Azrael Hawthorne.
The name struck her like a desperate last gamble.
Valerie dropped beside the sofa and tore open her purse, spilling everything on the carpet.
"Vivi, what are you doing?" Marco asked, startled.
Marco crouched beside her, but she brushed him off.
Opening her wallet, she found his old cheque and black business card. She had kept them for closure.
She keyed in the number printed beneath his name with shaky hands. The line rang, making her bite her lips.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The call ended. She sucked in a breath and dialed again. Each unanswered call made her desperate.
On the fifth attempt, the line clicked.
"Who is this?" A deep, irked voice.
Her throat tightened.
"I—It's… Valerie." Her voice cracked. She swallowed. "Yo-You don't know me."
A pause.
"Then this had better be important, 'Valerie'."
She ran to a corner with shaking legs. "Uh... Five years ago, at the Imperial Hotel. I accidentally entered your suite and you..." She took a deep breath. "You left a cheque and your card as if I were some prostitute."
She bit her lips, not knowing if he remembered.
Her fingers tightened around the phone. "T-the room was black and gold. It was after the New Year..."
"What is this about?"He cut off.
"I-I need help." Her composure was shattered. "My son is missing."
"And you're calling me because?" His voice turned colder.
A thousand things went through her mind. He could take her child away from her, and she could do nothing, but none of it mattered more than her Little Roe.
"Because he's yours too."
Complete silence made her think the call had dropped.
In the lobby, sirens wailed faintly through the glass doors. Marco watched her, confused, unable to hear from where he stood.
When Azrael spoke again, his voice was controlled to a frightening degree.
"Explain."
"He's four," she rushed. "He just turned four. I— I found out later. He turned four this spring. His name is Roe—Roman Sinclair on paper—but he—"
"You're telling me," he said slowly, "that I have a four-year-old son."
"Please! I really need your help, please-"
"And you chose to inform me of his existence because he is currently missing?"
"We have tried everything! It's been 6 hours!" Her chest felt like it was caving in. "I don't know what else to do! He could be kidnapped... Please!"
Another silence.
"Where are you?" A sharper inquiry.
"At the Grand Crescent Hotel. He ran out three hours ago. The police are searching, but there's no update."
"What was he wearing?"
"Navy suit. White shirt. He has green eyes and black hair." Her voice broke. "He's small. He— he cries when he's scared."
"Stay where you are," Azrael ordered, sending a chill down her spine. "And Valerie?"
"Y-Yes?"
"I don't remember your face," he said evenly. "But if what you're saying is true, we will discuss why you were playing the long game with me."
"I-" She shook her head. It wasn't the time, "O-okay."
...
Azrael stared at his phone long after the call ended. A second later, his phone rang again with a photo.
He sucked in a breath. The young boy was a walking DNA test.
If it wasn't for the boy's wide grin and gleaming green eyes, he would assume it was his own childhood photo.
His phone rang again with further details, footages and information
At least the girl was smart. Well, she would have to be this clever to play with him.
He was having a shitty night, working for 48-hour straight. His jaw tightened almost imperceptibly before he lifted his gaze.
"Grand Crescent Hotel."
His assistant, Luka, who had been reviewing departure documents a few steps away, immediately straightened.
They were inside the private VIP terminal, luggage already cleared. The jet was waiting on the runway, set to fly in 20 minutes.
"Sir?" Luka asked carefully.
His boss shoved his phone at him
"Contact the tower. Delay departure." Azrael scoffed. "My 'son' is missing."
"Son?" Luka blinked, trying to process, but was quick to give up. "Yes, Mr. Hawthorne."
His boss was as eccentric as they come. Trying to understand him was above his pay grade, which was already the highest in the industry.
Azrael was here to attend the Grand Crescent Global Summit as a primary investor behind its newest expansion, but a compliance issue at one of the regional branch offices had required his immediate intervention. He had spent the last forty-eight hours extinguishing that fire.
He had been ready to leave after a week overseas. But now he was very much staying.
"Mobilize everything," Azrael said.
Luka fell into stride beside him. His fingers already moving on his tablet. "Define scope, sir."
"Full city sweep." He was calm, but his team could sense his urgency. "Traffic cameras within a five-kilometer radius of the Grand Crescent. Cross-reference for a four-year-old male, navy suit, approximately one meter tall. Air the photo."
Luka nodded. His eyes widened, looking at the photo.
The boy was a copy of his boss! Was his boss hiding his family and pretending to be a bachelor for years?!
Stepping into the waiting car. Azrael leaned back, throwing his head back.
"Engage our local security contractors too," Azrael said after a thought. "Contact the hotel's executive board. I want unrestricted access to their internal security system."
Shaking his head, Luka nodded"Al-Already on it, Sir."
Shutting his eyes, Azreal rubbed his face.
A child... Did that even make sense?
A four-year-old left the hotel alone. Either there was a big screw-up, or the boy didn't take his brains from him.
He replayed the woman's every word. She sounded like she was crying.
"Pull my private meetings in Imperial Hotel from five years ago, sometime after the New Year," he said suddenly.
Luka glanced up. "Yes, sir."
Within seconds, Luka handed him the archived logs. So it was that night.
He remembered that blonde hair and trembling pouty lips...
'You left a cheque and your card as if I were some prostitute.' Even as she was crying, he could hear her whinnying. He lip lifted in a smirk.
When he had woken up with a looker in his arms, he had assumed his moron cousin had called him an escort.
"Damn you, Vincent. Damn you." He murmured. That bastard was causing him trouble from a continent away.
"Sir," Luka said quietly, reading incoming data. "Preliminary scan of nearby traffic feeds is underway. Local law enforcement has established a perimeter search, but coverage gaps exist beyond two intersections."
"Expand it."
"Yes, sir."
Azrael's fingers tapped once against his knee before going still.
The stunner was the reason he had gone easy on that bastard, Vincent. For months, he had waited for her to contact him.
Azrael's eyes narrowed in thought. The air inside the car shifted.
"Trace routes and vehicles that left the hotel after he went missing, and tell them to check the hotel footage again. He might have come back after running out."