Call Her Found

Prologue

Age 5

Eloise looked around the school yard for her mom. Or her dad, it was always exciting when he surprised her and picked her up. It had only happened once, but it made her whole day better, and she bragged to all her brothers when she got home, even though three of them were in the car with her. It was still special, really. Max, Simon, and Luc were all in the upper levels of the school, and their dad came to her first.

Still, she didn't see him. Or her mom yet, but she was probably just running late or picking her brothers up first. Mommy never wanted to play favorites, so she always switched off on who she picked up first.

"Eloise?" someone said. She looked up at a man she didn't recognize. "Hi, I'm Lewis." He held his hand out. She shook it, tentatively. "Your parents are busy, so they sent me to pick you up. Sorry it took so long."

Eloise thought about this. She looked around, still not seeing either of her parents. They had a lot of mysterious friends, so this didn't so completely out of the ordinary. Daddy said that's what happens when you run a business.

"Okay," she said. 

She took Lewis's hand and followed him to his car. It looked just as expensive as her parents' car, so his story checked out. She slid into the seat, excited to finally be going home. Her brothers never believed her when she said kindergarten was hard. All the kids in her class were so dumb!

"She's with me," Lewis said into his phone. He closed it and put it in his pocket, then smiled at Eloise.

"Where are my brothers?" she asked. If Lewis was picking her up, wouldn't he be picking them up to? The car started moving.

"They won't be coming with us."

............

Regis's phone rang, irritating him. He hated when people called him. He was the boss, he should be calling other people.

"What?" he said.

His wife sobbed on the other end. He stiffened. "Eloise."

"What happened, darling?"

"I can't find her. I've looked everywhere. She's not here. I went inside, I asked teachers. She's gone."

Regis didn't know what to say. How to respond. Someone had his daughter, and he didn't know who. He was powerful. He was the head of the French mafia, people were going to be after him. Him. And that meant his family too.

But his five-year-old daughter?

"Okay. Come home. My men and I will start looking."

He called his oldest son, Henri, into his office. This was important, it was something that he would have to deal with too, no matter how emotional it might make him.

"Père," he said, sitting down in front of his desk. He noticed his father's demeanor, one he had rarely seen, but said nothing.

"Eloise has been taken."

Henri wanted to vomit.

He had a million and one questions, but he kept them to himself. He didn't want to feel his father's wrath when he upset him, and didn't want to anger him with any emotions. He simply nodded his head, and got to work finding her.

............