Ryan stood frozen, staring into the empty lab.
No shattered glass. No busted locks. No signs of forced entry. Just silence—and absence. Kai was gone. Disappeared like vapor.
His pulse thundered in his ears.
The boy couldn't have gotten far, could he?
The elevator hadn't moved since Ryan took it back down. There were no other exits except the security doors, which required biometric clearance. Kai didn't have access. Unless someone gave it to him.
Unless someone helped him.
Ryan stormed into the control room. The monitors flickered with static. Footage was gone—erased. Not just from the hallway, but the entire basement floor.
"Motherfucker," he muttered, slamming his fist on the desk.
Then he froze.
The door hadn't been forced. The footage hadn't been corrupted. It had been selectively wiped. Whoever broke in knew the system—intimately.
He turned to the intercom and barked orders.
"Lock down the mansion. Nobody leaves. Nobody enters. Check every hallway, every vent, every goddamn pipe."
"Yes, boss," a guard's voice replied through the static.
As the lockdown engaged, Ryan's mind whirled. Felix.
It had to be him. Who else had the resources, the knowledge of the lab layout, the access codes?
But why now?
Ryan's thoughts were interrupted when Trixie stumbled into the control room, holding a makeshift bandage to her arm.
"You okay?" he asked, not unkindly.
"I'll live," she winced. "But boss… that guy who came for the kid? He wasn't working alone. I saw someone with him. A woman. Blonde. Thin. Sharp eyes."
Ryan's blood ran cold.
He knew who that was.
Elira.
Felix's top enforcer. Merciless. Precise. She'd once slit a man's throat in a church just to make a point. If she was involved, this wasn't just about retrieving Kai. It was about sending a message.
Ryan grabbed his phone and dialed a secure number.
"Track Elira. She was here. I want eyes on every street camera within five miles. If the kid's with her, we have a serious fucking problem."
"Copy that."
As the call ended, Ryan took a breath and looked at the scorched security monitors. For the first time in a long time, he felt powerless. Not because someone outsmarted him.
But because he cared.
Kai wasn't just a project anymore. That boy had looked him in the eye—clear, calculating—and told Ryan the truth he didn't want to hear.
You need me.
And Ryan did. Not just for the deal with Felix. Not just for the drug's success. But for something else—something deeper. Kai was becoming more than an experiment. He was becoming human in a way Ryan hadn't expected. And now he was gone.
Suddenly, the phone on the desk buzzed.
Incoming message.
UNKNOWN NUMBER: "Nice lab. Too bad you can't keep track of your toys."
Attached was a photo.
Kai. Tied to a chair. A dimly lit warehouse behind him. Blood trailing from his temple. But his eyes—his eyes were alert. Angry. Calculating.
And unafraid.
Ryan stared at the screen. His grip tightened around the phone until his knuckles whitened.
He didn't realize Maria had entered the room until she touched his arm gently.
He flinched.
"Sorry," she said quietly. "Trixie told me what happened. Are you alright?"
Ryan didn't answer at first. His jaw was clenched so tight he could barely speak.
"I should've known," he muttered. "Felix wants to control the drug. And he thinks the kid is the key."
Maria looked at the photo on his phone. Her face went pale. "Is he… alive?"
"For now."
She didn't speak for a moment. Then, softly: "You care about him, don't you?"
Ryan hesitated. Then he nodded once.
"I promised him something," he said. "Freedom. A chance. And now he's back in a cage."
Maria sat beside him, placing her hand over his.
"Then let's go break the cage," she whispered.
He looked at her. For a second, all the anger in him settled. Replaced by something quieter. Not peace. Not forgiveness. But focus.
Determination.
Because if there was one thing Ryan knew—Felix just made the worst mistake of his life.
He didn't steal a project.
He stole from Ryan.
And Ryan always takes back what's his.