. <b>Upon </b>opening the door, there was a huge bunch of red roses. ir was guessing around three dozen. The delivery person waspletely <b>hidden </b>behind the huge bouquet. “Where do you want them?” came a muffled voice.
She didn’t want them, they may be lovely but right now her only concern was her sister’s life. ir and Roman stepped back, letting <b>the </b>delivery guy in the door. The man instantly shut the door and dropped the flowers.
Standing in front of them was FBI Agent Rogers who they had met when ir had faked her funeral.
“I would like to know why I wasn’t invited to the party,” were the first words out of his mouth as they stood there, shocked and dismayed <b>that </b>he should turn up now.
AD
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