Chapter 165

Alexander stared at the map spread across Victoria’s dining table, his eyes burning from lack of sleep. Twenty hours since Camille’s abduction. Twenty hours of dead ends and false leads. He marked another X on the map, another empty location searched and cleared.

“Nothing at the warehouse in Queens,” he reported, his voice rough with exhaustion. “Just like the other three properties.”

Across the table, Stefan Rodriguez nodded grimly. The two men had barely spoken directly to each other in the past hours, communicating only through updates and tactical discussions. Their shared history, Stefan as Camille’s ex-husband who had chosen Rose over her hung between them like an invisible wall.

“She’s playing with us,” Stefan said, studying the pattern of X marks across the map. “Leading us in circles while she keeps Camille somewhere we haven’t even considered.”

Alexander’s jaw tightened. The thought of working with Stefan still turned his stomach, but the man knew R