Page 90 of Before Broken Vows
"There's been an attack. Guards are dead." I can't mention Xander or Marlena, not yet.
"What the fuck?—?"
"I need you alert. Call Ares. Loop in Callie. Lock down everything. No questions. Just do it."
Dimitri swears under his breath. "What about you?"
"I've got men en route. They were scheduled to arrive this morning to escort us back to Greece," I say, walking to the window that overlooks the garden, just to check.
I hear Stassi shift and spring up.
"I'll contact you again in thirty minutes," I say to him and hang up before he can ask more. I'm not ready to tell him about my son. Not over the phone. Not like this.
She's sitting upright, wild-eyed. "Xander? Theo. Where is he? Where?—?"
I drop to my knees beside her and take her face in both hands. "Breathe. In through your nose."
"I can't," she shakes her head. "I can't breathe?—"
"Yes, you can." My voice is low.
"But Theo. Our baby," she says, looking around. "Where?—"
"Hey. Look at me."
She does.
"I'm going to get him back. Do you understand me?"
Tears fall down her cheeks.
"Stassi, baby. Do you understand me?"
"Yes," she says, wiping away tears.
And there's nothing I've ever said that was more true. I will find my son. I will bring him back.
I may have failed my father, but I won't fail him.
"Okay, just keep breathing. Good," I say, rubbing her cheek. "You need to help me. I need your mind sharp. Did you see anything? Hear anything? In the last few days. Anything at all. The zoo. The airport. Anywhere. Strangers, odd behavior, anything?"
She shakes her head violently. "No. No, I didn't—Theo, I didn't. Oh God, Marlena."
"I know. I know. But we have to focus on our son. One thing at a time," I say and stand.
"Okay?" I ask as I take her hand and help her up. "Come with me."
"Where, where are we going?"
"To check the surveillance feed."
We head back into our bedroom and I yank my laptop from the drawer and set it on the small writing desk.
I fire it up and connect to our local security server. Whenever we travel, the first thing our men do is secure the perimeter. The villa's cameras were supposed to be foolproof. Infrared, computer sensors, encrypted uploads every hour.
I log in to the backups.
The feed loads. I click into the motion-triggered archive, rewinding to a few hours earlier.
