All Chapters of The Wife Who Built The Billionaire : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

"Adrian." Isabelle shoved the phone into his hands, her voice shaking. "Look at this. Look at what just came through."He stared at the photograph for only a second before his whole body went rigid. "Who sent this?""I don't know. Unknown sender, no name, nothing." Isabelle's chest was heaving now, panic clawing its way up her throat. "She never got on that plane. They took her somewhere. Adrian, they're going to hurt her.""Let me see it again." Marcus's voice cut in sharply. He'd arrived minutes earlier with the flight information, and now he crowded close, snatching the phone from Adrian's hand before anyone could stop him. His eyes moved fast across the image. "That's not an airport tarmac. Look at the lighting. That's private. That's a hangar somewhere outside the city.""How do you know that?" Vanessa asked."Because I've flown out of half a dozen private strips with Adrian for the last seven years." Marcus's jaw tightened. "This one, the angle of that fence line, I think it's W

 "Nobody moves." Cole's voice cut sharp through the hangar as the second car rolled to a stop outside. "That includes whoever's in that vehicle."Isabelle's grip tightened on Adrian's hand. "That's him. That's Whitmore.""I see him." Cole didn't take his eyes off the doorway. "Officer Reyes, secure that vehicle. Nobody gets out until I say so."One of the uniformed officers jogged toward the car. For a moment nothing happened, just the low hum of the idling engine and the sound of everyone's breathing filling the hangar. Then the passenger door opened, and Daniel Whitmore stepped out slowly, hands raised just enough to look cooperative without actually looking afraid."Detective." His voice was calm, almost pleasant, like he was greeting an old acquaintance

 "That's not possible." Isabelle's voice came out flat, disbelieving. "Marcus, I've never signed a financial document in my life that wasn't for our household. I don't even work for the company.""I know." Marcus's hand was still shaking slightly as he held the phone out. "I don't know what he's talking about either. But he wouldn't send something like this unless he had proof of something.""Read it again," Adrian said. "Word for word."Marcus scrolled back up, his voice tight. "He says, quote, tell Isabelle Carter that the loan wasn't the only thing structured to hide where money really came from. Ask her about the wedding fund."Isabelle felt her stomach drop."What wedding fund?" Vanessa asked.

 "Open it," Isabelle said. "Whatever's in there, open it now."Adrian's thumb hovered over the screen for a second before he tapped it. The email loaded slowly, the hangar's weak signal stretching every second into something unbearable."It's short," he said, scanning it fast. "No name. No signature.""Read it out loud," Marcus said, stepping closer, his own face tight with dread.Adrian's voice came out low, careful, like the words themselves might detonate if he said them too fast."It says, quote, you both think tonight was about Whitmore, or Ashford, or Sophia's mother. You're still looking at the surface. I funded Adrian's first venture. I structured the account your mother used for the wedding. I've watched

 "I'm not letting you walk into that house by yourself." Adrian's voice was low, but there was no room for argument in it. "Whoever this is, he's already proven he'll hurt people to get what he wants. Look at Sophia.""I know what he's capable of," Isabelle said. "That's exactly why I have to go.""That makes no sense.""It makes perfect sense." She turned to face him fully, her voice steadier than she felt. "If he wanted to hurt me, he could have done it already. Tonight, in that hangar, at any point in the last four days. He hasn't. He's been circling, watching, waiting. He wants to talk, Adrian. Don't kill me.""You don't know that.""No," she admitted. "I don't. But I know that every single time someone in th