THE HIDDEN SUCCESSOR: A Billionaire Secret Baby

CHAPTER FOUR

Jessica was scared. She wanted to say "be careful", but she couldn't. She felt helpless, knowing that danger they had feared was possibly right outside.

Slowly, Cole opened the door and peeked out into the darkness. Jessica listened very carefully to how her breaths involuntarily caught in her chest. Those minutes seemed to stretch on painfully as she waited; her mind ran rampant with all sorts of terrible possibilities.

He was back inside, though, the door closing softly. "It's nothing," he muttered, a little tight in his voice. "Probably just an animal."

Jessica let out a relieved exhale against it—the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, but now she knew they couldn't stay here. This was starting to feel like a prison—what she had once looked at as a haven. "We've got to get out of here," she said, the firmness in her own voice.

She remained silent, so Cole just nodded for her to do as he said. "Agreed. We will go to the city. I have a safe house there; we can stay hidden for now until we see what will happen next.".

She hesitated. This would mean going back to the city—going a step back right into the very world from which she had worked and trained so hard to forget. It is scary leaving him and stepping into the relatively unknown, but Jessica knew Cole was right: they needed to go. "Okay," she said finally. "Let's go.".

They grabbed what was left as quickly as possible. Jessica had finally managed to wake up Lucas. She tried to be gentle about it, but he rubbed his eyes with sleepy fingers and didn't object or whine as she bundled him up in a blanket and carried him out of the house to the car. Cole was outside already, rechecking our surroundings for the last time before we left.

It is a painful drive into the city. Jessica cannot stop glancing back at Lucas every so often; his small form seems huddled up and oblivious to the rest happening outside. She feels a small pang of guilt at having roped him in the middle of this, but then she reminds herself that this was the only way to save Lucas and as well it's for Cole's own good

They came into the city; lights seemed to grow independently, and Jessica could not rid herself of the feeling that they were riding into the eye of some gigantic storm. Her peaceful life in this small town was all over, and she was being pulled back into a life she had hoped to leave in the dust.

It was as if Cole had come back to stay, and he drove through the city into a subterranean ramp that led beneath an opaque, glistening modern structure. "We're home," Cole said, evenly. "We'll be safe here."

Jessica stepped out of the car, gazing upwards simultaneously at the huge building in front of her. It seemed hardly related in any way to the small apartment she was used to. Everything about it had said that the building itself, let alone what resided inside it, screamed power and money. That was Cole's life. Not hers.

They got inside an elevator that ascended to a private penthouse. When the doors opened, it hit Jessica all over again just how much she didn't belong here, in a way that was obviously different from her simple life. It was huge; huge floor-to-ceiling windows with a breathtaking view of the city skyline. Every single thing about this place screamed sleek, modern, and very, expensive just like Cole himself.

"Home for now," he said, proceeding in front of them. The guest quarters were certainly much larger than Jessica's one-room apartment back in the small town. "You can take off here. We'll talk in the morning."

Too overwhelmed to argue, Jessica nodded politely, tucking Lucas into bed and trying not to sound too anxious as she kissed him in and whispered reassuringly, "We're fine right here. We're gonna be alright."

But with every careful step out of Lucas's room, closing the door behind her, Jessica knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was only the beginning. The danger isn't over, and all the secrets she's been keeping are, more likely than not, still hanging over their heads to blow up in their faces.

He was sitting on the living room couch, looking at the city lights, with eyes cruelly steely, turning his gaze very slowly toward Jessica as she detected a savagely potent determination smoldering deep within them. "We'll make it through this, Jessica," he said, with much assurance in his voice. "We'll keep Lucas safe.

Jessica wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe that they could survive keeping their son safe and remaining a family. But as she drank in the sight of the city spread out under this horizon, the worry in her belly wouldn't let go.

Because more than anything, she knows that in Cole's world, safety was never guaranteed, and trust was a luxury they could ill afford.

Suddenly “Cole's phone rang it was Mr Henry, Cole's father” where on earth have you been Cole, your mobile phone were not connecting, you left for a business deal that should last for 2days? This is 2weeks no one has heard from you.

“Cole” Dad am a man, I can always take care of myself, something's came up but it's fine now.

“Henry” I need to see you and it's urgent.

“Cole” Dad I have a more pressing matter to handle before I return.

Cole's response to his father gave Jessica more confidence as she lifted up her eyes and looked at him in surprise, “if Cole can leave his business to sought me and Lucas out, he must have really changed”.