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Chapter 21 Business Plans
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2025-01-13 18:35:23
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Billionaire, 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
Last Updated : 2025-01-13Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 24 Full Circle
(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
Last Updated : 2025-01-13Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 26: Escape Plan
(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
Last Updated : 2025-01-13Billionaire, 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’
Last Updated : 2025-01-13Billionaire, 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
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(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
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(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
Last Updated : 2025-01-13
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Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 120 Deep Cover
(Lila)The next several hours involved intense preparation. The FBI’s cyber team created an elaborate digital trap—a seemingly vulnerable server containing therapeutic records, family communications, and security protocols.Each document had been chosen to appear genuine while containing subtle markers that would help trace anyone who accessed them.“The honeypot is live,” the lead technician announced finally. “Already detecting preliminary probes of the security perimeter.”“That was fast,” Nick remarked.“They’ve been waiting for an opening,” Grace said, watching the technical displays. “This fits their established pattern—continuous surveillance for exploitable weaknesses.”Carter joined us, tablet in hand. “Now we wait for them to commit to the intrusion. Once they begin extracting data in earnest, we’ll have multiple tracing options.”“How long?” Alexander asked.“Depends on their caution level,” the technician replied. “Could be hours. Could be days.”But it wasn’t hours or day
Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 119 The Honeypot
(Lila)Fleur’s laughter rang through the room as we all stared, bewildered, at the crib. I rushed over, scooping her into my arms, frantically checking for any sign of distress. She only giggled harder, reaching for my face.“What did he do?” I demanded, turning to the others.Nick was already beside us, his hands gently examining Fleur. “Nothing, as far as I can tell. She seems perfectly fine.”On the screen, Krane smiled. “Fascinating, isn’t it? The expectation of pain creates more fear than pain itself. You’ve just experienced the fundamental principle of fear architecture—the anticipation is the weapon, not the event.”“Shut it off,” I hissed at the technicians.“No, wait,” Carter countered, signaling them to continue tracing. “We need to keep him talking.”Krane continued as if he could hear our debate. “You believe you’ve reclaimed your narrative, Lila. That by confronting your trauma, you’ve disarmed it. But fear isn’t rational. It lives in the space between threat and action—t
Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 118 Psychological Warfare
(Lila)“James is fine,” Ethan’s voice came through the phone, tight with fear. “We’ve tripled his security detail. Nobody’s getting near him.”“You’re sure?” I pressed, pacing the hotel suite.“I’m with him right now,” Ethan assured me. “Playing video games with two armed agents in the room.”After Krane’s message, we’d immediately verified everyone’s safety. Ethan and Cara had James at a separate secure location. Romy remained under Alexander’s protective detail at yet another facility. Nick and Ethan’s parents were overseas, surrounded by private security. My parents were downstairs.“They’re trying to destabilize us,” Carter explained as I ended the call. “Classic psychological warfare—implying vulnerability without actually demonstrating it.”“Like the basement,” I murmured, the memory rising unbidden.Nick looked up sharply. “What?”“In the basement, twenty years ago.” I sank into a chair, Fleur sleeping in my arms. “They never actually hurt us physically. They just made us belie
Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 117 Counter-Surveillance
(Lila)I pressed my back against the headboard of the hotel bed, watching Fleur sleep in the portable crib the FBI had arranged. After three days in this new, supposedly secure hotel, I still jumped at every sound, checked every corner.The suite door opened as Nick and Alexander returned from their latest security briefing. Nick crossed immediately to Fleur’s crib, his shoulders finally relaxing when he saw her sleeping peacefully.“Any news?” I asked quietly.“We’ve identified three more Sterling operatives,” Nick replied, sinking onto the edge of the bed. “Two hotel employees at our previous location and a driver from my company.”“Grace confirmed all three,” Alexander added, loosening his tie. “Her intel has been solid.”The past seventy-two hours had transformed our situation. After Grace’s revelation, the FBI had moved us to a military-grade secure facility disguised as a boutique hotel. Grace had been debriefed continuously, identifying Sterling’s people and methodologies in de
Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 116 Grace’s Insight
(Lila)Fleur’s screams tore through me as I clutched her against my chest. Her tiny body shook violently, her eyes wild with a terror no baby should ever know.“Make it stop!” I pleaded, rocking her desperately. “What’s happening to her?”The FBI agents swarmed around us, checking equipment, scanning for signals, searching for whatever had triggered my daughter’s sudden panic.“Sonic frequency,” Grace said suddenly from her corner of the hotel suite. She’d been so quiet I’d almost forgotten she was there. Now she stood, walking toward us. “Robert used it on his targets. Infrasound—you can’t hear it, but it creates terror, panic.”“Shut down all devices,” Agent Carter ordered the room sharply. “Now!”Nick yanked cords from walls while agents deactivated equipment. Fleur’s screams gradually subsided, replaced by hiccupping sobs against my shoulder.“How did you know?” I asked Grace shakily.“Robert loved psychological weapons,” she replied, watching Fleur with genuine concern. “Said inf
Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 115 Walls of Silence
(Nick)Jonathan Montgomery froze at the accusation as its poison spread through the room. He sat on the hotel suite sofa, looking suddenly older and more vulnerable than I’d ever seen him.“Dad?” Lila prompted, her voice barely above a whisper. “Is it true? Did you know Victor Krane before the kidnapping?”Jonathan stared at his hands. “Not as Krane. He used a different name then—Vincent Kemp. Security consultant specializing in executive protection.”I swore violently, turning away to control my rage. Ethan remained perfectly still, his face blank with disbelief.“You brought him into our lives?” Ethan asked finally, gritted his teeth between words.“He came highly recommended,” Jonathan replied weakly. “Multiple endorsements from colleagues in the industry. Impressive credentials.”“And he suggested Blackwood’s services,” Alexander stated flatly. “Connected you.”Jonathan nodded miserably. “Said Blackwood was the best in the business. Discrete, thorough. I had no idea they were work
Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 114 Victor Krane
(Nick)The elevator descended to the hotel lobby in silence. I stood with Ethan, Carter and two armed agents, leaving Alexander to protect Lila and Fleur in the secure suite. The phone connection with Blackwood had ended abruptly after Malcolm Chambers’ arrival was announced.“This is obviously a trap,” Ethan muttered, adjusting his jacket nervously.“Of course it is,” I agreed tightly. “But if Chambers is here in person, it’s our best opportunity to end this.”Carter checked her sidearm discreetly. “Remember, we need him alive and talking. He’s our direct link to Blackwood and Krane.”The elevator doors opened to reveal a transformed hotel lobby. Most civilians had been evacuated, replaced by FBI agents positioned strategically throughout the space.In the center, sitting calmly in a leather armchair as if waiting for a business meeting, was a man in his late forties with salt-and-pepper hair and expensive glasses.“Malcolm Chambers, I presume,” I said coldly as we approached.The ma
Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 113 The Client List
(Nick)The voice on Lila’s phone continued smoothly. “Your father commissioned quite an elaborate project. ‘Generational intervention’ was the term he preferred.”“Who is this?” I demanded, moving to Lila’s side.“Ah, Nicholas Baldwin,” the voice acknowledged. “The man who built an empire on another man’s grave. How fitting that we should all converge now.”“Kenneth Blackwood,” Carter said into the phone, taking control of the situation. “This is Special Agent Carter, FBI. We’ve located your Connecticut property. Your archives are now in federal custody.”A pause, then a soft laugh. “Merely one of many repositories, Agent Carter. Though I’m impressed you found it. Your reputation is well-deserved.”Jonathan lunged for the phone. “Blackwood! Tell them the truth, damn you! I never hired you to take my daughter!”“Semantics, Jonathan,” Blackwood replied dismissively. “You paid for a comprehensive fear architecture program. The specific methodologies were left to our discretion.”“You’re
Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours Chapter 112 Blackwood’s Shadow
(Nick)“They can’t possibly be watching us here,” Lila insisted, as FBI agents swept the hotel room for surveillance devices. “We’re under federal protection.”I paced the perimeter, checking every corner, every vent, every light fixture. “We thought our homes were secure too.”Grace huddled in an armchair, watching the activity. Since the coordinated attacks had begun, she’d remained mostly silent, seemingly lost in her own thoughts.“Grace,” Agent Carter approached her directly. “We need everything you know about Kenneth Blackwood.”Grace looked up, startled. “I told you what Robert said—”“Not enough,” I interrupted sharply. “They’re targeting our children. If you know anything else, anything at all…”“I-I might,” Grace admitted reluctantly. “I didn’t think it was important before.”Ethan moved closer, sitting across from his ex-wife. “What do you remember?”Grace twisted her fingers nervously. “Robert kept a box of mementos. Things that gave him power, he said. There was a photogr
