"Really?" he asked, his voice filled with relief.
"Yes," Heather replied smoothly. "I'm here because I need you to give me access to your most recent renter."
"Do you have a police confirmation?" the man asked cautiously.
Heather stiffened slightly. "Why do we need that?"
The man shrugged. "Information is confidential. I can't just give you access to personal details about my renters. If it's related to a crime, I'll look into it, but I need confirmation from the police or court."
Heather sighed. "I don't have a confirmation with me."
"Well you should. Don't tell me you haven't report this case to the police."
"I have."
"I'm sorry, I can't give you information if the police don't agree to it. I studied it in business school. Information like this is very personal to my customers and it'd be unfair for me to give it out. I can't turn a blind eye. You need to go the police again, maybe then, I'll give you what you want."
Heather sighed, glancing at Marcus before turning back to the man. "I'll give you a million dollars to give me what I want."
...
"Here's the list of people who rented that particular car recently." the manager dropped a heavy rental logbook in front of Heather and Marcus.
Heather's eyes glanced through the list as she flipped the pages. The names. And the most recent renter is...
What?
Her eyes scanned the name again, disbelief spreading like wildfire through her chest: Lily Tatiana Thorne.
"Thorne," Heather whispered. She read the name over and over again, as though doing so might somehow change it. The only family she knew to ever bare the name "Thorne" was only Caius's. And she never knew Caius had a family, not until she met his "brother". This means, this person is Caius's sister?
That couldn't be right. Heather knew of Caius's family in passing, but his sisters had never been part of her reality. And now… could it really be one of them who took Alex?
"Are you okay, Miss Remington?" Marcus asked cautiously.
Heather nodded absently, though she wasn't okay... far from it. Her mind was unraveling. If Lily Thorne was truly behind this, what motive could she possibly have? Caius didn't even know Alex existed until years after their divorce. And he still isn't aware that the child is his. Did Lily somehow find out the truth? And why would she do something so drastic as kidnapping him? To keep him for herself?
"I'll write a cheque for you."
The man gave her a skeptical stare.
"Or do you prefer cash?"
His eyes widened. "You have a million dollar cash with you?"
"No, idiot. I'll write a cheque. You can go with one of my guys to the nearest bank and withdrawal the money if you don't trust my statement."
"If you were living in QT, you wouldn't trust anyone."
Heather just gave him a half smile while she wrote the cheque and handed it to him.