Semua Bab His to Protect: Billionaire's Secret Agent: Bab 1 - Bab 10

Chapter OneThird Trimester: You may feel as if there is no possible way that your belly could grow any bigger. But there is your baby still has plenty of growing to do. During these last months of pregnancy, your rapidly maturing baby will grow from two and half pounds to between six and nine pounds. Achiness, fatigue, heartburn, varicose veins, and Braxton Hicks contractions are just a few of the delights you will come to know in this last stage of pregnancy.***“Nobody in the history of pregnancy has ever been a woman this pregnant before,” Kim said with a groan as she sank back into the plush chair in her sister’s penthouse apartment.Her younger sister Mandy stood nearby while she bounced her four-month-old baby, Charlotte, on her hip. Kim smiled as the baby gave her toothless grin and waved her fists about.“She truly is the most beautiful baby in the world,” Kim commented as she absently rubbed her b

Chapter ThreeNate flinched as if he’d been punched. When Alyssa Vauban had come to him last week, he’d told his secretary to refer her to one of the other partners. They’d dated off and on after grad school, but there were too many obstacles in the relationship.Besides the lukewarm sex, which in Nate’s estimation was enough to pull the plug, Alyssa’s family had never liked him. The Vauban’s’ money came from trade agreements with the British merchants more than a century ago.Originally from a small island, Singapore, off the Malay peninsula, Alyssa’s grandfather Bao Chang had brought his fortune and young bride to America. Having only one daughter, they’d pushed and encouraged Alyssa’s mother, Li Jing, to marry in her station.An obedient daughter, Li Jing married Walter Vauban III, and combined the Chang and Vauban fortunes. It was said that they were richer than God. Nate had never stood a

Chapter FiveNever in Alyssa’s twenty-nine years on the planet had she ever considered she might be reduced to hiding behind a fern tree clutching her only remaining Louboutin pump as a weapon.Surely there had to be an explanation as to why her life had been completely upended. After all, a fish cannot live out of water, and Alyssa had once believed that she, an heiress, couldn’t live without money. Life had a cruel manner of teaching her otherwise.“Ma’am, we’ve searched the apartment,” an officer said, just to the left of where Alyssa was crouched. “Whoever did this is long gone.”Alyssa nodded mechanically. In her mind, she knew the officer was just trying to assure her she wasn’t in any immediate danger. It might have been in the way he was eyeing her, like she was teetering on the edge of a cliff. Knowing that she was safe and feeling safe were two very different things.Safety had been

Chapter Seven“What happened next?” Mandy asked as she switched baby Charlotte from the right breast to the left.Kim snatched another piece of Mrs. H’s freshly baked banana bread before answering. “What could she say to that? It’s obvious she’s hiding something, and Agent Tabor feels that she’s in danger, so he wants to keep her close to his side.”“Do you think Alyssa is in danger?” Mandy asked.Kim thought about the swarming officers and detectives in the hallway of Alyssa’s floor. Then she pictured the ransacked apartment. “I do. I was so angry at her for coming on to Nate, but now I don’t know if she was really coming on to him. I feel stupid for making such a big deal of things.”“What do you mean?” Mandy asked with a frown.Kim thought for a moment. “You know when someone is just clueless about everyone and everything around them?&r

Chapter Nine The rhythmic sound of the basketball smacking against the gym floor grounded Nate. It was like old times: playing ball with Elliot when they were kids.Of course, that had been at the community center with no net and a bent rim. These days he played twice a week in Manhattan’s most exclusive gym for the rich and famous.“Where’s your head at?” Elliot teased as he scored yet another basket on Nate. “We both know that I’m mediocre at best, and yet here I am handing you your ass.”Nate rolled his eyes. “So, I let you have a few points.”Elliot snorted. “It’s sixteen to four. That’s not a few points, genius. What gives?”“It’s just a case I’ve been working on,” Nate replied, snatching the ball back and taking it out of bounds to reset the play.“Does this case happen to include an extremely hot ex-girlfr