Page 95 of Liam
“Even if we find them, we can’t just go charging in there,” Mr. Valeur says. “Elias is dangerous, and he has Liam. We need to be smart about this.”
“What are you suggesting?” Lucas asks.
Mr. Valeur takes a deep breath. “I think... I think I need to turn myself in. Perhaps If I do that, he’ll let Liam go.”
“No!” The protest comes from all of us at once.
“There has to be another way,” Logan insists. “We can’t let him win like this.”
“What are you all talking about?” I ask, confused. “You know who did this?”
Cora’s eyes flicker to her father before she turns back to me. “There’s something you need to know, Aleria,” she begins, her voice dropping to a near-whisper, forcing me to lean in close. “The man who took Liam... It’s not random. He has a history with our family.”
I furrow my brow. “What do you mean?”
Cora glances around the room, noting the tense expressions on her family members’ faces. Mr. Valeur shifts in his armchair, looking older and more tired than I’ve ever seen him.
“We can’t go into all the details right now,” Logan interjects. “But there was an...incident, years ago. Something Dad was involved in.”
“What kind of incident?” I ask, my mind racing.
Ryder steps forward, his jaw clenched. “The point is, this man, Elias, he believes the Valeur family wronged him. He’sout for revenge. He’s been threatening the Valeur family for some time now.”
I struggle to process this information, looking from face to face. “So the threats, the kidnapping... It’s all about something that happened in the past?”
“Yes,” Sloane confirms, her fingers stilling on her keyboard. “He wants to make us all pay for what he thinks was done to his family.”
The gravity of the situation settles over me like a physical weight. This isn’t just about finding Liam anymore. It’s about a family’s dark secret and a man’s quest for vengeance.
“If you know who he is, why haven’t you called the cops? Why haven’t you stopped him?”
They glance at each other. “We can’t,” Lucas says. “Not if we want to protect the family. Plus, we know his name but that’s about all. We haven’t been able to locate him, and we have no idea what he looks like.”
“I know this is a lot to take in,” Cora says, placing a hand on my arm. “And I promise we’ll explain everything when we can. But right now...”
“Right now, we need to focus on finding Liam,” I finish for her, pushing aside my confusion and countless questions. “Okay. Tell me everything you know about this Elias. Every detail could be crucial.”
As they fill me in on what little they know, I concentrate on the task at hand. The Valeurs’ mysterious past will have to wait. All that matters now is bringing Liam home safely.
We dive back into our search with renewed vigor. I throw myself into the work, pushing aside the gnawing worry and guilt. Every minute that passes is another minute Liam is in danger.
As the hours tick by, fatigue sets in. My eyes burn from staring at screens and maps, and my hands shake as I reach for yet another cup of coffee.
“Aleria,” Ava says, “you need to rest, honey. You’re no good to Liam if you collapse from exhaustion.”
I shake my head. “I can’t. Not while he’s out there.”
Ava’s eyes soften. “You love him, don’t you?”
The question catches me off guard. I’ve been so focused on finding Liam that I haven’t let myself dwell on my feelings. But now, faced with the possibility of losing him forever, the truth is undeniable.
“Yes,” I whisper. “I do. And I never got to tell him.”
Ava pulls me into a hug, and for a moment, I let myself be comforted. But then I straighten up, wiping my eyes. “Okay. Back to work. We’re going to find him, and then I’m going to tell him how I feel—right after I yell at him for scaring me like this.”
Ava laughs, a welcome sound in the tense atmosphere. “That’s the spirit. Now, let’s take another look at that traffic cam footage. I think I saw something...”
All the phones buzz simultaneously. We share a look of trepidation before Cora opens the message—a video link from an unknown number.
