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Chapter 19 Her All Along
Last Updated:
2025-01-13 18:34:27
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Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 20 Discovery
(Lila)I sat in the police station, sketching on a notepad. Every detail of that basement from fifteen years ago came back—the damp walls, the uneven floor, the symbols I’d carved to feel less alone.“And you’re sure about these markings?” Detective Dale slid another photo across his desk. James sat huddled in the same corner where I used to draw.Nick squeezed my hand under the table. He hadn’t left my side since Grace called the police.“The layout is exact,” I said, adding another detail to my sketch. “That pipe in the corner—we used it to track time. Every hour it would make this clanking sound.”“How did Grace override the kidnappers’ no-police rule?” Nick asked.Detective Dale sighed. “She claims she couldn’t take the waiting anymore. Showed up here hysterical around dawn.”“Where is she now?”“Interview room two with her lawyer. She’s been…difficult.”I focused on my drawing, trying to capture every detail. “There was a door, heavy metal. They’d bring food through a slot at the
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(Lila)“Answer me,” Alexander blocked the bathroom doorway, holding up the prenatal vitamin bottle. “Why is my sister taking these?”Nick kept his arm around my waist. “This really isn’t the place—”“You knocked her up?” Alexander yelled. “That’s why this engagement happened so fast?”“Alex, please lower your voice,” I begged. Other officers were starting to glance our way.“Lower my voice? My baby sister is pregnant and rushing into marriage with Nicholas Baldwin, of all people!”“Not here.” I grabbed both their arms and pulled them into an empty interview room, shutting the door. “The whole station doesn’t need to hear this.”Alexander paced the small room. “How long?”“About eight weeks,” I admitted.“Eight weeks? And you’re already engaged? Moving awful fast there, Nicholas.”Nick crossed his arms. “I don’t appreciate what you’re implying.”“No? Then explain why my sister spent a year with your nephew only to suddenly end up pregnant and engaged to you weeks later?”My stomach roi
Last Updated : 2025-01-13Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 22 The Basement Again
(Lila)I found Nick in his Baldwin Tower office at sunset. He sat there signing papers like nothing was wrong. Like he hadn’t spent months plotting behind my back.“Explain this.” I slapped Alexander’s documents, now printed, onto his desk, scattering his neat piles. Charts and projections I’d never spilled across the surface, like the restructuring documents kept secret from my family.Nick glanced at them without flinching. “I see Alexander’s been digging.”“Secret meetings with our Asian partners? Restructuring plans that cut me out?” My hands shook as I spread out more papers. “Were you going to tell me any of this?”“Eventually.” He stood, buttoning his suit jacket. “Once everything was in place.”“In place for what? A takeover?”“A necessary transition.” Nick walked to his wall of windows overlooking the city and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Your father’s running Montgomery Industries into the ground. Someone had to step in.”“And that someone had to be you?” I followed him
Last Updated : 2025-01-13Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 23 Protection
(Lila)I stared at the freshly carved symbols. Nick was searching the basement for an exit, but all exits were closed, and we were stuck here. There was no way out.“Someone was studying me,” I whispered. “Learning my patterns.”“What do you mean?”“These marks.” I traced them. “They’re not just copies. They’re exact. Down to how deep I carved, which direction I dragged the blade—”A memory hit—the rusty nail I’d found in that basement corner, using it to scratch protection into concrete while Ethan slept beside me. I’d worked through the night, my small hands bleeding.“This one.” I touched a specific symbol. “See how the line breaks here? That happened because I was crying so hard I could barely see. My hand slipped.”Nick stepped closer. “And they copied even that detail?”“Perfectly.” I moved to the next symbol. “This curve—I had to do it three times because my fingers were shaking. You can still see the extra marks. They must have studied everything from fifteen years ago.”“Why
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(Lila)My face was flat against the hard concrete floor when I came to. My head throbbed, and my mouth was dry from the chloroform. I blinked, trying to focus on the light that was coming through a high, grimy window.“Nick?” I rasped, pushing myself up on shaky arms.“Over here.” I heard his voice from my left. I turned to find him chained to a pipe—the same pipe I’d used to track time fifteen years ago.“Are you okay?”“Been better.” He yanked at the chains. “Though I have to say, this isn’t how I pictured spending time with you.”A small whimper drew my attention to the corner. James crouched there, knees pulled to his chest, surrounded by scratched symbols on the walls.“James?” I crawled toward him, ignoring the pain. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m Lila.”He pressed further into the corner. “You’re the lady my mom hates.”“That’s right.” I stopped a few feet away, not wanting to scare him. “Are you hurt?”He shook his head, but I caught how he cradled his right hand.“Can I see?” I held ou
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(Lila)I lunged for Nick’s chains, yanking at them desperately as multiple people came down the stairs, toward us. The metal dug into my palms but I kept pulling, even as my fingers kept missing the lock.“There has to be a way,” I muttered, searching the ground for anything I could use as a tool. “Something to pick the lock, or—”“They’re coming,” Nick whispered, his spare phone pressed to his ear. “We’re in a basement near the freight tracks, just past the old factory district. Everyone’s alive but—signal’s gone.”James clutched my arm so tight I could feel his nails digging in. “Are they coming back?”“Shh.” I grabbed a rusty pipe from the floor, trying to use it as leverage on Nick’s chains. The metal was mostly useless and made an awful screeching sound that stayed in my ears until I felt them ring, but I kept trying.“Please work, please work,” I begged, ramming the pipe against the chain links. My arms hurt so much from hitting I couldn’t even feel my fingers.Nick leaned forwa
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(Ethan)“Trace that call now!” I slammed my hands on Detective Dale’s desk. “Nick said they’re near freight tracks, didn't he? In a basement. That’s something, isn’t it?”“Mr. Baldwin.” Dale barely glanced up from his computer. “We have every available unit—”“Every unit isn’t enough!” I yelled and made myself even hoarser than I already was. “My son is out there. Lila’s out there. And you’re just sitting here typing!”Dale stayed behind his desk, watching quietly as phones rang constantly. Officers rushed past with papers, barking into radios, but nothing ever happened fast enough!“My baby girl…my poor baby girl…”It was Caroline Montgomery sitting in a corner chair. She had not stopped weeping since the police had informed her of Nick’s call. Her sobs got louder with every minute, and they made my head hurt.Jonathan Montgomery paced nearby, his phone pressed to his ear while his teeth ground together.“You understand how I feel? No, Senator, you clearly don’t understand! This isn’
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(Nick)The huge man shoved me harder against the pipes, checking my chains while Lila struggled against her own ropes as she sat beside me.My wrists ached, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Lila and James. The man had tied her here as soon as he’d grabbed her and James from the tunnel, leaving only James free.“Leave her alone!” I yanked at the chains as the man moved to Lila and grabbed her chin, examining her face.“The mighty Montgomery princess.” He smiled cruelly. “Not so high and mighty now, are you?”I pulled against the metal uselessly, trying to get to Lila somehow. “Get your hands off her!”“Robert. Darling.” The blonde woman—I knew her from somewhere, but I couldn’t place it—touched the big man’s arm. “Perhaps we should give them some space?”Robert released Lila roughly. “Check their restraints again. Make sure they’re secure.”She moved to Lila first to check the rope, but I could see her shaking.“I’m sorry,” I heard her whisper. “I never wanted this.”“Save it.” Lila jer
Last Updated : 2025-01-13
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Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 34 Aftermath
(Lila)I sat hunched in the hospital waiting room’s plastic chair, watching Nick pace. His suit was still covered in dirt and blood from the basement, but he wouldn’t leave to change. None of us would leave, not with James being examined behind those doors.“Sit down before you get even more tired,” I said, but Nick kept walking.“Can’t. How long does a basic examination take?”“They’re being thorough.” My hand touched my still-flat stomach as if on its own accord. “After what James said about Grace…”Ethan hadn’t moved from his position against James’s door since we arrived. His clothes were as ruined as Nick’s. Dried blood crusted the collar where Robert had split his lip.“Mr. Baldwin?” A nurse approached Ethan. “We need to document your injuries too.”“I’m fine.” Ethan didn’t look away from the door. “Focus on my son.”“At least let us clean that cut—”“I said I’m fine.”The nurse retreated, shaking her head. I understood her frustration, but I also understood Ethan. None of us co
Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 33 Breaking Free
(Lila)Romy stood over Robert’s fallen body, having pulled back from Alexander. Her hands shook slightly, but she kept her eyes on her fallen husband and watched for any sign of movement. His blood spilled on the floor.“Secure the scene!” A detective said as police checked every room and arrested all the thugs who hadn’t managed to escape. “Check all exits! Medics, stand by!”Nick’s fingers found mine. I couldn’t take my eyes off James and Ethan. Grace had quietened for now, but the boy still clung to his father like a lifeline.“Sir, we need to examine your son,” a paramedic approached them cautiously. “Standard procedure after a hostage situation.”“No.” James pressed closer to Ethan’s legs. “Please don’t make me move.”“It’s okay, buddy.” Ethan stroked his head. “They just want to make sure you’re not hurt.”“But what if she comes while they’re checking me?” James whispered. “What if Mom tries to take me?”Grace glared at him, but said nothing. A female paramedic knelt beside them
Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 32 Father and Son
(Lila)Nick’s fist connected with the last thug’s jaw with a sickening crack. The man fell on the basement floor, joining his unconscious partners. Blood was dripping from Nick’s face as he leaned against the wall, breathing hard.“We need to go,” I touched his arm gently. “Your wrist looks bad.”“I’ve had worse.” Nick tried to straighten but winced. “Robert’s still out there somewhere. He ran upstairs when he heard cars approaching.”The basement felt different now with the thugs unconscious and Robert gone—less threatening somehow, but the symbols on the walls still made my skin crawl. My own desperate carvings from fifteen years ago, and the ones copied and twisted into something cruel.The silence broke with a yell—high-pitched, terrified.“James!” I grabbed Nick’s sleeve. “That came from outside. It was James!”We ran up the narrow basement stairs together, his arm shooting out to hold me when my foot caught on a broken step.“Wait.” Nick pulled me to a stop near the top. “Listen
Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 31 History Repeats
(Ethan)“They found him!” Detective Dale burst into the station’s waiting room. “James is safe.”My heart nearly stopped. “Where? How?”“Romy Leroy brought him in.” Dale checked his notes. “Former model, apparently—”“Romy?” Alexander’s head snapped up from where he’d been coordinating with his security team. He went completely pale. Ashen. “How did she—”I barely registered his reaction, already grabbing my coat. “Is James hurt?”“Asleep in the break room. Seems physically unharmed, but—”I was running before he finished speaking. Behind me, I heard Alexander’s frenzy.“Tell me everything about Romy,” he demanded from Dale. “Where has she been? Is she okay? What—”His voice faded as I ran through the station. Officers jumped out of my way as I rounded the corners, following signs to the break room.And there he was.James curled up on a worn couch, his small body covered with someone’s police jacket. Beside him sat Romy Leroy, exactly as I remembered her from magazine covers years ag
Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 30 Four Against One
(Nick)Robert’s men advanced while James sobbed in the tunnel. I kept myself between them and Lila, scanning for anything I could use as a weapon. There were some rusty pipes there, but most were bolted down tight. The old chains on the floor were too far to reach.“Get him,” Robert commanded, adjusting his cufflinks.The first man rushed me and tried to punch me. I sidestepped, grabbing his outstretched arm and using his attempt to slam him into the concrete wall. My martial arts training kicked in instantly—block, counterstrike, dodge the follow-up. The second man came to my left, pulling a wicked-looking knife from his jacket. Behind me, James cried harder. “Help! I’m stuck!”“James, honey?” Lila pressed herself closer to the tunnel entrance. “Can you hear me?”“I can’t move! The walls are closing in!”“Yes you can,” Lila said calmly despite everything happening around us. “Remember what we practiced? In for four counts, out for four. Do it with me now.”The knife-wielding thug s
Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 29 The Escape
(Lila)“Hurry!” I urged.Romy fumbled with a ring of keys she’d managed to retrieve from her purse, trying them one by one in Nick’s chains. Just like before, I kept hold of James’s ankle as he climbed into the tunnel entrance, making sure he was safe.The stairs creaked above—Robert would come any moment.“There’s too many,” Romy whispered, her fingers shaking as she tried another key. “I don’t know which—”“Try the brass ones first,” Nick said to her even as his eyes never left my face. “Most high-end locks use brass keys.”I still held James and guided him deeper into the tunnel, urging him to go on. “Remember what I told you? About being brave?”James clutched my hand. “Yes, I remember, but…but what if I can’t get to the police?”“You can.” I leaned toward him, touching his head. “Because you’re so brave. Count your breaths with me. In for four, out for four…”His small hand found mine in the tunnel. “You’ll stay until I’m out, right?”“The whole time.”“Promise?”“I promise. And
Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 28 Confessions
(Lila)“Grace? What does Grace have to do with this?” I fought my rope hard, trying to catch Romy’s eye, but she wouldn’t look at me.“We need ropes for the boy. Maybe chains for Little Lila.” Robert checked his platinum watch and then looked up at Romy, staring hard enough to make even me uncomfortable. “I can’t stay all day, and clearly, they can’t be trusted.”He grabbed James’s arm, dragging him back toward me. James stumbled, falling against my legs.“Careful!” I tried to cushion his fall despite my bound hands.“Sit.” Robert shoved us both against the wall. “Don’t move.”James pressed his small body closer to me, as if he’d find an escape there. I wished I could hold him properly, protect him from all this.“I wish…” James whispered so quietly I almost missed it. “I wish you were my mom.”My heart squeezed painfully. I thought of the baby growing inside me—James’s sibling, though he didn’t know it. Wouldn’t know it, if we didn’t get out of here.Nick’s eyes found mine and we kep
Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 27 Hidden Motives
(Nick)The huge man shoved me harder against the pipes, checking my chains while Lila struggled against her own ropes as she sat beside me.My wrists ached, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Lila and James. The man had tied her here as soon as he’d grabbed her and James from the tunnel, leaving only James free.“Leave her alone!” I yanked at the chains as the man moved to Lila and grabbed her chin, examining her face.“The mighty Montgomery princess.” He smiled cruelly. “Not so high and mighty now, are you?”I pulled against the metal uselessly, trying to get to Lila somehow. “Get your hands off her!”“Robert. Darling.” The blonde woman—I knew her from somewhere, but I couldn’t place it—touched the big man’s arm. “Perhaps we should give them some space?”Robert released Lila roughly. “Check their restraints again. Make sure they’re secure.”She moved to Lila first to check the rope, but I could see her shaking.“I’m sorry,” I heard her whisper. “I never wanted this.”“Save it.” Lila jer
Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 26 Revelations
(Ethan)“Trace that call now!” I slammed my hands on Detective Dale’s desk. “Nick said they’re near freight tracks, didn't he? In a basement. That’s something, isn’t it?”“Mr. Baldwin.” Dale barely glanced up from his computer. “We have every available unit—”“Every unit isn’t enough!” I yelled and made myself even hoarser than I already was. “My son is out there. Lila’s out there. And you’re just sitting here typing!”Dale stayed behind his desk, watching quietly as phones rang constantly. Officers rushed past with papers, barking into radios, but nothing ever happened fast enough!“My baby girl…my poor baby girl…”It was Caroline Montgomery sitting in a corner chair. She had not stopped weeping since the police had informed her of Nick’s call. Her sobs got louder with every minute, and they made my head hurt.Jonathan Montgomery paced nearby, his phone pressed to his ear while his teeth ground together.“You understand how I feel? No, Senator, you clearly don’t understand! This isn’
