My Boss's Hidden Heir (Elara and Marcus) novel Chapter 186

hapter 186

Marcus’s POV

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The coordinates Dante sent led them to an industrial wasteland in Hunts Point that looked like it had been abandoned since the eighties. Crumbling warehouses with broken windows, streets lined with rusted chain- link fences, the kind of neighborhood where people minded their business and didn’t ask questions.

Perfect place to hide two stolen babies.

Marcus parked behind three police cruisers already on scene, their lights painting the buildings in rotating red and blue. Detective Rivera was talking to a group of uniformed officers near the entrance of what looked like the most decrepit warehouse on the block.

“Stay in the car,” Marcus said to Elara.

“Absolutely not.”

“El, we don’t know what we’re walking into….”

“Those are my children too. I’m not sitting in a car while you search for them without me, if anything we’d cover more grounds working together.”

Marcus looked at his wife and saw the same steel in her eyes that had made him fall in love with her in the first place. She was terrified but she wasn’t backing down.

“Fine. But you stay behind me.”

They got out and approached Detective Rivera who looked up from his conversation with an expression Marcus couldn’t read.

“Mr. and Mrs. Thorne. I need you to prepare yourselves. We’ve searched the building and there’s evidence someone was here recently, but…”

“But what?” Elara interrupted. “Are my children in there or not?”

“They’re not here right now. But we found baby items. Bottles, diapers, a blanket. Someone was definitely holding infants in this location within the last few hours.”

Marcus felt his knees go weak. Evidence his children had been here but weren’t anymore meant they’d been moved. Meant whoever took them was staying ahead of the investigation.

“Show me,” he said.

Detective Rivera led them into the warehouse. The interior was exactly as depressing as the exterior promised. Concrete floors stained with things Marcus didn’t want to identify, exposed pipes dripping water that formed murky puddles, the smell of mildew and decay overwhelming.

But in the corner, against the industrial wasteland, was a small area that had been set up like a makeshift nursery. Two car seats that looked exactly like the ones from Marcus’s vehicle. A pack of diapers, still mostly full. Two bottles with formula residue in the bottom.

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Chapter 186

And a pink blanket that Marcus recognized because his mother-in-law had brought it to the vow renewal to keep Catherine warm.

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Elara made a sound like something inside her had broken. She walked toward the blanket but Marcus caught her arm.

“Don’t touch anything. It’s evidence.”

“That’s Catherine’s blanket. She had it at the vow renewal. Which means they were here, Marcus. Our babies were in this horrible place and we weren’t here to protect them.”

“They’re not here now. That’s what matters. Whoever took them moved them before we could arrive.”

A forensics team was already processing the scene, taking photos and bagging items. One of them approached Detective Rivera holding what looked like a receipt.

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AA vouchers

“Bodega security footage came through. The person who bought the formula was a woman, mid-thirties, blonde hair. She kept her face down but we got a partial profile.”

“Send it to me.”

Marcus’s phone buzzed with the image. He opened it and felt his blood run cold.

He couldn’t see the woman’s full face, but he could see enough. The shape of her jaw, the way she moved, something about her that was familiar.

“Do you recognize her?” Dante asked.

“I’m not sure. Maybe. Send this to Detective Rivera and have him run facial recognition.”

They got back in the car and drove to the precinct following the police convoy. Elara was quiet beside him, staring out the window at the city waking up around them.

At the precinct they were led to a conference room where a dozen people were already assembled. FBI agents, NYPD brass, technical analysts with laptops and tablets.

Detective Rivera stood at the head of the table. “We’re doing everything we can to locate your children. We have alerts out to every law enforcement agency in the region. We’re monitoring all ports and marinas. We have analysts going through every second of security footage. I promise you, Mr. and Mrs. Thorne, we’re doing everything.”

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