Page 56 of Daddy Billionaire Dragon

“It was a dragon shifter that had kidnapped her, just as we had suspected. He is a Carnelian,” TJ says once they’ve asked after Nic.

“I suspected as much.” I fill him in on all that has happened. “How did you arrive at the conclusion?”

“Well, we traced the tracking device and ended up in an abandoned underground tunnel that is a favorite haunt of shifters. A bobcat shifter told me that the Carnelian frequents the haunts from time to time, looking to ‘save’ dragon shifters who have lost love. As you can imagine, he has a lot of temporary teenage dragon shifter recruits. A girl dragon who was there when I was questioning the others was acting particularly shifty. It took all my charm and skills of persuasion to get her to share her story with me. And she told me she was involved in Nic’s kidnapping firsthand.” TJ says.

I’m flabbergasted when I hear this.

“He’s recruiting teenagers to do his dirty work?”

“It’s a lot more complicated than that. She wouldn’t say a single bad thing about him. All she said was that she pitied the Carnelian. But apparently, after the kidnapping, she decided not to go back to him. But she did tell us that he was on some sort of a mission to save dragons.” Liam says.

“So what, he is the leader of some sort of a cult? But I didn’t see any other shifters lurking around,” I say.

“We don’t really know how he operates at this point.” TJ shrugs.

“I guess we will know more when we talk to Nic. Oh before I forget, here—Nic’s handbag. Most of the money’s gone, but everything else seems to be there. The girl took it from the car since she needed money,” Liam says.

I thank our lucky stars that we decided to place that tracking device in her bag. Without it, we might still have been searching for Nic.

Before I can say anything, I spot the doctor coming towards us.

“How is she?” I ask worriedly.

“She is still in shock, but physically both she and the baby are doing just fine,” he says, smiling at me reassuringly.

“Thank God!” I say, closing my eyes for a moment. “Can I talk to her?”

“Yes, but only for five minutes. She needs to rest.”

I nod and follow him. The nightmare seems to be finally ending.

Chapter 33 - Nic

“Lex.” My eyes fill with tears when I spot Lex. Worry is etched deeply on his face.

He rushes forward and takes my arm gently, not wanting to disturb the IV line running through my arm. I’m apparently very dehydrated and need a lot of fluids. The forefinger of my other hand is attached to a probe that is monitoring all my vitals. The ‘beep beep’ of the machines would have driven me crazy under normal circumstances, but I am so, so thankful for it now after the deathly silence of the cave.

“I’m so glad you’re okay. And the baby.”

My head jerks up to look at him when he mentions the baby. He doesn’t appear angry. On the contrary, he is smiling and there is a look of such tenderness in his eyes that my heart tumbles in my chest.

“I was a fool and an idiot, Nic. See, I knew I loved you, but I stubbornly made myself believe that I was doing the right thing by vowing to remain single for the rest of my life. Will you forgive me for being a jackass?”

Did he just say he loved me? And he wants to marry me?

“You… you love me?” My eyes are round and my mouth hangs open.

“Yes! I think I’ve loved you since the very first time I saw you. Do you love me, Nic?”

His brows knit as he waits for my answer. I want to say ‘of course I love you’, but the words just won’t form. There’s a memory waiting to resurface. Why can’t I remember?

“Nic?” he prompts. I look at him and then it hits me. He is dressed in a black wet suit from the neck down. The dragon turned into a human dressed in black. But Lex is not a dragon!

“Lex… in the cave… I thought I saw a dragon,” I chuckle nervously. I’m waiting for him to laugh and say that I’m imagining things, that the trauma has affected my brain, but he doesn’t.

Instead, he sighs and leans forward.

“What you saw wasn’t your imagination,” he says with the most serious look on his face.

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