Rhys
"What do you mean you watched them take him?!" I screamed, the sound tearing through the quiet living room of the penthouse like a siren.
My chest was heaving so hard it felt like my ribs were going to crack, my brain entirely refusing to process the words coming out of my bodyguard’s mouth. There was no way. No damn way.
After everything we had gone through? After hiding from every shade of our family history, surviving the political press, and fighting off every threat to build a safe life for ourselves—how the hell did someone just walk up and snatch Kayden out of broad daylight?!
I let out a harsh, jagged breath, shoving both hands through my hair and gripping the curls until my scalp stung. "I specifically told you, Simon! I told you to keep your eyes on him, to stand right behind him, and to not let him out of your sight for a single second! You had one job!"
I yanked my phone out of my pocket for the twentieth time, furiously tapping Kayden’s contact.
I placed the device against my ear, listening to the agonizingly quiet silence before the automated voice cut in again: The number you are trying to reach is currently unavailable—
"Fuck!" I growled, hurling the phone onto the plush sofa.
I began pacing the living room like a caged animal, my teeth digging so hard into my bottom lip that the sharp taste of copper flooded my tongue.
My mind was spinning at a million miles an hour, spiraling into a terrifying abyss.
Where was Kayden right now? Was he terrified? Was he hurt? Was the stress affecting the baby?
"You’re telling me Soren kidnapped him?" I demanded, whipping around to glare at Simon, my voice shaking with raw, dangerous tension.
Simon swallowed hard, bowing his head in pure regret. "It’s why they were able to get close, Boss. It happened in the service corridor behind the restaurant. It was so fast... Soren led him toward the back exit, and before I could push past the door, two men jammed it shut and a van pulled up. I swear to you, I tried to fight through, but—"
I raised a sharp hand, cutting him off mid-sentence. "Stop. I don’t care about excuses right now, Simon."
I closed my eyes, taking a deep, shuddering breath as I tried to force my brain to analyze the situation logically instead of collapsing into sheer panic.
Who the hell took him?
My mind immediately raced through every potential threat.
Was it my grandfather? No. As ruthless as the old man could be, he wouldn’t orchestrate a cheap street abduction, especially not when he knew the child Kayden was carrying Calder blood.
Was it my father, Richard? Unlikely—he was far too wrapped up in his own corporate damage control to risk a kidnapping charge.
What about Damien Fernandez? No, Damien wasn’t some psycho ex lurking in the shadows waiting for revenge.
And every other rival or enemy Kayden and I had ever accumulated over our athletic careers were either ruined, legally bound, or completely out of the picture.
Which brought me back to the one name that made zero sense: Soren.
Soren? Kayden’s close friend? The guy who literally just won an Olympic medal? The guy who Kayden helped during his dark times?
Had we been completely blind this whole time? Had Soren been hiding some dark, twisted grudge under his golden-boy athlete persona, waiting for the exact right moment to strike right before our wedding?
The thought made my blood run ice-cold. If we had trusted an enemy with Kayden’s safety, I would never, ever forgive myself.
My eyes snapped open.
I grabbed my phone off the couch and immediately pulled up my contacts, dialing Miller’s number.
As I waited for the line to connect, I turned to Simon, my voice dropping into a low, murderous tone. "Pull up every piece of CCTV surveillance around that restaurant right now. Contact our private security team and have them scan every traffic camera within a five-mile radius. If you don’t find that van in the next ten minutes, Simon, I swear to God you won’t have a job to come back to."
"On it right now, sir!" Simon said, quickly turning on his heel and rushing out of the penthouse.
The phone rang... and rang... and rang.
My heart was hammering against my chest so violently I could barely catch my breath. Pressing my palm flat against my sternum, I dialed again. And again. On the fourth try, the line finally picked up.
"Hello? Miller!" I shouted into the mic, my voice practically breaking with anxiety.
A long, slow yawn echoed through the speaker. "Why the hell are you yelling, Rhys? You literally just ruined my power nap."
"Kayden is missing, Miller!"
There was a brief pause on the line. "Wait, what? What do you mean missing? Is he about to give birth? Isn’t the baby only like a few months old? Do babies come out that early? Is this a medical emergency?!"
I let out an exhausted, agonizing groan, slapping my hand over my forehead. In literally any other situation, I might have found Miller’s complete lack of medical awareness slightly funny, but right now, I was on the absolute brink of a breakdown.
"Miller, shut up!" I snapped, my voice laced with desperate panic. "He was taken! Someone ambushed him at a restaurant! I think he was fucking kidnapped!"
"Oh," Miller said simply.
"Oh?!" I roared into the receiver. "’Oh’ is your response to my pregnant fiancé getting stolen off the street?! Are you out of your mind, Miller?!"
"Hey, calm down, man!" Miller said defensively. "I’m just processing! What happened? Where were you?"
"I wasn’t with him!" I yelled, tears of frustration stinging the corners of my eyes as I squeezed my nose bridge. "I let him go alone because he wanted a ’friendship date’ with Soren! I should have followed him, Miller! I should have sat at the table right next to him! I knew I shouldn’t have let him leave the penthouse without me! If anything happens to him or the baby, I’m going to burn this entire city to the ground, I swear to God—"
"Rhys, take a breath before you pass out," Miller cut in, his tone finally shifting into something serious. "Tell me what you need."
I took a shaky breath, running a hand over my face. "I need Rio’s number. Soren’s boyfriend. Soren is the one who brought Kayden to that back corridor before the van pulled up. I need to figure out if Rio knows what the hell his partner is doing."
"Alright, give me two seconds, I’ll text it to you right now," Miller said. "And stay right there. I’m getting in my car and coming to your place now."
Ten seconds later, my phone buzzed with Rio’s contact card. I didn’t even hesitate before pressing call.
Rio picked up on the second ring. "Hey, Rhys? Is everything okay for the rehearsal tonight—"
"Where the fuck is Soren?!" I barked, cutting him off completely.
Rio sounded taken aback. "Uh, what? I don’t know, man. He went to grab lunch with Kayden. I tried calling him twenty minutes ago to ask about the hotel check-in, but he didn’t answer. Why? What’s going on?"
"Soren just helped kidnap Kayden!" I accused, my voice booming through the apartment. "He ambushed him behind the restaurant and shoved him into a black van!"
"What? Are you insane?!" Rio yelled back defensively. "Soren would never do something like that! Kayden is his best friend! Are you sure you’re not mistaking what happened? Maybe Soren got taken too!"
"He walked him right into the trap, Rio!" I snarled, pacing across the room. "Does Soren have enemies? Is someone using him to get to us? Who the hell wants to hurt my family?!"
"No one!" Rio shouted back, sounding genuinely distressed now. "Soren’s family is annoying, but they’re not mobsters! They wouldn’t kidnap anyone! Rhys, I swear to you, Soren loves Kayden. There is no way in hell he would hurt him or help someone else do it!"
"Then where the hell are they!" I yelled into the phone, but before Rio could answer, a loud knock echoed at my front door.
I hung up on Rio without another word and sprinted to the door, pulling it open to find Miller standing there in a casual hoodie, his car keys dangling from his hand. At the exact same second, my phone buzzed with a text from Simon:
Simon:Boss, we tracked the license plate of the black van using the city transit cameras. The vehicle pulled into the underground parking bay at the Oak City Luxurious Hotel ten minutes ago.
"They took him to the Oak City Hotel," I said, my eyes snapping up to Miller. "We’re going. Right now."
"Alright, let’s go," Miller said, turning back toward the door.
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