All Chapters of The Billionaire Ex's Secret Baby: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Tracy POVNoah didn't ask me to stay behind this time. He simply reached for my coat and handed it to me, the gesture small and wordless, but it landed in my chest with more weight than any apology could have carried. A week ago, even a few days ago, he might have made the decision for both of us before I'd finished pouring my coffee.Instead, he held the coat out, waited for me to take it, and said only, "Together," the same word we'd been handing back and forth between us like a promise neither of us wanted to break again."Together," I echoed and pulled it on, grateful beyond words that we'd found our way back to that single word so quickly after nearly losing it over something as simple and as complicated as fear dressed up as protection.The drive to Marisol's apartment felt longer than it probably was. The city slid by in gray, unremarkable blocks, and my mind kept circling the same worn groove it always found in moments like this, the quiet, insistent voice that liked to remind

Noah POVWe moved fast. Marisol grabbed her keys without bothering to change out of the cardigan she'd worn into her own kitchen an hour earlier, Daniel radioed ahead for a car, and within minutes we were all crammed into his SUV, Marisol giving directions in short, clipped sentences while I drove faster than I probably should have through streets slick with early evening rain."Left here," she said, pointing. "Then straight for about a mile.""You're sure this address is still current?" I asked, taking the turn harder than I meant to, tires hissing against wet asphalt."No," she admitted, her voice tight. "But it's the last one I have. If he's already gone, someone who knows where he went next might still be nearby. These moves don't usually happen far apart. Whoever's protecting him keeps him close to familiar ground."Tracy sat behind me, close enough that I could feel her hand resting on my shoulder every time I took a corner too sharp, a quiet, steadying weight I was grateful for

Noah POVTracy put the phone on speaker and held it between us in the dark car, and for a second all I could hear was Samuel breathing on the other end. Then he said it again, slowly, the way a child repeats something he has just been taught. "Elias, Mom. His name is Elias."My hands tightened on the wheel until my knuckles ached. Elias was my grandfather's name. It was a name nobody in my family had spoken out loud in years, and I had never once said it in front of Samuel. It wasn't on any photograph in our home, and it wasn't in any story I had told him at bedtime. A five-year-old could not have pulled it out of thin air.Tracy kept her voice soft for him. "That's a lovely name, sweetheart. Are you okay? Do you want us to come home right now?""I'm okay," Samuel said. "Marisol's friend is here. I just wanted you to know.""We're coming," she said. "Go back to sleep and we'll see you in a little while."When the call ended, nobody spoke. I looked in the mirror and saw Marisol with bo

Noah POVTracy’s fingers went cold in mine the moment she saw her own initials on the page. I felt it before I heard her voice shake, and my first instinct was the one I had been trying to unlearn for weeks. I wanted to take the ledger, tuck it under my arm, tell the dispatcher that none of this had ever happened, and have Daniel quietly handle every loose end before anyone could point a finger at the woman beside me.“We’ll take this with us,” I started, already reaching for the book. “And you won’t mention this visit to anyone, understand? I’ll make sure—”I stopped halfway through the sentence because Tracy was looking at me, and she did not look angry. She looked tired and a little frightened, like someone who had spent too many years watching other people decide what happened to her. I took my hand back from the ledger.“No,” I said. “That’s not mine to decide. What do you want to do, Tracy?”She blinked at me, and some of the color came back into her face. “I want a photo of the

Noah POVThe Harlow Rest Inn had six rooms, one night clerk, and a vending machine that hummed so loudly I could hear it from the parking lot. The clerk was asleep with his head on the desk and a paperback open under his cheek. Daniel rang the little silver bell three times before the man sat up, blinked at us, and handed over two keys without asking a single question.“Two rooms,” Daniel said, holding up one of them. “Mine has the vending machine on the other side of the wall. That’s either a blessing or a curse, and I’m not sure which yet.”“It’s a blessing,” Tracy said. “You’ve eaten nothing but pretzels for six hours.”“I had pie.”“Four slices of pie.”“A man needs variety,” Daniel said, and he went off down the hall with his grocery bag swinging, whistling softly. I heard his door close, and then I heard the vending machine start up on his side of the wall, followed by a muffled thump and a satisfied “Ah.”Tracy covered her mouth to keep from laughing. Then she looked down at th