Cecelia's POV
I couldn't stop staring at the small red shoe in my hands while my vision blurred with tears that wouldn't stop falling. Golden had been wearing these shoes the morning he disappeared because they were his favorites with the little
race cars on the sides that lit up when he walked. He'd begged me to buy them two months ago even though they were too expensive for our budget but I'd given in because his smile when he wore them made every sacrifice worth it.
Now one of those shoes sat in my lap covered in dirt while whoever had my son was using it to threaten us into backing off. The note's words kept replaying in my head over and over until I thought I might scream from the helplessness crushing my chest.
"Cecelia," Zeke's voice broke through my spiral while his hand squeezed my shoulder gently. "I need you to breathe for me, can you do that?"
I realized I'd been holding my breath while my lungs burned for air. I gasped while trying to fill them but
it felt like breathing through a straw because panic had locked my chest tight. "I can't," I managed to choke out while more tears fell. "I can't breathe, I can't think, I can't do this anymore."
"Yes you can," Zeke said firmly while moving to kneel in front of me so we were eye level. "You're the strongest person I know which means you can get through this because Golden needs you to stay strong for him."
"They're going to hurt him," I sobbed while clutching the shoe tighter. "The note says if we keep looking
they'll hurt him which means we have to stop but if we stop we'll never find him and I don't know what to do."
"We're not stopping," Zeke said while his voice dropped into that Alpha tone that demanded obedience.
"This threat is meant to scare us into giving up but I won't let fear dictate our actions when my son's life is at stake."
"Our son," I corrected automatically while looking up at him through my tears. "He's our son Zeke, not just yours."
Something shifted in his expression while warmth flooded through the bond between us. "Our son," he agreed quietly. "And we're going to find him together no matter what threats they make or how scared we are because that's what parents do for their children."
Marcus cleared his throat from where he stood near the door while his face showed the same grim determination I saw in Zeke's eyes. "We need to analyze everything about this
package," he said while pulling out evidence bags. "How it was delivered, when it arrived, if
anyone saw who dropped it off."
"Security footage," Zeke said while standing though his hand stayed on my shoulder. "Pull all cameras from the past six hours focusing on the main entrance and any service entrances someone could have used to deliver this without being seen."
"Already on it," Marcus replied while typing rapidly on his phone. "I'll have the team review everything and flag anyone suspicious."
I forced myself to set Golden's shoe carefully on the coffee table while
my fingers didn't want to release it because holding something he'd worn made him feel closer somehow. The tissue paper it had been wrapped in sat beside it along with the note that promised violence if we didn't comply.
"The handwriting," I said while my voice came out steadier than I felt. "Can we analyze the handwriting to figure out who wrote this?"
"Good thinking," Zeke said while carefully bagging the note with gloved hands. "We'll send it to a specialist who can look at letter formation and writing patterns to
build a profile."
"What about the shoe itself?" I asked while standing on shaky legs. "Could there be DNA or fingerprints or anything that tells us where Golden is being held?"
"We'll test everything," Marcus assured me while also bagging the shoe despite how much it hurt to watch it
disappear into evidence. "Dirt composition can tell us about soil types and geographic locations while any trace materials might narrow down what kind of building or area he's in."
The clinical discussion helped ground me because it gave me something to focus on besides the crushing fear that threatened to drown me. "How long will the testing take?" I asked while wrapping my arms around myself.
"Expedited testing can be done in twenty four to forty eight hours," Marcus said while checking his notes.
"I'll mark everything as priority so we get results as fast as possible."
"That's too long," I protested while new panic flared. "Golden could be hurt or moved or worse in that
amount of time."
"It's the best we can do with the resources we have," Zeke said gently while pulling me against his side. "But we're not sitting idle while we wait because there are other leads we can follow up on."
"What leads?" I demanded while looking up at him. "Everything has been a dead end for days while whoever has Golden stays ahead of us."
"The delivery itself is a lead," Zeke pointed out while his arm tightened around my waist. "Someone had to
physically bring this package here which means they were in our territory recently and might have left traces we can follow."
"Unless they hired a courier who had no idea what they were delivering," I said while defeat crept into my voice.
"Even then the courier would have information about who hired them," Marcus said while heading for the door.
"I'll get teams on this immediately, we'll find out who delivered this package even if we have to question every delivery service in a hundred mile radius."
He left while closing the door behind him which left Zeke and me alone in the quiet apartment. I pulled away from him while moving to the window because I needed space to process everything without his presence overwhelming my senses.
"Talk to me," Zeke said from behind me while the bond pulsed with his concern.
"Tell me what you're thinking because I can feel your emotions through the bond but I don't know what thoughts are causing them."
"I'm thinking that we're failing him," I
said while staring out at the dark territory beyond the window. "Every day that passes is another day Golden is scared and alone calling for me while I can't reach him because we keep hitting walls."
"We're not failing him," Zeke moved to stand beside me while his reflection appeared in the window glass.
"We're doing everything possible with the information we have."
"It's not enough," I said while my voice broke again. "Nothing we do is enough because he's still missing while we're standing here talking
about testing and analysis like he's some case to solve instead of a three year old boy who needs his parents."
"You think I don't know that?"
Zeke's voice rose slightly while his own frustration bled through. "You think I'm not going crazy knowing my son is out there somewhere while I can't
protect him? Every second he's gone tears me apart but I can't let that stop me from doing what needs to be done to bring him home."
"I know," I whispered while fresh tears fell. "I know you're doing everything you can, I'm sorry for lashing out at you when none of this is your fault."
"It is my fault though," Zeke said quietly while his hand found mine in the darkness. "If I hadn't been so blind three years ago you never would have left which means Golden would have grown up here
safe and protected instead of vulnerable in some fishing village where anyone could
