The hours that followed were the darkest of Sara's life.
She sat in the security center, watching the screens, waiting for news that didn't come. Adrian moved through the mansion like a ghost, giving orders, making calls, doing everything he could to find Tom.
Nothing.
The safe house had been breached an hour before Natalia arrived at the mansion. Four men, heavily armed. They had taken Tom and disappeared into the night. Marta was in the hospital, fighting for her life. Elena was unharmed but barely speaking, lost in a silence that was worse than screams.
Sara stared at the photograph in her hands—Tom at his birthday last year, laughing, a cake in front of him, his face lit with joy.
Her little brother.
The boy she had raised after their mother died. The boy she had protected from their father's failures, from the debt, from Dimitri. The boy she had promised to keep safe.
She had failed him.
The door opened. Adrian entered, his face gray, his eyes hollow.
"Ivan's people are searching. Every road, every house, every hiding place between here and the safe house. We'll find him."
Sara didn't answer.
Adrian knelt in front of her, taking her hands. "Sara. Look at me."
She looked.
"We'll find him. I swear it."
"You swore before. You swore he was safe. You swore the safe house was secure." Her voice was flat, empty. "You swore, Adrian. And now he's gone."
Adrian flinched as if she'd struck him.
"This is my fault. I should have seen—"
"It's her fault." Sara's voice cracked. "It's Natalia's fault. And I'm going to make her pay."
She stood, moving toward the door.
Adrian grabbed her arm. "Sara, what are you doing?"
"Taking her to Tom. Making her tell us where he is."
"She won't talk. Not like that. You know she won't."
"Then I'll make her."
Adrian pulled her back, wrapping his arms around her. "Sara, listen to me. Torturing her won't work. She wants us to break. She wants us to become like her. If we hurt her, we prove her right."
Sara struggled against him. "I don't care! I want my brother back!"
"I know." His voice broke. "I know. And we'll get him back. But not like this. Not by becoming the thing she wants us to be."
Sara stopped struggling.
She stood in his arms, shaking, tears streaming down her face, and let herself fall apart.
"I can't lose him, Adrian. He's all I have left. He's the only family—"
"You have me." He held her tighter. "You have me. You have my mother. You have Marta. You have a child growing inside you. You have a family, Sara. A real family. And we're going to get Tom back. Together."
She sobbed against his chest, all the fear and grief she'd been holding back finally breaking free.
Adrian held her through it all. He didn't try to make it better. Didn't try to fix it. He just held her, his arms around her, his body between her and the world.
Later, Sara went to see Natalia.
She was in the basement, the same room where Gregor had been interrogated. She sat on the floor, her back against the wall, her hands bound. She looked up when Sara entered, and for a moment, something flickered in her eyes.
Not hatred. Something else.
"Come to kill me?" Natalia asked.
Sara closed the door behind her. "Come to understand you."
Natalia laughed bitterly. "There's nothing to understand. I am what your husband's father made me. I am what hatred built."
"You're a mother who lost her son."
Natalia's smile faded. "I never lost him. He was taken from me."
"You never tried to get him back." Sara moved closer, standing over her. "You could have come to him at any time. You could have told him the truth. You could have been part of his life. But you chose revenge instead."
"You think I didn't try?" Natalia's voice cracked. "You think I didn't dream of holding him, of telling him who I was, of being his mother? I was nothing. Your husband's father made sure I had nothing. No money. No power. No name. I was erased, forgotten, left to rot."
"So you spent forty years becoming what he made you."
Natalia stared at her. "What else was I supposed to do?"
"You were supposed to fight." Sara knelt in front of her, meeting her eyes. "You were supposed to claw your way back, not to destroy, but to build. You were supposed to find your son and tell him the truth. You were supposed to love him, Natalia. Not use him. Not destroy him. Love him."
Tears welled in Natalia's eyes. "He wouldn't have believed me. He was raised to hate me. To think I was dead. To think I never wanted him."
"You don't know that." Sara's voice softened. "You never gave him the chance to choose."
Natalia looked away, her face crumbling.
Sara stood. "Where is my brother?"
Natalia was silent for a long moment.
Then she whispered, "The church. The same church where I was revealed. There's a cellar beneath the altar. No one knows about it. No one but me."
Sara's heart leaped. "Why are you telling me this?"
Natalia looked up at her, and for the first time, her face was open, raw, human.
"Because you're right. I never gave him a chance. I never gave anyone a chance. I spent forty years becoming the thing that destroyed me." Her voice broke. "I don't want to die that way."
Sara stared at her for a long moment. Then she turned and ran.
She found Adrian in the security center.
"The church," she said breathlessly. "The cellar beneath the altar. He's there."
Adrian was on his feet in an instant. "How do you know?"
"Natalia told me."
Adrian stared at her. "She told you? Just like that?"
"She wants something different." Sara grabbed his hands. "I don't know if it's real. I don't know if we can trust her. But it's the only lead we have."
Adrian was quiet for a moment. Then he nodded.
"I'm going."
"I'm coming with you."
"Sara—"
"I'm coming with you." Her voice was steel. "That's my brother. I'm not waiting here, not knowing. Not again."
Adrian searched her eyes for a long moment.
Then he said, "Stay behind me. Stay close. And if anything happens, you run. You take our child and you run."
Sara kissed him. "Nothing's going to happen. We're getting Tom back."
The church was dark when they arrived.
The same church where Natalia had been revealed. The same church where Sara had taken a knife for Elena. The same church where everything had changed.
Adrian led the way, his gun raised, his eyes scanning every shadow. Sara followed close behind, her hand pressed to her stomach, her heart pounding.
They found the cellar door behind the altar, hidden in the shadows.
Adrian pulled it open. Darkness yawned below.
"I'll go first," he said.
They descended into the darkness.
The cellar was cold, damp, smelling of earth and something else. Something that made Sara's heart clench.
They found Tom in the corner, huddled against the wall, his hands bound, his face pale. He looked up when they entered, his eyes wide with fear.
Then he saw Sara.
"Sara!"
She was across the room in seconds, her arms around him, her tears soaking his hair.
"I'm here," she sobbed. "I'm here. I'm here. I'm so sorry it took so long."
Tom clung to her, shaking. "I knew you'd come. I knew it."
Adrian cut the ropes binding Tom's hands, then pulled them both into his arms.
"Let's go home," he said.
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