CHAPTER TWO-ADRIAN’S POV
1023 Words
The moment I saw the photo, something inside me went still.
It was the kind of silence that happens before something breaks.
I leaned back in my chair, the file opened on the desk in front of me. The office lights were dim, the city stretching out cold and distant beyond the glass walls. But none of that mattered.
My eyes were locked on the boy in front of me.
Noah, five years old with dark hair, sharp facial features and eyes that didn’t belong to him. They were mine.
I didn’t blink or move. I just stared, my jaw tightening slowly as the realization settled deep into my bones.
“Run it again,” I said, my voice low.
Across the desk, Carter didn’t hesitate. “It’s already been verified twice.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
A second passed. Then he nodded, reaching for his tablet. “The third confirmation will be ready in ten minutes.”
Good, because I didn’t deal in assumptions. I dealt with facts but I already knew the truth. I didn’t need the test to tell me what my instincts had already confirmed the second I looked at that boy.
Elena…..The name burned through my mind like acid.
For five years, and she thought she could disappear with something that belonged to me?
My fingers curled slowly against the armrest.
It was not just something. It was someone. A son. My son.
The energy in the room shifted, it was heavy with something dark and volatile. I stood abruptly, pacing once, twice, the tension coiling tighter with every step.
She hadn’t just left. She had taken him, kept him and hidden him.
The betrayal didn’t come as a shock. Elena had always been capable of deception—I had seen that clearly the night everything fell apart.
But this? This was something else entirely.
This was cruel.
I stopped at the window, staring down at the city without seeing it. My reflection stared back at me. I looked cold and calm, but my eyes gave it away.
It had pure rage in them.
A soft chime broke the silence.
Carter stepped forward. “The third result just came in.”
I turned slowly and he handed me the tablet.
I didn’t rush. I took it like it was nothing and it didn’t matter. But the second my eyes hit the screen, everything locked into place.
99.9% probability.
There was no room for doubt or denial anymore.
My grip tightened slightly on the tablet before I handed it back.
“Prepare the jet,” I said.
Carter didn’t ask questions. He never did. “Destination?”
I picked up the file again, flipping it closed with a sharp, final motion.
“Elena.”
That was all the answer he needed. He nodded once and turned to leave.
“Carter.”
He paused at the door.
“Start legal proceedings,” I added, my voice colder now. “Full custody claim and have it filed immediately.”
That made him stop for half a second. “On what grounds?”
I looked at him then, really looked at him, and whatever he saw on my face wiped the question clean from his expression.
“Kidnapping,” I said.
The word hung in the air, sharp and unforgiving because that was exactly what this was.
She had taken my son without my knowledge and consent. She had erased me from his life like I was nothing and I didn’t exist.
“Understood,” Carter said quietly before stepping out.
The door shut behind him with a soft click.
Silence returned but it wasn’t the same anymore. It was charged.
I moved back to the desk, picking up the photo again. This time, I studied it closer.
The boy was smiling. He looked carefree and unaware. There was no fear in his eyes and no sign that his world was anything but safe.
That would change soon.
My thumb brushed the edge of the paper, my gaze hardening.
“You should’ve told me,” I muttered under my breath.
But Elena had never been brave enough to face consequences.
She ran and hid and now she would pay for it.
A notification flashed across my phone. I picked it up. It was a message from the surveillance team.
Target located. Confirmed visual.
A second message followed almost immediately.
Contact initiated.
My lips curved slightly but it was not a smile but something colder.
So they’d found her. Good. Very good.
I didn’t respond. Everything was already in motion.
*****
Within minutes, I was walking through the private terminal, the night air sharp against my skin. The jet was already prepped, engines humming low and steady, waiting.
I climbed the steps without slowing down, stepping inside as the door sealed behind me. The interior was quiet and pristine. It was unlike the storm building in my chest.
I took my seat, loosening my cuff slightly as I exhaled once, slow and measured.
Five years. Five years of lies. Every memory of her twisted now, reshaped into something darker. Every word she had said. Every look and every moment.
It was all a lie.
My jaw tightened. She hadn’t just betrayed me. She had stolen from me. There was no forgiveness for that.
The engine roared louder as the jet began to move. I picked up my phone again, opening the file one last time.
Noah’s face stared back at me.
My son.
It was a strange word.
I tilted my head slightly, studying him like I would any acquisition, any asset, any piece of something that belonged to me. And that was the truth of it.
He was mine.
And always I take back what is mine.
The jet lifted off smoothly, the city lights falling away beneath us. I leaned back, my gaze dark as the clouds swallowed the last of the ground below.
“Elena,” I said quietly, her name tasting like something unfinished.
“You should’ve stayed hidden.”
Because now? Now I was coming for her and this time….I wasn’t leaving without my son.
- Writer
