Chapter 5 Dangerous Territory

Elena's Pov:

The warehouse district at three in the morning felt like a different planet from Adrien's penthouse world. Broken streetlights cast uneven shadows between abandoned buildings, and the air smelled of rust, decay, and something else I didn't want to identify. I pulled my jacket tighter around myself as Adrien parked his sleek BMW behind a rusted dumpster.

"You should have stayed at the hotel," he said, his voice tight with concern as he scanned the desolate street. "This isn't safe."

"Miguel is my brother." "I'm not sitting in some hotel room while you investigate his disappearance."

Adrien's contact had been surprisingly helpful for a former FBI agent who clearly owed Adrien more than one favor. Within hours, Michae; had tracked Miguel's last known location to this industrial hellscape in Queens, following the trail of his credit card and cell phone pings before both had gone dark four days ago.

"Building 47," Adrien murmured, pointing to a structure that looked like it had been abandoned for decades. "That's where Miguel's phone died."

We approached the building together, and I was struck by how naturally we fell into our old patterns. During our marriage, we often worked as a team planning dinner parties, organizing charity events, tackling household projects. That instinctive coordination had not disappeared despite three years of separation.

Adrien took point, his military training evident in the way he moved, while I covered his blind spots without being asked. We communicated with glances and subtle gestures, a silent language we had developed over years of being partners in everything.

The warehouse's main door was chained shut, but a side entrance had been forced open recently. The metal door hung at an awkward angle, its hinges bent. Adrien pulled out a small flashlight and aimed it into the darkness beyond.

"Stay close," he whispered, and we stepped inside together.

The smell hit me immediately with stale air, mold, and something metallic that made my stomach turn. The beam of Adrien's flashlight revealed a vast empty space filled with scattered debris. But as we moved deeper into the building, I began to notice signs of recent activity.

"Look," I whispered, pointing to fresh tire tracks in the dust. "And those cigarette butts they're not weathered."

Adrien nodded, following the tracks with his light. They led to what had once been a loading dock, where we found more evidence of occupation: folding chairs arranged in a rough circle, empty water bottles, and a makeshift table constructed from wooden crates.

"Someone was holding meetings here," Adrien said quietly. "Recently."

I knelt beside the improvised table and found something that made my blood run cold. "Adrien," I called softly, holding up a small piece of fabric caught on a splinter. Even in the dim light, I recognized the blue denim. "This is from Miguel's jacket. The one he wore to my birthday dinner last month."

The fabric was stained with something dark that could have been blood.

Adrien was beside me instantly, examining the cloth with the focused intensity I remembered from our marriage. When he was worried about something really worried he became hypervigilant, cataloging every detail that might matter.

"There's more," he said, sweeping his flashlight across the floor. Papers were scattered near the table, and when we gathered them up, my worst fears were confirmed.

Financial records. Bank routing numbers. Names I didn't recognize but that made Adrien go very still when he read them.

"Elena," he said carefully, "some of these accounts... I've seen them before. In my work."

"What kind of work involves offshore shell companies moving millions of dollars?" I asked, though I was afraid I already knew the answer.

"The kind that gets people killed."

We spent another twenty minutes searching the warehouse, finding more evidence that Miguel had been there: a pen with his newspaper's logo, notes in his distinctive handwriting, and most chilling of all, his press badge, broken and abandoned near what looked like signs of a struggle.

By the time we left the warehouse, dawn was beginning to touch the horizon. Neither of us spoke during the drive back toward the city, both of us were lost in thought about what we had just uncovered. But as Adrien navigated the empty streets, I found myself stealing glances at his profile.

He had changed in three years. There were new lines around his eyes, a hardness to his jaw that wasn't there before. But the way he moved through that warehouse, the way he automatically positioned himself between me and potential danger, the careful attention he paid to every detail that might help find Miguel that was pure Adrien. The man I had fallen in love with and married, the one who would walk through hell to protect the people he cared about.

"Thank you," I said quietly as we pulled into the parking lot of the modest hotel where I was staying.

He looked at me then, really looked at me and said again. "Miguel was family to me too," he said simply.

The words hit me harder than they should have. Family. That's what we had been once not just husband and wife, but a family unit that included my younger brother. Adrien had been the big brother Miguel never had, teaching him to drive, helping him with college applications, celebrating his graduation with the pride of a parent.

I destroyed all of that when I left. Torn apart not just our marriage, but the extended family we built together.

"Elena," Adrien said as I reached for the car door handle. His voice was softer now, almost hesitant. "What we found tonight... This is bigger than a missing person case. If Miguel stumbled onto something involving international money laundering and human trafficking, the people responsible won't hesitate to kill to protect themselves."

"I know." My voice came out barely.

"I meant what I said earlier. I'm going to help you find him. But I need you to promise me something."

I turned to face him fully, and noticed how the early morning light caught the gold flecks in his dark eyes that I once memorized.

"No more going off on your own," he said firmly. "No more investigating without backup. If we're going to do this, we do it together. I can't..." He stopped, struggling with words. "I can't lose anyone else."

The admission hung between us, heavy with the weight of everything we had lost, our baby, our marriage, three years we could never get back. I wanted to reach out and touch his face, to comfort him the way I used to when his vulnerabilities showed through his protective exterior.

Instead, I nodded. "Together," I agreed.

As I walked toward the hotel entrance, I could feel Adrien watching until I was safely inside. Old habits, I told myself. But deep down, I knew it was more than that. Despite everything I had done to him, despite his engagement to another woman, some part of Adrien Sterling still considered me his to protect.

And God help me, some part of me still wanted to be.