For one terrible second, nobody spoke.
The photograph stayed lit on Lucian's phone screen like a threat wrapped in innocence.
A child's hand.
Small.
Pale.
Delicate fingers curled around a silver crescent charm.
The background blurred intentionally.
No face.
No location.
No proof.
Only fear.
And beneath it—
Find the child before she disappears forever.
The room seemed to tighten around the message.
Simone whispered first.
"…what the hell."
Theo took the phone from Lucian carefully, studying the image with narrowed eyes.
"That's deliberate," he said quietly.
Adrian looked up from the clinic file. "Obviously."
"No," Theo corrected. "I mean the charm."
Everyone looked at him.
Theo enlarged the image.
The silver crescent had tiny engravings around the edge.
A family seal.
Old money.
Private circles.
Theo's expression darkened.
"That charm belongs to the Laurent-Cassel women."
Allison crossed her arms tighter over herself.
