Page 62 of Billionaire’s Heartbreak

“You done with the bathroom?” Kai’s voice cut through the silence.

I flinched. “Why? Couldn’t you find another bathroom in this mansion of yours?”

He sighed and rolled his eyes. “All right. Let’s start over, shall we?” He straightened and gave me a mockingly polite nod. “Good morning. How did you sleep last night, princess?”

Princess.

The word hit me like a trigger. The eighteen-year-old version of me would have melted at it. I had lived for that word, loved the way it sounded coming from his mouth.

But I wasn’t that girl anymore.

And he wasn’t the same man.

I forced a smile. “I slept great. Thanks to being kidnapped, villain. Highly recommend it.”

Something flickered across his face.

Kidnapped wasn’t just a word anymore. Not after Lincoln. I’d already known what it felt like to be afraid of losing my brother. Then Kai. Then Dannie.

Three different people. Three versions of the same nightmare.

And now me.

Maybe the word should have been banned from my dictionary. Any dictionary.

I got ready quickly and joined the morning briefing, which apparently someone had decided would be held at eight every morning from now on.

I glanced around the room, surrounded by security, bodyguards, and cameras. Read their notice board. Listened to their plan.

Then I realised something. There was no plan. They were waiting.

“For what?” I interrupted the meeting.

A few heads turned. Kai didn’t.

“For Squirrel,” one of the men answered. “He’ll reach out when it’s safe.”

Safe.

The word settled inside me like a stone.

Safe according to whom?

How long were we supposed to wait—a day, a week, until Dannie was dead?

I looked at Kai, still staring through the windows, his expression calm and unreadable. Maybe he really believed waiting was safest. Maybe after everything he’d been through, he couldn’t see another way. But I couldn’t sit here and wait for someone else to save us. That meant handing control of my life back to the people who had already taken it from me once, and I wasn’t willing to do that again.

“That’s it?” My voice came out sharper than I intended. “That’s the plan? We sit here and wait for someone to maybe contact us?”

No one answered, because that was the plan.

Finally, Kai met my eyes. “That’s how this works,” he said calmly. “That’s what Dannie wanted. Remember?”

“No.” I stepped closer. “That’s how you lose.”

It struck me how carefully everyone watched Kai. They weren’t just listening to their boss. They were waiting to see whether I was allowed to challenge him.

“They’re moving,” I continued. “Laura and your uncle aren’t sitting around waiting for Squirrel. They’re out there hunting him while we sit here and do what? Hide?”