The next day, after a night of getting no sleep at all, Cas headed to Jacob’s office early in the morning to catch him before they both got swept up in other responsibilities. Well, before the guard did. Since the texts had come through, any chance of him getting any work done had been thrown out the window. He couldn’t think about anything other than Iris, and he wasn’t going to rest until he made sure she was safe from Ethan. There was a good chance that he was the only one who knew where she was and what he was doing to her, after all, so it was on him to help her.

Knocking on the office door, he could only hope his guard felt the same way.

“Come in.” Jacob’s voice rang through the wood, and the king stepped inside to a surprised looking head of security, seated behind his desk. It was only a quarter past five in the morning, and Cas usually slept in until at least seven, so the other man hadn’t been expecting him to make an appearance when the sun had barely risen outside. His bemusement was reflected in his tone as he asked, “Your Majesty, is there something I can do for you this morning?”

[color=#b97703]“Yeah, actually,”[/color] Cas nodded, taking a breath and sitting down across from the guard with his arms folded over his knees. [color=#b97703]“I… got a message from an unknown number last night.”[/color]

“You did?” Immediately, Jacob’s brows furrowed with concern and he leaned forward in an urgent posture. “What did it say?”

[color=#b97703]“Whoever it is said he has Iris.”[/color] Despite his best efforts, Cas couldn’t stop the note of worry from slipping into his voice. [color=#b97703]“He demanded that I step down as king or else she’ll suffer… and he sent photos.”[/color]

Jacob pursed his lips. “Did you respond?”

[color=#b97703]“I did, but I told him I wasn’t going to give in to his demands. He sent another photo after that.”[/color]

“Do you mind if I look?”

The king nodded. He dug his phone out of his pocket and pulled up the text thread, winced at the sight of the photos, and slid the device across the desk for the other man to take. While Jacob reviewed the messages and attached pictures, he went on, [color=#b97703]“I think I know who sent these, because he called her ‘my girlfriend.’ Before she came to the Capital, Iris was with this crazy guy… the same one who shot me while I was stuck in one of the districts. I wouldn’t put it past him to do all of this to her, even though he talks about her like he still has feelings.”[/color]

“And I’m guessing you’re showing these to me because you want me to get the military involved?” Jacob arched his brows.

[color=#b97703]“Well…”[/color] Cas shuffled his feet underneath the desk.

“Your Majesty,” the guard sighed. “I understand your worries, but to be frank, I’m much more concerned about the fact that this man got ahold of your personal number. I don’t like that one bit, and I think it’s more important that I spend my time investigating how that information was leaked—”

As he was speaking, the phone in his hand buzzed, and Jacob looked down at it with a frown as he saw that the same unknown number had just sent a new message. This one, a video. His eyes flicked back up to Caspian, who was mirroring his confused expression, before he turned the phone’s volume all the way down to zero and pressed play. Holding it at an angle to conceal the contents from the king, he fought a grimace as he watched the man on the screen bury a knife in Iris’s torso while he kissed her. Cas’s theory about a deranged ex was definitely looking possible.

He also felt a stab of anger within himself that caught him off guard. He wasn’t close to Iris by any means, yet watching someone torture her like that made him grip the phone tighter and clench his jaw. A wound like that was no joke either. If there was no one around to give her medical attention, she wasn’t going to survive it, and he suspected that was the point, since the sender had indicated that he wouldn’t hold back if the king didn’t adhere to his conditions. The man behind this ploy was wicked.

[color=#b97703]“Did he send something else?”[/color]

Caspian’s question tore Jacob out of his red haze, and he looked up again, calculating. “Yes,” he answered honestly after a pause. “But I don’t think you should look at it. He’s just trying to torment you.”

[color=#b97703]“Why? What did he send?”[/color] Cas paled slightly, extending a hand to take the phone back.

“I’m sure you can guess, given the photos he sent last night,” Jacob replied, though he didn’t move to hand over the phone right away. “For your own sanity, you should let me delete this one.”

Cas pursed his lips. [color=#b97703]“She’s… still alive in the new photo… right?”[/color]

Jacob nodded. “I’d also like to keep this for a while, if you’ll allow me. The men in software security need to analyze it, so we can find out if it was hacked.”

[color=#b97703]“Okay,”[/color] the king frowned again, bouncing a leg restlessly. So far, the conversation wasn’t going his way at all. He’d come to Jacob in the hopes of getting something done about Iris, not his cellphone. While the latter was important too, since it was a matter of national security, he cared more about the person who was potentially at risk of losing her life. And he wasn’t going to leave until he got a straighter answer.

[color=#b97703]“You can do whatever you want with the phone. I don’t care, but Iris matters to me, Jacob,”[/color] he said forwardly, his fear transitioning into a more serious expression. [color=#b97703]“Can’t you spare at least a task force or something to help me find her and bring her back? I can’t just leave her out there with that psycho. He could actually kill her.”[/color]

Jacob remained quiet for a moment, his eyes dropping to the screen again with the macabre thumbnail for the video he’d just watched. Iris’s captor may have already killed her. However, he still found himself nodding as he lifted his gaze to the king’s face once more. After seeing what was being done to her, he had to agree with Caspian, albeit reluctantly. Even if it was too late, they would have both hated themselves for not trying.

“Fine,” he conceded. “I’ll put together a team to see if we can find out where she is.”