Chapter 52: Chapter 52
The call from the kindergarten struck like a bolt of lightning.
For a single heartbeat, everything inside Fleur went terrifyingly still.
"Missing?" she repeated, her voice dropping to a fragile whisper.
The teacher’s trembling explanation did nothing to quell the panic clawing viciously at Fleur’s chest. Chloe and Gabriel were gone. No one knew where, and no one knew with whom. Before the teacher could even finish the sentence, Fleur was already sprinting toward her car.
She tore down the road, her hands gripping the steering wheel so hard her knuckles turned white.
How could this happen? She had been crystal clear from day one: her five-year-old twins were never, under any circumstances, to leave the premises unless an approved guardian picked them up. Only she or Lea were authorized. No one else. Absolutely no one.
Yet somehow, her pups had vanished.
By the time she slammed her car into park at the school, her wolf was pacing furiously, scratching at the surface demanding control. The principal and teachers stood waiting in the hallway, their faces pale with a sickening mix of guilt and dread.
"What do you mean you don’t know where they are?" Fleur demanded, her voice echoing off the concrete walls. "How do two five-year-old children just disappear from a secure building?"
The staff offered a barrage of fractured apologies, stammering that a missing persons report was already being compiled and the authorities were being contacted. Fleur barely heard them. Her mind had devolved into a waking nightmare.
Had someone taken them? Had they been kidnapped? If so, why hadn’t her phone rung with a ransom demand?
Desperate for any shred of hope, she dialed home. The nanny answered on the second ring, her voice tight. "No, Miss Swann. Chloe and Gabriel haven’t come home."
The last thread of hope snapped, leaving behind a cold wave of pure terror. Forcing herself to breathe, Fleur called Lea and laid out the nightmare in a fractured rush.
Lea’s gasp was sharp. "We should contact Raphael immediately," she urged. "His connections can bypass the bureaucratic red tape. He’ll find them faster."
Fleur hesitated, the gears turning frantically in her head.
Raphael was in the middle of filming his new movie. The last thing she wanted was to drag him into a panic without knowing the full situation.
"I’ll go to the police station first," she said firmly, steeling her resolve. "If they don’t have a lead within the hour, I’ll call him."
Hanging up, she pressed harder on the accelerator, prepared to tear the city apart brick by brick. Nothing mattered except her children.
Then, her phone flashed with an incoming call.
Christian Wayne.
Fleur groaned aloud, a bitter edge to the sound. Of all the people in the world, she had absolutely zero patience for the ruthless billionaire right now. Her nerves were frayed to the breaking point.
Yet, a sudden, inexplicable instinct deep inside her urged her to press accept.
The moment the line connected, a small, familiar voice filtered through the speaker.
"Mom!"
Gabriel.
Fleur’s breath hitched, a sob threatening to rip from her throat.
"Gabriel!" she gasped, relief hitting her so violently she nearly pulled over. "Oh, thank God. Are you alright? Where are you? Is your sister with you?"
"Mom, I’m okay," Gabriel replied softly. Even through the digital distortion, the little boy could hear the sheer terror in his mother’s voice, and guilt weighed heavily on his small shoulders. He knew he had terrified her.
"Chloe?" Fleur pressed, her heart hammering.
"She’s right here. We’re both fine."
Fleur closed her eyes, letting out a long, shuddering breath. For the first time since the nightmare began, oxygen actually filled her lungs. Her pups were safe. Safe.
Then, reality caught up to her relief, and her eyes snapped open.
"Wait," she said, her tone suddenly sharpening into steel. "Why are you calling me from Christian Wayne’s phone?"
A dreadful, heavy weight settled into the pit of her stomach.
"Mom..." Gabriel hesitated, his voice dropping an octave. "Please don’t panic. But you need to come to Mr. Wayne’s office."
The blood completely drained from Fleur’s face, and her wolf began to growl beneath her ribs.
Christian. Her children were with Christian.
"Don’t worry, sweetheart," she said quickly, forcing her voice into a calm, steady facade she didn’t feel. "Mom is on her way. Stay with your sister. I’ll be there soon."
She cut the line before Gabriel could utter another word. Swerving to the curb, she turned to the trembling school staff member who had ridden with her and told them to find another way back. Then, she pulled a reckless U-turn and headed straight for the heart of the city: Wayne Enterprises.
On the way, she dialed Lea back to relay the impossible update. Lea immediately offered to meet her there, but Fleur cut her off.
"No. I’ll handle this."
She tried to sound confident, but fear was a tightening noose around her chest.
The drive felt like an eternity. Why were her children with him? Had he discovered the truth? The mere thought made her blood run cold.
She knew exactly how merciless the infamous Alpha King could be. If he had figured out who Chloe and Gabriel really were...
Fleur tightened her grip on the wheel until her knuckles cracked.
No. She refused to let her mind go there. Nothing would happen to her children. Not while she still had breath in her lungs.
Even if she had to stand against the most powerful, dangerous man in the city, she would protect her pups. At all costs.
A short while later, she screeched into the underground garage of Wayne Enterprises. The moment her feet hit the concrete, she was running.
Inside the sleek lobby, Christian’s personal secretary was already waiting by the private executive elevators. The woman blinked in surprise, taking in Fleur’s windblown hair and disheveled, panicked appearance.
"Miss Swann?" she asked politely. "I’m Lisa. Mr. Wayne instructed me to escort you directly to his penthouse office."
"Where are my children?" Fleur demanded, stepping into the elevator before the doors were even fully open. "Are they alright?"
Lisa nodded reassuringly. "They’re perfectly fine. They’re currently with Mr. Wayne."
The answer did nothing to soothe Fleur’s spiraling anxiety.
As the elevator ascended silently, Lisa studied her out of the corner of her eye. She had spent the last few hours with the twins, and there was an undeniable, impossible truth she hadn’t been able to ignore.
The little boy looked remarkably, uncannily like Christian. At first, she had genuinely wondered if the child was the Alpha’s secret son, but after overhearing the twins’ chatter, she had dismissed it. Surely, it was just a striking coincidence.
The doors chimed open, and Lisa led Fleur down the wide, opulently decorated hallway toward the double doors of the president’s office.
The instant Fleur saw the handles, her maternal instincts took over. She pushed past the secretary, throwing the heavy doors open without knocking.
Her heart slammed against her ribs. The distinct, sweet scent of her pups immediately flooded her senses, overriding everything else.
There they were. Chloe and Gabriel. Safe. Alive.
And standing only a few feet away from them was Christian Wayne.
Protective, maternal instinct exploded through Fleur like wildfire. Her wolf surged to the absolute forefront, demanding blood. Before anyone in the room could register her presence, Fleur blurred across the floor, throwing her body directly between her children and the Alpha King.
"Stay away from my children!"
Her furious roar rattled the glass walls of the office.
Every head in the room turned toward her in stunned, breathless silence.
Fleur stood her ground, her chest heaving, her eyes blazing with a feral, dangerous fury.
"And if you so much as touch them," she whispered, her voice laced with a promise of absolute violence, "you’ll regret it for the rest of your life."
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