"This is perfect!" Irene couldn't help grinning as she looked around their new place. Finally, a fresh start for her and the kids - exactly what they needed.
The real estate agent kept giving her these worried looks as she sped through the rental agreement. Nobody ever signed a lease this quickly.
"Are you absolutely sure?" he asked, watching her practically race through the paperwork. "I have some other properties to show you—"
"No need, this is exactly what we want." Irene was already reaching for her checkbook while her trio of little geniuses ran wild upstairs, their excited voices filling the empty house.
"Mom!" Lucas shouted from above, putting on his best dramatic performance. "There's this super cool tree outside my window! Can I please have this room?"
"We'll figure that out later, sweetie!" She turned back to the agent with a smile. "First and last month's rent, security deposit... anything else I need to take care of?"
Just twenty minutes later, everything was done. Keys in hand, papers signed, and just like that, they had a place to call their own in Silver City.
\---
Meanwhile, the mood in the Grand Hotel's presidential suite was about as friendly as a frozen wasteland. Poor Thomas was trying his best to stay perfectly still while his boss's temper got worse by the minute.
"Nothing yet?" Adam asked in that dangerously quiet voice that usually sent people running.
"No responses at all, sir." Thomas chose his words carefully, like he was walking on thin ice. "We've tried every medical contact in our network. It's like they're completely ignoring us."
Adam's grip on his wheelchair tightened. Nobody had ever dared to brush him off like this before. The Haven name was supposed to make things happen, not get totally ignored.
"Nobody gets away with playing games with me," he muttered under his breath. And right on cue, Thomas's tablet made a sound.
"Sir..." Thomas's eyes got huge. "We just got this anonymous email. From R Country."
Adam's head snapped up instantly. "What does it say?"
"The specialist we've been looking for... they're saying she's back in Silver City. And there's a picture..."
When the image popped up, both men froze. There she was in surgical scrubs, face mask on, but those eyes? No mistaking them. The same eyes that had basically told him to get lost yesterday.
"That woman," Thomas said, barely believing it. "The one with the kids..."
Everything clicked in Adam's head. *"Good luck with that search. And hey - remember what you said today about people with hidden motives,"* she'd said. Well, wasn't this interesting - she'd known exactly who he was and what he wanted from the start.
His mouth curved into a small smirk. So that's how she wanted to play it.
"Sir, I'll go apologize right away—" But Thomas came hustling back minutes later looking totally deflated. The next door suite was wide open with just a cleaning cart and a housekeeper inside.
"The guests who were staying here," Thomas asked, already dreading the answer. "Where did they go?"
"Left early this morning," the housekeeper shrugged, not even looking up from her work. "First thing."
Thomas hurried back to deliver the bad news. Adam's expression darkened with each word, though he tried to act like he didn't care.
"If she doesn't want to help me, fine." But the way Adam stared at his legs, hands gripping his wheelchair? Yeah, he definitely cared.
"Sir, we can't just give up!" Thomas was practically jumping with nervous energy. "I looked into those cases from the email - they're all real. Her success rate with spinal injuries is incredible. If anyone can help you walk again—"
"Find her." Adam's voice cut like ice. "I don't care what it takes. Find out where she's staying."
"Right away, sir!"
\---
Ten minutes earlier, in the backseat of their car heading to the new place, Alex was watching the city go by, trying to look innocent while his tablet showed "Message Sent Successfully."
He let out a big sigh, slumping against the leather seat like the weight of dealing with grown-ups was just too much. The things he had to do to get his parents to actually talk to each other. That encrypted email had been super easy for him - he could've made it way more complicated, but sometimes simple worked better.
His fingers kept tapping on the tablet while he thought. Mom was being so stubborn (no surprise there), which meant Dad needed a little push. And if that push just happened to be an anonymous tip about a brilliant doctor being back in town... well.
*Come on, Mr. CEO*, Alex thought, watching the tall buildings disappear behind them. *I just gave you the perfect excuse to come find us. Don't mess it up.*
Mom might think she was doing great on her own (which she totally was), but Alex hadn't spent five years becoming a computer genius for nothing. Those unique eyes of his - *their* eyes - definitely weren't from the Claire family.
Plus, he totally saw how Mom reacted when Dad grabbed her wrist. And how Mr. Always-in-Control completely lost it over Mom's perfume?
Alex smiled to himself, accidentally looking exactly like his dad without knowing it. Sometimes grown-ups needed a little help seeing what was right in front of them. Good thing they had three genius children working on it.
*Your move, Dad*, he thought, closing his tablet with a satisfied click. *Just remember - you're not the only one who knows how to think ahead.*