Irene literally dropped everything and fell to her knees, grabbing her sons' hands. Her heart was going a million miles an hour. "What do you mean missing? What happened? Weren't you supposed to stay in the room?" Her voice cracked - mama bear mode fully activated. "How did Lily disappear?"
The boys shared this totally guilty look that just screamed 'busted.' Their usual cool-kid act melted away the second they saw how freaked out their mom was. Alex, trying to be the responsible big brother as always, stepped up.
"So... we got hungry after you left," he admitted, suddenly super interested in his designer shoes. "We took Lily down to grab some food, and then - I swear we only looked away for like a second - she was just... gone. We asked the security guy at the door and everything, but he said she never left the hotel, so..."
Guilt hit Irene like a truck. *Oh god, what was I thinking? Leaving three five-year-olds alone in a strange city? Mother of the year right here...* Her doctor face was slipping big time. *Fat lot of good all those medical degrees do when I can't even keep track of my own kid.*
All those old fears she thought she'd buried? Yeah, they came rushing back like a bad horror movie. *Five years of keeping them safe, and I blow it now? Really?*
*Deep breaths, girl. Focus. Think. Lily's too smart to just wander off without a reason...*
"Stay with me," she ordered, going full doctor mode as she steered them toward the front desk. The fancy lobby suddenly felt about as welcoming as a haunted house. Being back in Silver City after five years was rough enough - now this?
The front desk people jumped into action the second they heard "missing child." Props to them, seriously. The manager showed up like *that*, already barking orders to his team to search everywhere.
"Let's check the security cameras right now," he said, waving them over to a monitor. "When did you last see her?"
While Alex was giving this super-detailed timeline (thank god for her little perfectionist), Irene was glued to the security feed. Lobby, restaurant, hallways... come on, come on...
"There!" Lucas practically yelled, jabbing at the screen. "That's Lily!"
Irene's heart straight-up stopped. There was her baby girl, following some guy in a wheelchair into an elevator. But hold up - she knew that profile, those shoulders. The same guy who'd gotten all weird about her perfume earlier!
Her face went from worried mom to scary mom in 0.2 seconds. "The room number. Now." Her tone could've stripped paint off walls. "My daughter is up there!"
The manager did this awkward little dance. Like, on one hand - CEO's private room number. Kind of a big deal. But on the other hand - worried mom, missing kid... You could literally see the gears turning in his head.
Priorities won out. "Presidential suite 01, top floor," he finally spilled.
Irene froze. Wait, what? The presidential suite? That was literally next door to her room. All this time...
The elevator ride felt like actual torture. Each floor dinged by slower than the last while Irene's mind went to all the worst places. The boys huddled close, their earlier schemes forgotten now that things had gotten real.
Thomas opened the door with this super brief "Come in," and Irene barely heard him. She was too busy scanning the crazy expensive suite until - there! One tiny figure on a leather couch that probably cost more than her car.
"Lily!!!"
Mom mode took over completely. She practically flew across the room, hands checking for any sign something was wrong. Finding nothing (thank god), she pulled her baby into the tightest hug ever. "You scared me half to death! Do you have any idea...?"
The relief hit so hard her knees went weak. And Lily? Looking totally unbothered in her fancy dress, like getting lost in luxury suites was just a normal Tuesday for her.
"I am so, so sorry about this," Irene managed to say to their unwilling host. "Kids, you know how they are... Thank you for watching her."
It went from Bahamas to Antarctica in two seconds. Adam sat there by these massive windows, looking like winter personified. His eyes went from her to the boys with this look that could've frozen lava.
When he'd spotted her two sons, something changed in his face. You could see him putting it all together in his head. Like, this wasn't his first rodeo - he'd seen every trick imaginable from women trying to get his attention. Staged run-ins, fake emergencies, "total coincidences"... he'd been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.
But this? Using kids as part of some master plan? Oh, that lit a whole new kind of fire. His jaw was doing that tense thing that screamed 'danger ahead.' He'd handled his share of social climbers, but bringing kids into it? That crossed every line in his book.
"Save your thanks." His voice was pure ice. "Must have been exhausting, setting all this up just to get my attention."
Irene's brain short-circuited. "I'm sorry, what?" The words came out sharper than she intended, but seriously? She'd just spent fifteen terrifying minutes thinking her daughter was missing, and this guy was sitting there accusing her with that condescending CEO tone? Like she was some kind of criminal mastermind with nothing better to do than orchestrate elaborate schemes to get his attention?
And what was with that attitude anyway? In her experience, even the most arrogant surgeons she'd worked with didn't drip this much disdain.
The fury coming off him was like a physical thing. "First the switched luggage at the airport, then picking this exact hotel, that 'accidental' elevator run-in, and now having your kid call me daddy..." His hands were death-gripping his wheelchair. "You really want to stand there and tell me this wasn't all planned?"