Page 40 of Billionaire Dragon King’s Rejected Mate

Randi pushed back in her chair slightly, her appetite gone. “That’s not enough, Sven.”

“It’s what I can give you right now.”

She stared at him, searching for any sign that this was some kind of overblown misunderstanding. Some weird, protective big-brother-in-law moment, but there was nothing to indicate that.

“Okay,” she said slowly and reached for her drink just to have something to do with her hands. “Okay. Fine. You don’t want to tell me what’s going on. Great. Love that for me.”

He didn’t react to her sarcasm.

“Then I guess I’ll just…” She trailed off and shook her head. “I don’t even know. Start triple-checking my windows like I’m in a crime documentary?”

“That wouldn’t be a bad start.” He met her eyes.

Her mouth fell open in disbelief. “Unbelievable.” But even as she said it, her mind was already racing. The window and the feeling she’d had that something wasn’t right.

Randi swallowed. She knew she wouldn’t get anything else out of him. I am so calling my sister.

“And maybe talk to Chaun…Chance.”

And that, somehow, made it all worse.

Chapter 17

Chance

Chance shouldn’t have come. He shouldn’t be following Randi, not without talking to her first, something they hadn’t done. It had been a week since Sven and Jakob had visited, and nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Sven had understandably been concerned about Randi’s safety, which had resulted in Chance’s stalking tendencies.

Even as he sat in the restaurant parking lot, the thought that she might be in danger lingered with a quiet insistence that he couldn’t quite shake. Randi and Josh were inside finishing up lunch and nothing seemed out of place.

Chance told himself it was nothing and he was just being careful, but he had been restless and uneasy all morning. He had learned long ago to trust his gut.

Jakob and Sven had warned him with a growing urgency that had edged into something far more serious than he’d wanted to acknowledge. They warned that Tampa wouldn’t be the refuge he imagined it to be and that his father’s reach didn’t weaken with distance.

Instead, it stretched quietly and invisibly and could tighten when least expected. Chance had dismissed it, the same way he always did when someone tried to pull him back into a life he had already chosen to leave behind.

He got out but stayed by his car with one arm resting against the roof and his gaze fixed on the restaurant entrance. He was far enough back in the parking lot that they wouldn’t see him as they exited. Josh’s SUV was parked right out front so they’d have no need to even glance in his direction.

The shimmer of heat rose from the asphalt as he watched. His unease had sharpened and turned from a vague annoyance into something far more defined.

Something was wrong.

The doors opened.

Randi stepped out first. The sunlight caught in her hair as she laughed at something Josh said behind her. Her posture was relaxed, her expression unguarded, and for a brief moment, the sight of her safe and unaware made something in Chance ease even as the pang of jealousy ripped through him.

He had his proof that everything was still normal.

Until it wasn’t.

The change was immediate and violent. Two men appeared from the shadows and closed in with practiced precision. It took a moment before Chance even noticed them. They were dressed in black shirts and black slacks but they hadn’t bothered to cover their faces. Their movements were controlled and deliberate in a way that erased any possibility of coincidence.

Before Randi even saw them, one of the men grabbed her from behind and his arm locked across her upper chest as he dragged her backward. She let out a sharp, startled sound before he managed to cut off both her balance and her breath in the same motion.

Josh didn’t even have time to process what was happening. The second man struck him with brutal efficiency with a single, calculated blow that dropped him instantly. Josh’s body collapsed against the pavement and lay motionless. The man barely gave him a glance before he moved toward Randi where she struggled with the first guy.

Chance was already moving even before his mind fully registered what had happened. His earlier dismissal of danger burned away in the face of something real and deliberate. This attack wasn’t random and it wasn’t sloppy; this was targeted, controlled, and terrifyingly efficient.

Randi fought with everything she had. Her hands clawed at the arm that restrained her while her heel drove back hard enough to connect with the man’s leg. It forced a brief stagger and he loosened his grip just enough that if there had only been one of them, she may have escaped. But the second attacker was already moving to help his partner.