Chapter 2 - The Gilded Cage
The black SUV pulled up to the curb of a modest boarding house in Milwaukee at precisely 4:00 PM.
Bella was carrying a sack of groceries up the wooden porch steps when two tall men in dark charcoal suits stepped out of the vehicle. They didn't draw weapons. They didn't raise their voices.
“Miss Carter,” the older one—Vincent—said respectfully, taking his hat off. “Mr. Drake requests your presence back in Chicago.”
Bella backed up against the porch railing, her knuckles turning white around her grocery bag. “No. Tell him I’m gone. Tell him I don't want his money.”
“He knows about the baby, Miss Carter,” Vincent said gently.
The world stopped spinning for a second. Bella’s breath caught in her throat. Her hand instinctively moved to shield her stomach.
“He... he knows?” she whispered.
“Mr. Drake has secured a private estate for you in Oakbrook,” Vincent continued softly. “It is fully staffed, fully secure, and completely protected from his enemies. He is waiting for you there. Please, Miss Carter. Do not make us make this difficult. For the child’s safety.”
Two hours later, the SUV passed through massive, wrought-iron gates into a sprawling ten-acre estate surrounded by dense pine trees and high stone walls.
The estate was breathtaking—a stone manor with warm lights glowing in every window, immaculate gardens, and security personnel posted discreetly along the perimeter. It looked like a palace.
To Bella, it looked like a prison.
The front doors were opened by a kindly older woman named Clara, who bowed respectfully. “Welcome home, Miss Carter. Your room has been prepared.”
Bella was escorted up a sweeping mahogany staircase to the master suite. The room was four times the size of her entire old apartment, featuring a plush king-sized bed, a fire crackling in the marble fireplace, and a massive walk-in closet stocked with clothes in her exact size.
On the table sat a silver tray with hot soup, fresh fruit, and a glass of warm milk.
Standing near the fireplace, his back to her, was Lucas Drake.
He was wearing a dark suit without his jacket, his sleeves rolled up, a glass of water—not whiskey—in his hand. When he turned around, Bella was shocked by his appearance. The cold, mocking man from the penthouse looked... haunted. Dark shadows sat under his amber eyes, and his jaw was set in a tight, agonized line.
“You ran,” Lucas said, his voice low and raspy.
“Of course I ran!” Bella spat, her voice trembling with a combination of rage and terror as she stood her ground near the doorway. “You handed me a pill and told me you don't leave loose ends! What was I supposed to think? That you’d buy me a nursery?”
Lucas took a slow step toward her, but stopped when he saw her flinch. He clenched his fist at his side, forcing himself to stay three paces away.
“I didn't know the pill was compromised,” Lucas said quietly. “If I had known—”
“If you had known, what?” she demanded, tears rising in her eyes. “You would have forced me to take another one? You would have paid me off again? I don't want your millions, Lucas! I don't want your harbor company! I just want to raise my baby in peace!”
“It’s my baby too,” Lucas stated, the sheer weight of his authority vibrating in the quiet room.
“You made it very clear that night was a business transaction!”
“That was before I knew who you were!” Lucas barked, his calm cracking for a fraction of a second. He took a deep breath, collecting himself, his amber eyes locking onto hers with a fierce, desperate light. “Julian Vance was targeting you before you ever walked into my hotel room, Bella. The man who tried to overcharge you for your mother’s funeral was working for Vance. They were going to use you as a weapon against me.”
Bella blinked, stunned. “What?”
“If you leave this estate,” Lucas warned, his voice dropping into a solemn, heavy register, “Vance will find you. He will use you and that child in my stomach to burn my life to the ground. Inside these gates, you are safe. You will have the best doctors in the country. You will have everything you want. But you are not leaving.”
“So I’m your prisoner,” Bella said, her heart breaking.
Lucas looked at her, his expression unreadable, though a flash of profound pain crossed his eyes.
“Call it whatever helps you sleep at night, Bella,” Lucas said coldly, turning toward the door. “Dr. Sterling will be here at 9:00 AM tomorrow for your first ultrasound. Eat your dinner.”
He walked out of the room, locking the heavy oak door from the outside with a soft, definitive click.
Bella collapsed onto the plush velvet sofa near the fire, burying her face in her hands. She was trapped in a gilded cage, guarded by the most dangerous man in Chicago.
Yet, as she laid her hand over her lower stomach, she realized something terrifying.
May you like
When Lucas had spoken about the child, there had been no hatred in his eyes. There had been no disgust.
There had only been a fierce, terrifyingly possessive desire to protect what was his.
