AN OMEGA'S CYCLE: TRAPPED IN HEAT WITH MY FOUR STEPBROTHERS.

ADRIAN’S POV

The moment our cars stopped in front of the warehouse, Elijah was already reaching for the door before the driver had properly come to a halt.

The two special-forces officers were waiting outside, standing beside their vehicle and watching the building quietly and that immediately told me they had already assessed the place before we arrived.

Cassian got out behind Elijah, followed by me and Roman, and everyone looked somewhat relieved.

We’d spent hours chasing locations, tracing numbers and trying to piece together whatever Jayden had left behind, and now the building was directly in front of us.

Elijah barely gave the officers time to speak before demanding to know where Nicholas was, but one of them stepped forward and stopped him, explaining that they’d already searched the building and hadn’t found anyone inside.

Elijah stared at him as though he’d misunderstood. "What do you mean nobody is inside? This is the location we traced. You said this was where the phone was last active, so how can there be nobody here?" His voice was strained as he moved toward the entrance, and the officer tried to explain that the building appeared to have been abandoned recently, but Elijah was already pushing through the doorway.

"Then search it again," he demanded, moving farther inside while the rest of us followed. "Check every room, every storage area and every possible exit. Nicholas was here. I know he was here."

Cassian caught up with him and tried to slow him down, but Elijah was already moving through the warehouse, opening doors and looking behind equipment as though Nicholas might somehow be hidden in one of the rooms.

I followed closely behind, checking every area I could reach while Roman searched the opposite side of the building.

The place was empty. There was no Nicholas, no Jayden and no sign that anyone was currently occupying it, but there were enough traces of recent activity to make it obvious that we hadn’t come to the wrong place.

When the officers returned and confirmed that they’d found nothing, Elijah looked like he was about to lose control. "Then they can’t have gone far," he said, turning toward them. "He couldn’t have disappeared from here without leaving something behind. Find them. Check the surrounding roads, the buildings nearby and every vehicle that left this area. I don’t care how long it takes. Just find him."

The officers nodded and immediately moved out with the information they’d gathered, leaving us inside the warehouse.

I watched Elijah walk toward the entrance, clearly intending to follow them, but Cassian caught his arm before he could leave. "Let them search," he told him, keeping his voice firm. "If Jayden moved Nicholas, running around without knowing where you’re going won’t help." Elijah pulled his arm away, but he didn’t argue further.

I stepped away and called our father who had decided to stay home with Nicholas mum finally and he answered after a few rings.

"We’re at the location," I told him, looking around the warehouse as I spoke. "The officers got here before us, but Nicholas isn’t here. Jayden isn’t here either. It looks like they left before we arrived."

There was silence on the other end and I waited.

Dad eventually sighed, and I couldn’t tell whether it was relief that we’d reached the location safely or frustration because we’d arrived too late. I explained that the officers were searching the surrounding area and that we’d continue looking for evidence inside the building. He asked me to keep him updated, and I promised I would before ending the call.

I put my phone away and walked farther into the warehouse when something caught my attention.

There was a door at the back that hadn’t been opened yet and I pushed it aside and stepped through.

The room beyond it made me stop.

Weapons.

There were crates and storage areas filled with them, arranged so carefully that made me know this was a weapon house. I called the others, and Cassian and Roman came over. Elijah followed a few seconds later, his expression changing as soon as he saw what was inside.

Nobody spoke for a moment.

Cassian looked around slowly. "This isn’t just a place where Jayden was keeping Nicholas."

"No," I said, staring at the room. "This is something else. It had another function."

Elijah walked farther inside, looking at everything with disbelief. "How did we not know about this?"

"Who would have guessed he wasn’t a bastard acting solo?" Roman answered, examining the storage areas without touching anything. "We thought Jayden was acting alone."

Cassian shook his head. "Whatever he’s involved in, it’s not looking good"

That realization seemed to make Elijah even more restless. He immediately turned toward the entrance. "I’m going to look for him."

Cassian followed. "You’re not going alone."

They left before I could say anything else.

I called the security officials and told them about what we’d found, requesting that they come immediately to secure the building and document everything inside.

We couldn’t simply leave a room filled with weapons unattended, and there was no telling what other evidence might be hidden somewhere in the warehouse.

While I waited, I remained inside and went through the building with Roman, making sure we didn’t disturb anything that could help the investigation.

The security team eventually arrived and began securing the room.

I stayed with them as they worked, answering questions and pointing out what we’d already found. My phone kept vibrating with messages from the officers searching the surrounding area, but nothing useful had come through yet. Every update seemed to say the same thing: no sign of Nicholas.

I called Cassian. "Where are you?"

"We’re still searching." He replied.

"Bring Elijah back."

There was a pause. "He’s refusing."

I groaned. "I know. Bring him back anyway."

Another silence followed before Cassian finally answered. "I’ll handle it."

It took some time, but eventually I saw them returning through the entrance.

Cassian was beside Elijah, and the moment I saw him, my heart ached.

Elijah wasn’t arguing anymore. He wasn’t demanding anything from the officers or asking where they had searched. He wasn’t even looking around. He was crying.

His face was wet, his eyes were red and he looked completely lost as he walked toward us. Cassian stayed close beside him, but Elijah barely seemed aware of anyone around him.

I moved toward him immediately. "Elijah."

He didn’t respond.

I put my arms around him and held him tightly, letting him stand there without forcing him to speak. After everything that had happened, I knew there wasn’t much I could say that would suddenly make this easier, but I couldn’t let him stand there alone with whatever was running through his head.

"It’s not your fault," I told him quietly, keeping one hand against his back. "You called Nicholas. You tried to help him. We followed the lead as quickly as we could. None of us knew Jayden would move him before we arrived."

Elijah finally spoke, his voice barely audible. "We were too late."

I tightened my hold on him. "We’re not finished. Don’t say that."

He shook his head. "He was here. We were so close."

I didn’t answer immediately because I didn’t have anything that could make the situation less painful. I had been trying not to think about what Nicholas might have experienced in that warehouse, but now that we’d seen the room beneath it, the thought was impossible to ignore.

Jayden had to have been torturing Nicholas.

I looked toward the secured room.

Whatever had happened here, we had missed it. And we had missed Nicholas too.

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