Sweet Hatred-Chapter 464: SEARCH

Someone scrambled to comply.

I stepped into the suite, forcing myself to look at everything clinically.

The room service cart abandoned in the hallway.

The chloroform-soaked cloth on the floor near the entrance.

Aria’s phone on the nightstand, she hadn’t taken it with her. Hadn’t been able to.

A security guard appeared. "Mr. Roman, hotel security is pulling all footage now, "

"I don’t care about now. I want it pulled five minutes ago. Get me every camera angle from this floor, the service elevators, the loading dock, every exit. I want faces. I want timelines. I want to know exactly who came in and out of this building in the last two hours."

"Yes, sir."

I pulled out my phone and dialed my head of security directly.

"Talk to me."

"We’re reviewing footage now, sir. We’ve identified two suspects, a man and a woman in hotel uniforms. They used the service elevator approximately forty minutes ago. Came down to the loading dock with a cleaning cart."

"Faces?"

"Working on it. The woman kept her head down most of the time, but we got one clear shot when she looked up. Running it through facial recognition now."

"It’s Sarah. I guarantee it’s Sarah."

"Understood. We’re also checking the parking garage and surrounding street cameras."

"Good. I want police, army, every resource we have. Contact Detective Raines, tell him I need units dispatched to every major road out of the city. Checkpoints. Roadblocks. I don’t care what it takes."

"Already in progress."

I ended the call and immediately dialed Ash.

She answered on the first ring. "Kael? What’s wrong?"

"Aria’s been taken. Sarah took her."

Silence.

Then: "What?"

"Sarah got into the hotel. Stabbed Niko. Drugged Aria and took her. I need you here. Now."

"I’m coming. Sylas and I are coming. We’re fifteen minutes away."

"Hurry."

I hung up and turned to find the hotel’s head of security approaching with a tablet.

"Mr. Roman, we have footage."

He turned the screen toward me.

Grainy security footage showing the service elevator.

A man pushing a cleaning cart. A woman in a hotel uniform walking beside him.

The timestamp: 9:47 PM.

Thirty-eight minutes ago.

The woman’s face was mostly hidden under a cap.

But then, just for a second, she looked up at the camera.

And I saw her.

Sarah.

My hands clenched so hard around the tablet I thought it might crack.

"Where did they go?"

"Loading dock. They put something in the trunk of a sedan, gray Honda Civic, late model. Plates were obscured, but we got a partial. H7K, "

"Get that to the police. Now. Every officer in the city needs to be looking for that car."

"Yes, sir."

More personnel arrived, police officers, detectives, a K-9 unit.

Detective Raines appeared, his expression grim.

"Mr. Roman. I understand your girlfriend has been abducted."

"An hour ago. Maybe less. Sarah Brown, I’ve sent you her file. She’s armed, dangerous, and psychotic. She has Aria. We need every available unit searching."

"We’re already setting up checkpoints at every major artery out of the city. Highway patrol has been alerted. We have units canvassing the area around the hotel."

"It’s not enough."

"Mr. Roman, "

"It’s not ENOUGH!" My voice echoed through the suite. "She’s pregnant. Aria’s pregnant. If Sarah hurts her, if she hurts our child, "

I couldn’t finish the sentence.

Raines’s expression softened slightly. "We’re doing everything we can. But I need you to stay calm. We need information, and you’re the best source we have."

He was right.

I forced myself to breathe. To think.

"What do you need?"

"Walk me through everything. When did you last see Ms. Thorne?"

I did. Told him about leaving her in the suite. About meeting with Steven. About planning to return to her.

Every detail I could remember.

While I spoke, more personnel arrived.

Ash burst through the door with Sylas right behind her, her face pale with terror.

"Kael, " 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"They took her," I said. "Sarah and some hired muscle. Drugged her and took her out through the loading dock."

"Oh my God." Ash’s hand went to her mouth. "Oh my God, Kael, "

"We’re going to find her." I said it with more certainty than I felt. "We’re going to find her and bring her home."

Sylas stepped forward. "What do you need? Tell me what to do."

"Help coordinate the search. Ash, you know Aria better than anyone, where might Sarah take her? Anywhere from their past? Anywhere Aria mentioned?"

Ash shook her head, tears streaming down her face. "I don’t know. I don’t, Sarah’s apartment was condemned. She doesn’t have anywhere, "

"She has to be somewhere. A safe house. A rental. Something."

Detective Raines’s phone rang. He answered, listened, then looked at me.

"We found a body. Abandoned in an industrial lot twenty minutes north of here. Single gunshot wound to the head."

The hired muscle.

Sarah had killed him.

Which meant she was alone now.

With Aria.

"Any sign of Aria?" I asked, my voice hollow.

"No, sir. Just the driver. We’re processing the scene now."

She’d switched vehicles.

Smart.

Fuck.

My phone rang again, Steven.

"I heard what happened," he said immediately. "I’m mobilizing every resource I have. Private investigators, contacts in law enforcement, informants. If Sarah surfaces anywhere, we’ll know."

"Find her, Steven. Find her fast."

"I will."

The suite was controlled chaos now.

Police. Security. K-9 units preparing to sweep the area.

Everyone moving with purpose. Everyone searching. But none of it felt like enough.

None of it would be enough until Aria was safe.

Until she was back in my arms.

I stood there, surrounded by people trying to help, and felt more helpless than I’d ever felt in my entire life.

Somewhere out there, Sarah had Aria.

Was hurting her. Terrorizing her.

Maybe worse.

And I couldn’t do anything but wait for information that might already be too late.

No.

I couldn’t think like that.

Aria was strong. She was a fighter.

She would survive this.

She had to.

Because I couldn’t survive losing her.