The Billionaire's Silent Wife (Ryan and Eve) novel Chapter 178

178 The Warehouse and Leah’s Confession

It started with a sound Eve didn’t recognise at first.

Not the doorbell.

Not the gate.

Not Marlene’s careful steps moving through the kitchen.

This was louder, heavier, wrong in a way her body understood before her mind could label it.

A crash.

A muffled shout.

Then the house went still for one beat, like it was holding its breath.

Eve’s hand flew to her belly instinctively as she sat up on the sofa. She had been trying to settle her

nausea with dry biscuits, trying to convince herself the tight feeling in her chest was just anxiety and not a

warning.

Marlene had left after lunch.

It was just Eve and the house.

And now the house sounded like it had been invaded.

“Hello?” Eve called, her voice shaking.

No answer.

Then footsteps, fast, too many, not belonging.

Eve’s heart slammed against her ribs.

She reached for her phone on the side table with trembling fingers.

Before she could lift it properly, the living room doorway filled with men.

Three.

Then four.

Faces hard. Bodies blocking the light. Eyes scanning the room like they weren’t looking at a person, but a

problem.

Eve froze.

“What,” she started, but the word died in her throat.

One of the men moved first, fast. He crossed the room like a shadow with weight and reached for her

wrist.

The Warehouse and Leah Confession

The man slapped her.

Not hard enough to knock her down.

Hard enough to shock her.

Her head snapped sideways, pain blooming along her cheek.

Eve went still for half a second, stunned.

The silence that followed was deadly.

“Now,” the man said, low. “Be smart.”

Eve’s breath came short.

They dragged her toward the hallway.

Eve tried to dig her heels into the floor, but one of them lifted her legs slightly so her feet scraped

uselessly.

Her vision blurred with tears.

“Please,” she managed, voice breaking. “I’m pregnant,’

“Not our problem,” one man said.

Eve’s stomach twisted.

They pulled her through the front door, down the steps, toward a vehicle parked where it shouldn’t be.

Eve’s mind screamed at her to remember details, plates, faces, anything.

But fear crowded out logic.

A back door opened.

A hand shoved her inside.

Eve hit the seat hard, breath knocked out of her.

Another body climbed in after her, blocking the door.

Someone yanked her phone up from the floor where it had fallen, Eve saw it flash in a fist.

“Got it,” a man said.

Then the door slammed.

The vehicle moved.

Eve’s hands shook as she pressed them to her belly, trying to breathe through the panic.

The man beside her didn’t look at her. He stared forward like he was part of the car.

Eve’s voice came out thin. “Who are you.”

375

The Warehouse and Leah Confession

No answer.

“Where are you taking me?” she demanded, trying to gather strength out of terror.

Still nothing.

Eve swallowed hard. “If you hurt my baby,”

The man’s eyes flicked to her for the first time, cold and bored. “Stop talking.”

Eve’s throat tightened with rage and fear. “Ryan will,

The man’s mouth twitched. “Ryan won’t do anything.”

Eve went cold.

The vehicle drove for what felt like forever, then slowed, then turned, then stopped.

A door opened. Light spilled in.

“Out,” a voice said.

Eve’s legs trembled as she climbed out, her body stiff, her belly tight with stress.

She looked around quickly.

A warehouse.

Old, industrial, empty around the edges. The air smelled like dust and metal and something stale.

A metal door shut behind her with a clang that echoed too loudly.

Eve’s breath came shallow.

Then she saw her.

A woman sitting on the concrete floor, wrists bound, back against a support beam. Hair slightly dishevelled, eyes wide and exhausted.

Alissa.

Eve froze.

Alissa lifted her head slowly, blinking like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing either.

“Eve?” Alissa whispered.

Eve’s heart slammed hard. “Alissa.”

Alissa’s eyes filled. “Oh my God…”

Eve took a step forward instinctively, then stopped when a man shoved her from behind.

“Move.”

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