Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Billionaire's secret baby bride : Kabanata 31 - Kabanata 40

Captive ShadowsIsabella’s POV---The safe room had been my refuge, my shield against the storm outside. I had trusted it, trusted Alexander’s world, and I had believed that nothing could touch me there. But the echo of gunfire and the flash of betrayal had taught me otherwise. Someone had found me. And now… I was completely alone.---The first thing I noticed was the cold.Not the familiar chill of the mansion’s marble, but the biting, unnatural cold of concrete walls in a place I didn’t recognize. I opened my eyes slowly, wincing at the dim light filtering through a barred window too high to reach. The air smelled of damp stone, rust, and something acrid—smoke? Burnt fabric?I tried to move. My wrists and ankles were bound with leather straps that dug into my skin. Every muscle screamed in protest, every breath catching like shards of glass in my chest.Panic surged. My mind raced. Where am I? What happened? Why didn’t anyone come for me?The memory of the gunshot, the broken glas

Isabella’s POVDarkness pressed against me like a living thing, thick and suffocating. The leather straps bit into my wrists and ankles, leaving angry red marks that burned when I moved. I had tried to wriggle free countless times, each effort more desperate than the last, but it was useless. Whoever had taken me had prepared everything meticulously.I sank to the cold stone floor, hugging my knees to my chest. My mind raced, thoughts tangling in fear and anger. Alexander… he’s coming, right? He’s looking for me. He has to be.A sound—a shuffle of boots—made me freeze, pulse hammering.“Move.” The masked figure’s voice was calm, almost gentle, but the underlying threat was palpable.I swallowed my fear. “Why are you doing this? What do you want from me?”The figure paused, tilting his head. “It’s not you I want. But you… you are the leverage. You are the key.”My stomach twisted. Leverage? Key? What does that mean?I refused to show my fear. I refused to give them satisfaction.“I wil

Isabella’s POVThe mansion was eerily silent after the first intruder fell, but the calm was deceptive. My body still trembled from adrenaline, but I could feel Alexander’s tension radiating off him in waves that made my stomach tighten. Every shadow seemed alive, every flicker of light a potential threat. I wanted to step back, to hide, but his grip on my hand anchored me in place.“Stay close,” he murmured, his voice low and tense. “Don’t let go.”I obeyed, my fingers entwined with his. There was no choice—I wouldn’t let go even if I wanted to. His presence was everything: a shield, a warning, and a storm all at once. The fear in my chest was still there, gnawing at me, but I had learned to channel it into awareness, to move cautiously, every step calculated.We crept through the hallways, the dim light from the chandeliers casting long shadows across the polished floors. The scent of leather, faint smoke, and adrenaline hung in the air. Every creak made me jump, every whisper of mo

Isabella's POVThe mansion was quiet that night—too quiet. After everything that had happened on the road, after the blood and chaos of the ambush, I thought silence would bring peace. Instead, it pressed against my skin like a suffocating weight, every shadow whispering secrets I wasn’t meant to hear.Alexander hadn’t spoken much since our return. He had gone straight to his private wing with his men, carrying the air of a storm contained inside human flesh. I knew that look; I had seen it before. It was the look of a man balancing rage and restraint, and whichever side won would determine whether the night ended in fire or ashes.I sat curled in the armchair of my room, staring at the black card still clutched in my hand. That ominous, wordless token had been left behind deliberately by the rival who dared to attack him on the road. No name, no crest, no signature. Just a symbol etched deep into its surface—an abstract serpent devouring its own tail, embossed in ink so dark it seeme

I thought I had known fear before.The cards. The whispers. The rattling door handles. All of it had wrapped around my chest like icy chains, suffocating me slowly. But nothing—nothing—prepared me for when the shadows decided to stop lurking and finally struck.It began with the silence.The kind of silence that doesn’t belong in a house full of guards, servants, and walls that usually pulsed with life. Alexander noticed it first. He always did. His head lifted from where he had been speaking in low tones with two of his men, his body stilling like a predator catching scent of prey.The silence stretched.And then it shattered.A gunshot tore through the night. One. Then another. Then an eruption of chaos—yells, the thundering of boots, the unmistakable symphony of war breaking loose inside our walls.My blood turned to ice.Alexander was already moving. He yanked me from the chair, shoving me against the wall with a force that nearly knocked the breath from me. “Stay here,” he ordere