Rejected By My Ex, I Married A Hidden Billionaire

Chapter 19 The Docks

The drive to the waterfront was dead silent. There was no sound but the wind slapping against the car windows as we tore down the empty, unlit road. It was 3:47 a.m., the sky still pitch black, not a single other car on the strip leading to the abandoned docks. Ethan gripped the steering wheel so tight his knuckles went white, his eyes fixed on the road ahead, but he kept glancing over at me, like he could talk me out of this with just a look.

I didn’t say a word. I just kept my hand resting on his thigh, my fingers locked with his, trying to steady both of us. My heart was hammering so hard I could hear it in my ears, every breath catching in my throat. I knew this was a trap. I knew we were walking into a situation we couldn’t control. But there was no other way. 42 hours. That’s all we had left.

The old warehouse loomed ahead, a hulking, rotting concrete building at the end of the pier. Waves crashed against the pilings below, and the sharp, briny smell of the ocean seeped through the closed car windows. Ethan cut the engine, and the silence hit us like a punch to the chest. He turned to me, his hand cupping my cheek, the worry in his eyes impossible to hide.

“Last chance,” he said, his voice low and rough. “You stay in the car. I’ll go in alone. If something goes wrong, you drive. Straight to the police. Don’t look back.”

I shook my head, leaning in to kiss him hard and fast, my fingers tangling in the hair at the nape of his neck. “We go in together. Just like we always do. No more running. No more hiding.”

We stepped out of the car, the cold ocean wind cutting straight through my jacket, and walked toward the warehouse’s rusted metal side door. It creaked open the second we got close, revealing nothing but inky blackness inside. We stepped over the threshold, and the door slammed shut behind us, making me jump. A single dim emergency light flickered on overhead, illuminating Carl Carter huddled in the middle of the concrete floor, a USB drive clutched tight in his shaking hand.

“You actually came,” he breathed, his face deathly pale, his eyes darting to every shadow like he expected someone to leap out at any second. “I didn’t think you’d really show up.”

“Where’s the proof?” Ethan said, his voice ice cold, his arm sliding around my waist to yank me tight behind him.

“It’s here,” Carl said, holding up the drive. “All of it. The original unaltered financial reports, the logs of Liam forging the files, the emails between him and our competitor. Every last bit. But I didn’t have a choice. He threatened my wife, my kids. Said he’d hurt them if I didn’t help him.”

Before he could say another word, the warehouse’s overhead lights blared on all at once, blinding us. I heard the sharp, heavy click of a gun’s safety being flicked off, then that familiar, cruel laugh, echoing off the concrete walls.

“Really, Carl?” Liam said, stepping out of the shadows, a gun held loose in his hand, two massive men flanking him on either side. “You really thought I’d let you hand over all my hard work to these two?”

Carl’s face drained of all color in an instant. He threw the USB drive straight at me, and I caught it mid-air, clutching it so tight in my fist my nails dug into my palm. Liam’s face twisted with rage, and he lifted the gun, pointing it straight at Ethan’s head.

“Hand over the drive, Lila,” he snarled. “Or I put a bullet in your husband’s skull right here, right now.”

My blood turned to ice. The proof we’d risked everything for was in my hand. But Liam had a gun to Ethan’s head. And we were trapped.