"Don't say it."
Marcus stopped pacing, crouched in front of me. Eye level. Serious. "Listen to me. I've known that man since we were fifteen. Sleeping under bridges, fighting for scraps. He doesn't run. He doesn't hide. If he's not here, it's because he can't be."
"Or doesn't want to be," I said.
"No." Flat. Certain. "Not after what you two finally did. Not after seventeen years of dancing around each other. That man worships you, Alena. Always has."
"Then where is he?" My voice broke.
Silence.
Lucy grabbed my hand. "We're going to figure this out."
"How?"
Marcus's eyes went cold. Calculating. The look he got before a fight. "We start making calls. Real calls. Hospitals. Police. Anyone who might know something."
"The police won't do anything," Lucy said. "He's an adult. Been gone three days. They'll say give it time."
"Then we don't call police." Marcus pulled out his phone. "We call people who owe me favors. People who know things."
"What people?" I asked.
He looked at me. "People from the old days. Pit connections. Guys who know guys."
"Marcus—"
"I'm not letting this sit." His voice was steel. "Something's wrong. I feel it. And when I feel something, I'm usually fucking right."
Lucy nodded. "Right. I'll call round to his other mates. Anyone who might've seen him. Heard from him."
"I'll take hospitals," Marcus said. "Check accident reports. Anything in the last three days."
They were moving. Planning. Acting.
I just sat there, numb.
"Alena." Marcus crouched again, hands on my knees. "Look at me."
I did.
"We're family," he said. "The four of us. Since the bridge days. Since we had nothing but each other. And family doesn't abandon family. So either something happened to him—and we'll find him—or he's in trouble and can't reach out. Either way, we don't stop looking until we know."
Tears burned behind my eyes. "What if—"
"No what-ifs." He squeezed my knee. Hard. "We find him. We bring him home. That's it."
Lucy wrapped her arms around me from the side. "He's coming back, babe. He has to. Because if he doesn't, I'm going to kill him myself for putting us through this."
I laughed. It came out wet and broken.
Marcus stood, phone already to his ear. "Yeah, it's me. I need a favor..."
Lucy stayed pressed against me, her hand in mine.
And for the first time in three days, the quiet didn't feel quite so suffocating.
Because they were here.
