“No.”
The word didn’t sound like Lena’s.
It sounded thin. Distant. Like it belonged to someone else standing outside her body, watching everything collapse in slow motion.
Alex didn’t repeat it.
He didn’t say Noah’s name again.
He didn’t have to.
“He’s gone.”
The world narrowed to those two words.
Gone.
Not hurt. Not taken. Not found unconscious. Not—
Gone.
Lena felt her fingers go numb first. Then her legs.
“How?” she asked.
It came out steady.
Too steady.
Alex was already moving. His phone was back at his ear before the silence fully settled.
“Lock the gates,” he ordered. His voice was ice over steel. “Nobody leaves the estate. Not staff. Not security. Not drivers. Nobody.”
A pause.
Then quieter.
“If anyone resists, detain them.”
He ended the call without waiting for
