crashing quietly | c.l.

Charles didn't wait for protocol.
Didn't wait for security, or press management, or whoever the hell thought they were in charge.

He pushed through the crowd — focused, frantic — shoulders squared like a soldier on instinct.

Then — a wall.

Two security guards stepped directly in his path, arms out, chests up.
Bad timing. Worse tone.

"Sir, we need you to calm down—"

Charles:
"Get out of my way."

"You're not cleared for that area—"

"I don't care."

He moved to shove past, but one of the guards — taller, louder, wrong place, wrong time — planted both hands on his chest.

"Don't touch me," Charles growled.

The second guard — Spanish accent thick, tone sharp — cut in:
"You're not going through, I don't care who you are."

Charles' fist came up. Fast. Unthinking.

Max grabbed him by the arm. Hard.
Carlos stepped between them, eyes blazing.

"¡No toques a mi hermano!"
(Don't touch my brother!)

The Spanish-speaking guard shoved back.

"Está fuera de control."
(He's out of control.)

Carlos squared up, jaw clenched.

"¿Y tú qué harías si fuera tu familia?"
(And what would you do if it were your family?)

"¡Estoy haciendo mi trabajo!"
(I'm doing my job!)

"¡Pues hazlo sin empujar a la gente que está sufriendo!"
(Then do it without pushing people who are suffering!)

The English-speaking guard stepped forward again.

"He swings, he's gone—"

Max exploded.
His voice — usually controlled, cool — was suddenly a thunderclap.

"She's missing."

Silence.

Max's eyes burned.
"You want him to stand still while the girl he loves has gone missing?"

"Let him move." Carlos said, voice cutting like glass. "Or I'll move you."

The guards looked between the three of them.

Then — slowly — they stepped aside.

Charles didn't say thank you.
Didn't make eye contact.
He just ran.

All he needed was the still of the frame—
The security footage.

Cara.

Stepping behind the booth.

Then him.

Matteo.
Walking too close.
Smiling like the devil in designer shoes.

He didn't breathe.
Didn't blink.

"She followed him," he said, voice like gravel.

"She didn't," Lando snapped behind him. "She was trying to play it cool. She texted you."

That made it worse.
So much worse.

She tried to stay safe.
Tried to give him a heads-up.
And they missed it.

Charles barely noticed his hands shaking until the tablet in front of him started to blur. He set it down too fast, too hard. His vision tunneled.

"Where is she now?"