Chapter 54
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Noah left Julian resting under the watchful eye of Dr. Evans and walked directly into the administration wing of the estate. The sun was fully up, casting long, golden shadows across the snow-covered courtyards. He pushed open the heavy glass doors of the legal department and found Sarah, his brilliant head of legal counsel, already at her desk reviewing the morning briefs.
"Sarah, I need a comprehensive deep-dive into an organization," Noah commanded, bypassing the morning pleasantries entirely.
Sarah looked up, instantly reading the lethal seriousness in his posture. She set her coffee down and opened a blank search terminal.
"Give me a name, Noah," she said, her fingers hovering over the keyboard.
"Apex Horizons," Noah stated, pacing the length of her office. "A boy washed up at our gates last night half-frozen and covered in restraint bruises. He says he escaped from them."
Sarah began typing rapidly. For the next ten minutes, the only sound in the room was the frantic clicking of keys.
"This doesn't make any sense," Sarah finally muttered, frowning at her glowing monitors. "Noah, look at this."
Noah walked around the desk and looked at the screen. The website for Apex Horizons was a masterclass in high-end, corporate philanthropy. It featured beautiful, smiling teenagers in pristine vocational workshops, learning coding, advanced engineering, and sustainable agriculture.
"According to their public filings, Apex Horizons is a premier, global charitable initiative," Sarah read aloud. "They specialize in taking orphaned or heavily marginalized teenagers and providing them with elite vocational training. They have absolute five-star ratings, incredible public relations, and they are funded by some of the most prominent billionaires in Europe and Asia."
"They are a front," Noah said coldly, his mind flashing back to the industrial tracker locked onto Julian's wrist. "Vanessa used the guise of high society to hide her cruelty. Arthur Sterling used corporate mergers. Whoever is running Apex Horizons is using the shield of global charity to traffic and enslave children."
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"If that's true," Sarah warned, looking up at him, "we aren't just fighting a corrupt individual. We are going to war with a massive, universally beloved global institution. The CEO is a man named Elias Thorne. He is practically a saint in the press."
"Saints don't put GPS collars on terrified children," Noah replied. "Prepare the legal defense. We are not giving Julian back."
