Twelve days.
"That's not all." Kade's tone drops. His fingers move across the tablet. New images load.
Chesca's school fills the screen. The parking lot. The main entrance. The playground where she runs at recess.
And Adrian. Captured in multiple shots from different angles on different days.
My vision tunnels. Blood pounds in my ears. I grip the table hard enough that the metal edge bites into my palms.
"He's been casing the school for at least a week." Kade's voice sounds distant. "Xander caught him in the visitor logs. Did a parent tour four days ago. Said he was considering the school for his daughter's transfer."
Parent tour.
He walked where she walks. Breathed where she breathes. Stood in the hallways she runs through, the cafeteria where she eats lunch, the classroom where she learns to read.
"He's not a parent." My voice comes out flat. Dead.
"No. But diplomatic credentials open doors."
More photos. Adrian documenting routines, pickup times, security gaps. His face calm and patient in every shot. Calculating.
Angelina's voice comes strangled. "He saw her once. At the fields. He didn't care about her then—"
She stops. Understanding blooms across her face, ugly and horrified.
"He doesn't want her." The words taste like ash. "He wants leverage."
"He's not getting near her." My voice doesn't sound like mine, too quiet. The rage has gone somewhere past hot, into the cold place where plans live.
Jax straightens off the wall. "Alina's running background on Adrian's hotel, daily patterns—"
"I don't need his patterns. I need his location."
Kade meets my eyes.
"You have it."
Angelina's hand moves to the edge of the table. "Cole—"
"Angelina. Don't."
"I wasn't going to stop you."
Her voice is steady. Her eyes are not. They're holding mine with something that bypasses words, something that saysI know what you're about to do and I'm not asking you not to do it.
"I know."
Kade's voice cuts in. "Remy, take Judge Castellano to see Chesca. Give us the room."
Remy moves immediately. "Your Honor? Alina makes excellent coffee."
Angelina hesitates. Her eyes stay on mine for a long moment before she follows Remy out. I watch her until the door closes with a heavy thunk of steel on steel, leaving silence and my own heartbeat loud in my ears.
Kade waits. "You're sure?"
"He photographed her school. Documented her routine. Filed custody papers in a country where his father owns judges."
"That's not what I asked."