All Chapters of The Billionaire and his Blood-Bride: Chapter 141
- Chapter 150
182 chapters
Chapter One Hundred and Forty-One – The Cost of Escape
The rain had turned violent by the time they reached the tree line. It came in thick sheets that swallowed the sound of everything behind them—gunfire, engines, the shouts that had followed them down the slope. Mud clung to their boots, slick and heavy, making every step a battle. Grey led the way, flashlight cutting through the dark, the narrow beam trembling with every breath he took.“Keep moving,” he said. “They’ll sweep the hill in minutes.”Lana stumbled after him, clutching the folder under her coat to shield it from the rain. “You think she’s still alive?”Grey didn’t answer right away. His jaw was set, eyes scanning the darkness ahead. “She’s Seraphine. If anyone walks out of that, it’s her.”But even he didn’t sound convinced.The forest opened into a stretch of dirt road, slick with water and strewn with leaves. A faint glow pulsed at the far end—headlights. Grey raised a hand, signaling her to stop. “Down.”They ducked behind a fallen log as a convoy rolled past: three veh
Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Two – The Capitol Ghost
By the time they reached Washington, the rain had thinned to drizzle, but the world still felt damp and bruised. The sky was a dull gray, the kind that pressed low over the city and turned even marble into something tired. They hadn’t spoken much during the drive. Every mile had felt like distance earned, not granted — a fragile reprieve.Grey parked two blocks from the archives, engine running low. He didn’t look at her right away. “We go in quiet,” he said. “No names. No paper trail.”Lana adjusted her scarf and glanced through the windshield. The Capitol Archives loomed like a relic from another age — wide stone steps, pillars blackened by rain, a single guard pacing under the entrance lamps. It looked dead, abandoned. But light flickered faintly in one of the upper windows. “Someone’s working late,” she murmured.Grey followed her gaze. “Seraphine?”“Or someone she trusted,” Lana said. “She wouldn’t leave a message like that for no reason.”They stepped out, crossing the street th
Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Three – The Road North
The highway cut through the fog like a blade, narrow and endless. Grey drove with both hands tight on the wheel, his eyes flicking from the rearview mirror to the empty road ahead. The silence in the car was heavier than the rain that chased them north.Lana sat beside him, her coat wrapped tight around her. The ledger lay across her knees — a single object that now seemed to hold the weight of the world. She hadn’t opened it again since they left the city. Every time her fingers brushed its edge, she felt Seraphine’s voice echoing in her mind: You were the proof that we could stop being one.The road signs blurred past — Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia — ghosts of cities they didn’t dare enter. They stopped only once at a lonely diner where the lights flickered and the coffee tasted of tin. No one asked questions. No one met their eyes.By the time dawn began to bleed across the horizon, they had crossed into Pennsylvania. The world was pale and quiet again, washed clean by rain.
Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Four – The Cabin That Burned
By the time dawn cut through the forest, the fog had thinned to a pale mist, drifting low over the undergrowth. Grey woke first, the ache in his neck sharp from sleeping upright against a tree. His hand brushed against damp leaves, and for a moment, he wasn’t sure where they were. Then the smell of smoke reached him.He straightened instantly. The air carried the faintest trace of char — wood, oil, and something metallic.“Lana,” he said quietly.She stirred beside him, blinking into the early light. “What is it?”He tilted his head toward the horizon. A thin column of smoke rose through the trees — far off, but unmistakable. The cabin.“They burned it,” Lana whispered.Grey nodded. “They wanted to erase the trail.”She rubbed her arms against the morning chill, her expression tightening. “Then they know we’re close.”“Or that we saw something we shouldn’t have,” he said.For a while, neither of them spoke. The forest was eerily still, as though even the birds were holding their breat
Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Five – The Room With No Label
The sound came again — a door closing somewhere above them, followed by the faint scrape of metal against concrete. Grey’s head snapped toward the stairs. Lana didn’t move. Her eyes stayed on the envelope in his hand, as if the words might vanish if she looked away.“Grey,” she said softly. “We’re not alone.”He slipped the letter into his coat and extinguished his flashlight, plunging the room into half-darkness. “Stay behind me.”They stood still, listening. Silence, then the faint drip of water from the pipes overhead. A minute passed. Then two. No footsteps. No voices. But the air had changed — heavier now, as though someone else was breathing it too.Grey stepped toward the doorway and peered down the corridor. “We need to move.”“Where?” Lana whispered.“Back to the stairwell. If someone’s here, we need to control the exit.”He started forward, and she followed. Their boots made soft sounds on the damp concrete. As they neared the stairwell, the low creak of a floorboard stopped
Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Six – The Burned Path
The night pressed close around them as they reached the treeline. Smoke trailed upward from the estate’s remains, thick and black, catching in Lana’s throat. She kept glancing back, half expecting to see figures emerging from the fire — men in dark coats, faceless and silent — but the only sound was the steady crackle of collapsing timber.Grey didn’t slow until the last flicker of flame was just a dull glow between the trees. Then he stopped, bracing a hand against his knee to catch his breath. The air around them smelled of ash and damp soil.“We need to keep moving,” he said.“Where?” Lana asked, voice rough. “The car Marcel mentioned?”He shook his head. “No. If he told the truth about that, someone else already knows. They’ll be waiting.”“So we walk?”“Until daylight.”They pushed through the undergrowth, their steps quiet over the forest floor. The deeper they went, the colder it became, as though the fire had drained all the warmth from the world behind them. Branches clawed a
Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Seven – The Journal
The road stretched empty under the first light of dawn. Mist hung low over the valley, softening the edges of the trees and hills. Grey walked ahead with the journal tucked under his arm, his shoulders tight and his silence heavier than the cold air around them.Lana followed a few paces behind, her thoughts circling the same question that had gnawed at her since the night before — if Seraphine was alive, why leave clues instead of simply showing herself? Why play games while the world around them burned?“Grey,” she called softly.He slowed but didn’t turn.“What if this isn’t meant for us to find her?”He looked over his shoulder. “Then what is it?”“A test,” she said. “Maybe she wants to know if we’d still follow her.”Grey didn’t answer. He just resumed walking until the trees thinned, giving way to an old asphalt lane bordered by tall, broken fences. Somewhere beyond the fog, faint power lines sagged toward a cluster of forgotten buildings.They stopped by a weathered sign that r
Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Eight – Holloway
The road into Holloway was a cracked ribbon of asphalt flanked by empty fields and telephone poles that leaned like tired sentinels. The sun had barely lifted, painting the sky a thin gray. Grey drove in silence, one hand resting on the wheel, the other on the small recorder they’d found in the lockbox. It was old—analog, scratched, the kind of device used before everything turned digital.Lana sat beside him, turning the key over in her palm. “Why would she send us to a place like this?”Grey didn’t look at her. “Because Holloway was where it started. Long before the Foundation had a name.”She frowned. “You mean the trials.”He nodded. “The first subjects, the first records. They used the town’s population for testing social isolation patterns. When the project failed, the place dried up. The Foundation bought it under a different name and sealed it off.”“Then why send us back?”Grey’s jaw tightened. “Maybe to show us what they buried.”The town appeared slowly—a ghost settlement h
Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Nine – The Weight of Truth
The gunfire cracked through the chapel like a whip. Lana dropped low, heart pounding, as dust rained down from the ceiling. Seraphine pulled her sharply behind a stack of crates.“Stay down,” she hissed.Lana’s grip tightened on the pistol, her hand trembling. “Who are they?”Seraphine’s eyes darted to the staircase. “Havel’s men. I thought I’d bought more time.”Grey’s voice echoed faintly above. “Lana!”Lana started to move, but Seraphine grabbed her wrist. “If you go up there, they’ll use him against you.”Lana jerked free. “And if I stay, they’ll kill him.”Seraphine hesitated, then pressed a small flash drive into her palm. “If anything happens to me, this holds every record they ever erased. You’ll know why they did it.”“I don’t want your ghosts,” Lana whispered.Seraphine gave a faint, bitter smile. “Then burn them when you’re done.”Another burst of gunfire rattled the steps. Seraphine raised her weapon and fired once—clean, measured. The shot hit the first man through the do
Chapter One Hundred and Fifty – The Reckoning Road
The city was a dim blur of lights through the rain-streaked windshield as Grey guided the car along the highway. Holloway receded behind them, a dark smear of destruction swallowed by the night, yet its memory clung to Lana like a shadow she could not shake.Grey’s hands were tight on the wheel, jaw set, eyes scanning the road ahead. He had driven this route countless times, but tonight every turn felt unfamiliar, weighted with the consequences they carried.“You’re quiet,” Lana said, breaking the silence.He didn’t answer immediately. The wipers cut through the drizzle, leaving streaks that shimmered in the headlights.“I’m thinking,” he said finally. “About Havel. About what’s next.”“You think there’s more?” she asked, glancing at him. “After Holloway?”Grey didn’t meet her eyes. “There’s always more. They never stop. Havel was smart, but he isn’t the only one who survived. The Foundation doesn’t die that easily.”Lana’s grip tightened around the flash drive in her lap. Final Direc