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

ELIJAH’S POV

By the time we got back home, nobody had any idea what to do with themselves. The house was quiet, but tension was heavy in the air.

Our father was still at the hospital with Nicholas’s mother, the special forces had continued searching, and the rest of us had been left with nothing except our computers, our phones and the information we had already gathered.

I sat at the dining table with Adrian and Cassian while Roman worked from the other side, and for nearly an hour the only sounds in the room were the tapping of keyboards, the occasional vibration of a phone and the frustrated sighs that came whenever another search turned up nothing useful.

I had barely looked away from my screen when Adrian’s phone rang.

He picked it up immediately, glanced at the number and straightened in his chair. "It’s one of the officers," he said, putting the call on speaker as the rest of us turned toward him.

The officer explained that they had received additional footage from the area around the filling station and that he’d already forwarded it to Adrian’s phone. He wanted us to check it because there was something in the footage that might finally give us a lead. Adrian thanked him and ended the call, then opened the video immediately.

We gathered around him.

The footage showed the filling station from a distance, the camera positioned high enough to capture the entrance and part of the surrounding road. At first, there wasn’t anything particularly useful. Cars came and went, people moved around the station and attendants continued doing their jobs.

Then the footage reached the moment Nicholas escaped. I saw the car pull into the station, and my entire body stiffened when I recognized the vehicle. We watched as Jayden got out, leaving Nicholas inside. A few moments later, the driver’s door was still open and something moved inside the car.

Then Nicholas appeared. He stumbled out and started moving toward the rear of the station.

I leaned closer to the screen. "That’s him," I said, my voice dropping as I watched him run. "That’s Nicholas."

Nobody answered because we were all watching the same thing. Nicholas disappeared behind the building, and seconds later another person appeared from the same direction. We couldn’t see exactly what happened, but we watched enough to understand that Nicholas had been caught.

Then the footage showed Jayden returning and I clenched my hands. "Go back," I told Adrian.

He rewound the footage.

"Again." I grunted.

He played it again, slowing the section where Jayden’s car entered the station. This time, Cassian pointed toward the screen. "The plate."

We all stared.

The number was visible for only a few seconds, but it was enough.

Adrian immediately took a picture of the screen and began working. "I’ve got it."

I stood behind him, watching as he searched for information connected to the vehicle. Cassian joined him, and within minutes they had narrowed down where the car had last been detected. The location wasn’t in the middle of the city. It was farther out, in an isolated area surrounded by industrial buildings and unused roads, but it wasn’t far enough away for Jayden to have disappeared completely.

My heart started pounding. "Let’s go."

Cassian didn’t look up from the screen. "We’re not going anywhere yet."

I stared at him. "What?"

"We need a plan." He stared at me.

"There is a location."

"And that’s exactly why we need a plan," Cassian said, finally looking at me. "The last time we rushed into a place without knowing what was waiting for us, we arrived after Nicholas had already been moved. We aren’t repeating that."

My voice was filled with irritation. "We don’t have time to sit here planning."

Cassian didn’t budge. "We don’t know how many people are there."

"I don’t care."

Adrian turned toward me. "You should."

I pushed my chair back. "How many more times are we going to say that? How many times are we going to sit here discussing what we should do while Nicholas is somewhere with those people? We already know where the car is. We know Jayden is connected to it. What exactly are we waiting for?"

Roman closed his laptop and looked at me. "We’re waiting until we know what we’re walking into."

I laughed bitterly. "You know what? Maybe that’s the problem. Everyone keeps talking about what we’re going to do while Nicholas is the one suffering."

"Elijah," Adrian warned.

"No." I shook my head and looked at all three of them. "I’m tired of this. You kept the investigation away from me from the beginning. You investigated Jayden behind my back, you checked his phone, you followed him and you didn’t tell me because apparently you thought I couldn’t handle it. Then Nicholas disappeared and suddenly everyone wants to pretend we’re working together."

Cassian’s expression hardened. "We didn’t keep it from you because Nicholas meant nothing to us."

"Really?" I asked, staring at him. "Because sometimes that’s exactly what it feels like."

Adrian stood up. "Don’t say that."

"Why not?" I demanded.

He didn’t look away from me. "Because it’s not true."

"Then prove it."

The room went silent and I could see the anger spreading across their faces, but I couldn’t stop myself anymore.

"You all act like this is some problem we’re supposed to solve because it’s inconvenient. Nicholas is missing, he’s been hurt, he’s been poisoned and we’re still sitting here talking about strategy while every minute matters. Maybe you’d all be happier if he just disappeared permanently." My voice shook.

Cassian slammed his hand against the table. "Don’t you dare say that about us."

I stared at him. "You think I don’t know how you’ve been treating him?"

"You have no idea what you’re talking about," Roman said, rising from his chair.

"Then tell me what I’m supposed to think."

"You’ve been angry for so long that you’re turning everything into something it isn’t," Adrian said, stepping between us. "Nobody here wants Nicholas dead. Nobody is sitting around hoping we never find him. We’re trying to make sure that when we reach Jayden, we don’t lose him again."

I looked at him. "Then why are we still sitting here?"

"Because rushing into an unknown location could get Nicholas killed."

The words stopped me for a moment and I hated that he was making sense.

I hated even more that I couldn’t stand the thought of something happening to Nicholas while we were still deciding what to do.

Adrian continued, keeping his voice controlled despite the tension in the room. "We’re going to find him. But we need to do it properly. We’ve already lost the advantage once. We can’t throw away another lead because you’re desperate to get there first."

I shook my head. "I’m going."

Elijah—

"I’m going." I grabbed my keys from the table before anyone could stop me and headed toward the door.

Cassian followed. "Where exactly do you think you’re going?"

"To find him."

"You’re not going alone." He said.

I turned around. "Then come with me."

He hesitated. Right. Just as I thought. Without another word, I walked out and nobody followed.

I got into my car and drove.

It was already late, and the roads were quiet. I kept checking the location on my phone as I drove, following the route toward the place where Jayden’s car had been detected.

My hands were tight around the steering wheel, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that we had finally found something concrete.

We had a vehicle, we had a location. And I was going there.

I had barely gotten a few minutes away from the house when the car began making a strange sound.

I ignored it but the sound became louder. Then the car started slowing. "No." I pressed the accelerator.

Nothing.

The engine struggled before finally dying and I stared through the windshield. "You’ve got to be kidding me."

I tried starting it again but nothing happened. I hit the steering wheel with the heel of my hand. "Of course."

We had been using the car constantly for days, driving from the hospital to the house, from the house to the warehouse and back again. None of us had bothered to think about servicing it because we had been too focused on finding Nicholas.

Now, of all times, the car had decided to stop.

I looked at the location on my phone. I wasn’t far enough to walk so I got out and looked around.

There weren’t many vehicles on the road, but a delivery bike was parked near a shop farther ahead. The rider was standing beside it with a package in his hands, apparently making a delivery.

I didn’t think before I ran toward him. "Give me the bike."

The man looked at me in confusion. "What?"

"I need it." I was breathing heavily.

He stepped back. "Are you crazy?"

I grabbed the handlebars and pulled the bike toward me. "Sorry."

"Hey! What are you doing?" he yelled.

I climbed onto the bike and started the engine. The delivery man shouted after me, but I was already moving and I didn’t stop.

My phone was still showing the route ahead, and I kept my eyes fixed on the road as I accelerated toward the location.

I had to get there as fast as I could.

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