All Chapters of RISE OF THE FORSAKEN HEIR : Chapter 31
- Chapter 40
110 chapters
chapter 31
: The Flower ArrangementThe penthouse felt too quiet after breakfast. The kind of quiet that presses in and makes every small sound feel loud—the hum of the fridge, the distant traffic below, the soft tick of the clock on the wall. Bella paced near the windows while I sat on the couch with my laptop open to Lydia’s secure feed. She’d already patched in the hotel’s internal camera loop. Nothing yet. Just empty hallway outside the private dining room.Bella stopped pacing, came over, and dropped onto the couch beside me. She tucked her legs under her, leaned against my side. “How long until the meeting?”“Forty minutes,” I said. “Marcus is in position downstairs. He’ll slip the mic into the centerpiece when the waiter turns his back. Tiny thing—looks like a button on a rose stem. Lydia’s got the receiver patched straight to us.”She nodded, but her fingers drummed on her knee. Restless. “What if Voss doesn’t show? What if he smelled something off after Reginald got grabbed?”“Then we f
chapter 32
The Weight of SecretsThe penthouse felt colder after the audio feed cut off. Bella stayed on the couch, knees pulled up, arms wrapped around them like she could hold herself together that way. Her eyes were fixed on the blank screen where Voss and Dragomir had just been talking about her—about the baby—like she was a chess piece they could move or sacrifice.I sat beside her, close enough that our thighs touched, but I didn’t reach for her hand yet. She needed space to process. I could see it in the way her breathing stayed shallow, the way her fingers flexed and unflexed against her sleeves.After a long minute she spoke, voice quiet but steady. “Who is Dragomir?”I exhaled slowly. This was the part I’d been dreading. Not the fight itself—the fights I could handle. It was the explaining. The pieces of my past I’d kept locked away because they hurt too much to look at, and because I never wanted her to carry them.“Viktor Dragomir,” I said. “He was my father’s biggest rival back in
chapter 33
The Van Outside ChelseaThe elevator ride down felt endless. Bella stood beside me, arms crossed tight over her chest, staring at the numbers ticking lower like they owed her something. When the doors finally opened in the garage, Marcus was already waiting next to the black van, back doors open, engine running low and quiet.He handed me a tablet without a word. The screen showed live feed from the directional mic across the street—grainy but clear enough. Voss sat at a low table in the back room of the club, nursing a scotch. The IT guy—mid-thirties, nervous twitch in his left eye—was already there, laptop open between them.Bella climbed in first. I followed, pulling the doors shut behind us. The inside smelled like coffee and electronics. Lydia’s voice came through the speakers the second we were sealed in.“Audio live. They just started. No security inside the room yet. Marcus’s guy is posing as bar staff—ready to move if it goes south.”I nodded even though she couldn’t see it.
chapter 34
: Midnight CodeThe van smelled like old leather and takeout coffee nobody had touched in hours. Bella sat beside me on the narrow bench seat, knees bouncing just enough to show the nerves she wouldn’t admit out loud. Marcus was up front driving slow through Brooklyn side streets, headlights off, letting the streetlamps do the work. The tablet between us glowed with Kyle’s apartment building feed—empty hallway, flickering bulb over 4C.Bella kept staring at the new photo on my phone. The red dot on her chest in our own kitchen this morning. She hadn’t said much since it came through, just traced the image with her thumb like she could erase it if she pressed hard enough.“Talk to me,” I said quietly.She exhaled through her nose. “I’m trying to figure out how they got inside again. We changed the codes, doubled the cameras, added drones. And still… this.” She flipped the phone facedown on her thigh. “It feels personal. Like someone’s standing right behind me every time I turn around.”
chapter 35
35: The Face in the FeedThe stairwell echoed with our footsteps, quick and uneven. The kind of run where your mind lags half a second behind your body.Bella led now, taking the steps two at a time, her hand gripping the railing like it was the only thing keeping her steady. Marcus stayed right behind her, phone already pressed to his ear, voice low and sharp as he barked orders to the team.“Lock down the penthouse. Full sweep. No one in or out until we clear it. Get the drones airborne, facial recognition running on every feed. And I want Vanessa’s last confirmed location five minutes ago. Move.”Bella hit the garage door so hard it banged against the concrete wall. The Range Rover waited, engine already idling. She yanked the back door open, climbed in, and slammed it shut. I slid in beside her. Marcus took the driver’s seat and peeled out before the echo had even faded.Inside the car, the silence felt thick enough to choke on. Bella stared at my phone. The live feed was frozen o
chapter 36
: Warehouse on the EdgeThe coordinates led to an old industrial park on the far side of the city, where the skyline gave way to rust and silence. Chain-link fence sagged around acres of cracked concrete, broken windows staring like empty eyes. The warehouse sat at the back gray metal siding, loading docks overgrown with weeds, one floodlight still burning yellow over the main door. No cars. No movement. Just the low hum of distant traffic and the wind moving through chain links.Marcus killed the headlights a quarter mile out and coasted to a stop behind a row of abandoned shipping containers. He killed the engine. The sudden quiet pressed in.“Team’s already in position,” he said low. “Two snipers on the roof across the street. Drones overhead thermal shows one heat signature inside. Single person. No weapons visible. No explosives on scan.”Bella stared out the window at the building. Her hand rested on her stomach, fingers spread like she was shielding it from sight. “Vanessa?”“L
chapter 37
: Bullets in the DarkThe floodlight popping overhead wasn’t an accident. One second we were standing under weak yellow light, the next everything plunged blac. The warehouse swallowed sound the way only big empty spaces can—our breathing suddenly loud, footsteps echoing off metal walls from every direction at once.Marcus hissed into comms. “Snipers talk to me.”“Multiple signatures,” came the reply. “Eight, maybe ten. Closing fast from the north and east loading doors. Armed. Moving tactical.”Bella’s hand found mine in the dark. Squeezed once—hard, steady. “We run or we fight?”I pulled her close, voice low against her ear. “We fight. But you stay low. No heroics. You protect what’s inside you. That’s the only job tonight.”She nodded against my shoulder. “Got it.”Marcus already had his sidearm out. “Exit’s blocked. They’re herding us toward the center. We need cover.”I scanned what little I could see—silhouettes of old crates, rusted machinery, a stack of metal shelving twenty
chapter 38
Chapter 38: The East GateThe warehouse air turned thick the moment the drone’s red dot settled on Bella’s stomach. She didn’t flinch. Didn’t step back. She just stared at the hovering black shape like she could will it out of existence with the force of her glare. The countdown in my head kept running. Ten minutes. Nine fifty-nine. Nine fifty-eight.Marcus’s voice came sharp in the earpiece. “Snipers have the drone in sight. Clean shot. Say the word.”I held up a hand. “Hold. We don’t know if it’s armed. One wrong move and it could be rigged to detonate.”Bella’s eyes never left the drone. “He wants me to walk out there. To the east gate. He wants to see me hand myself over.”Dragomir’s voice crackled again through the speaker, calm and amused. “Smart girl. You have nine minutes now. Bring her to the east gate, Lockwood. Alone. No team. No guns. Just you and the woman. If I see anyone else, the drone drops a little present. Something small. Something that goes boom. You’ll hear it
chapter 39
: The Hospital RoomThe sirens were close now—too close. Red and blue lights flickered across the warehouse walls like warning signals we were already too late to heed. Marcus hauled Dragomir to his feet, cuffing his good wrist to the bad one, ignoring the man's low laugh. The old wolf's blood soaked the concrete under his knee, but he still looked like he owned the place.Bella hadn't moved since the photo appeared on my phone. She stared at the screen—the hospital room, the incubator, the tiny bundled shape inside it. Eight months from now. The date burned into my brain like a brand.She finally looked up at me. Her voice came out flat, almost calm. “He’s already planning for the baby. He’s already naming a date.”I took the phone from her hand. Turned it off. “He’s in custody. He’s bleeding out. He’s not planning anything anymore.”Dragomir chuckled again, wet and ragged. “You think cuffs stop plans? You think one old man is the end? I have people. They have instructions. When th
chapter 40
40: The TourThe private maternity ward at Mount Sinai smelled like antiseptic and fresh linens—the kind of clean that made every sound feel sharper.The soft beep of monitors down the hall.The quiet squeak of nurses’ shoes on polished tile.The low murmur of voices behind closed doors.We arrived at dawn, before visiting hours, before the hospital woke up fully. Marcus had cleared the floor with the admin. Only our people were here now.Security in scrubs.Techs in plain clothes pretending to check wiring.Snipers on the roof disguised as maintenance.Bella walked ahead of me, hand resting lightly on her stomach, eyes scanning every corner like she was memorizing it for a fight. She hadn’t slept much. Neither had I.The photo of the incubator sat heavy between us—a promise we both knew Dragomir’s people intended to keep.Marcus led the way down the corridor.“Room 1408 is at the end. Corner unit. Two exits—one to the main h