Alle Kapitel von Claimed By The Alpha Billionaire : Kapitel 11 – Kapitel 20

Chapter 11LenaI didn't sleep.Every time I closed my eyes, I heard my mother's voice.Don't let them take you to the eastern territory.By three in the morning, I gave up pretending rest was going to come.I pulled on a sweater and went to the office.The tower was quiet at that hour. The harbor beyond the glass was almost completely dark, broken only by the scattered lights of ships moving across the water.I sat at the desk and opened the files.Mara Vargas.The name looked different now.For sixteen years, she'd been a missing person in my mind. A name attached to a handful of memories and almost nothing else.Now I wasn't sure she had ever been missing at all.I pulled up the original disappearance report.September 14, 2010.I opened the next file.September 16, 2010.Another.September 21, 2010.Three reports.Same woman. Same disappearance.I frowned and compared the documents.The first had been filed shortly after she vanished.The second contained additional witness statem

Chapter 13LenaThe gates slammed shut hard enough to shake the windows.For one second, nobody moved.Then the darkness broke with the sound of weapons being drawn.“Stay where you are,” Marcus ordered.I couldn't see him.I could barely see Kai.But I could feel him.The bond between us tightened like a thread pulled suddenly taut.“Lena.”Kai's voice came from directly beside me.“I'm here.”“I know.”Something scraped across the floor upstairs.Victor Hale laughed softly.“You always were impatient, Kai.”Kai stepped forward.“Turn the lights back on.”“No.”The answer came from somewhere above us.“Not until you understand why you're here.”Marcus's voice came through the darkness.“Alpha, perimeter teams aren't responding.”Kai went still.“How many?”“All of them.”A pause.“Communications are down.”My stomach tightened.“We're trapped.”Kai's hand found mine.“Not yet.”His grip was firm but not painful.The pendant beneath my sweater had grown hot.I pulled it out.The silve

Chapter 15LenaThe house was too quiet.Not empty.Quiet.There was a difference, and every instinct I had learned the hard way told me to trust it.Kai stood near the entrance to the main hall, one hand resting against the edge of the doorway as he listened to Marcus through the earpiece.I couldn't hear Marcus's words clearly.I didn't need to.Kai's face told me enough.Something had changed."What is it?" I asked.He looked at me."The perimeter team found fresh tracks.""Outside?""Yes.""How many?""Four sets."My stomach tightened."Four people?""At least."The word hung between us.At least.I looked toward the dark windows.The Voss Estate had been abandoned for sixteen years.Yet someone had opened the gate.Someone had sent me photographs.Someone had been watching us.And now there were footprints around the house."How long ago?""Less than an hour."I folded my arms."Then they're still close."Kai nodded."Probably.""That's reassuring."His eyes stayed on mine."I wa

Chapter 17LenaThe first thing I noticed was the silence.Not the normal kind.The tower was never completely quiet. There was always the low hum of the ventilation system, the distant movement of elevators, the faint pulse of the city beyond the glass.Now there was nothing.I stood in the hallway outside the office and listened.Kai was three steps ahead of me, one hand raised.“Stay close.”I didn't answer.The bond between us had gone tight enough to feel like a wire pulled through my chest.Something was wrong.Kai looked toward the elevator.The doors were open.Empty.Marcus appeared from the opposite corridor, weapon already drawn.“Alpha.”Kai turned.“What?”“The lower security network just dropped.”My stomach tightened.“All of it?”“Two floors. Maybe three.”Kai's expression hardened.“Where's the backup?”“Not responding.”He looked at me.“Stay here.”“No.”“Lena.”“You said we'd stop letting them set the timing.”His jaw tightened.“I also said you'd stay behind me.”

Chapter 19LenaThe gate opened by itself.I watched it from the passenger seat of the SUV, the old iron bars moving inward with a slow, deliberate scrape that sounded too loud against the silence of the forest.Kai sat beside me, one hand resting near the weapon beneath his jacket.Marcus was driving.Two other security vehicles followed behind us, their headlights cutting narrow paths through the trees.No one spoke.The photograph on my phone was still open.The Voss Estate.The woman on the balcony.The silver crescent around her neck.And the message that had arrived less than a minute before we left the tower.Lena, if you're seeing this, they already know you're awake.I had read it so many times that the words no longer looked real.Kai glanced at me.“You're shaking.”“I’m not.”“You are.”I looked down at my hands.He was right.Barely.My fingers were curled around the edge of my seat, knuckles pale.“I don't like not knowing what we're walking into.”“Neither do I.”That a