All Chapters of Billionaire, I'm No Longer Yours: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

(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

(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

(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

(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

(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