Filed to story: Watch Out, I’m The Lady Boss (Eleanor & Sebastian) Book PDF Free
“Elean, don’t be afraid. I’m on my way to you right now.”
“I’m safe. Don’t worry.”I hung up, reluctant to break the connection. Daniel led me back to the room before heading out once more.
When he returned, he poured me a glass of water.
“You should sit down. It’ll take Sebastian at least three hours to get here.”I took the glass and drank.
A deep exhaustion had settled into my bones. I couldn’t understand it. I hadn’t done anything strenuous, yet I felt drained every single day.
Maybe it was the stress.
Daniel stood by the window, peeking through the curtain.
I watched his back, so many questions swirling in my mind. How had he found me before Sebastian? How did he evade my kidnappers? Who did he think was behind it?
But I had a feeling Daniel wasn’t in the mood for questions, and even if he was, I doubted I’d get the truth.
My hand slipped into my trousers pocket, my fingers finding the toothbrush I’d hidden there. I’d filed one end to a sharp point, turning it into a crude shiv, and I’d kept it on me the entire time.
It wasn’t that I thought Daniel would hurt me, but still…
I yawned, a deep, uncontrollable wave of fatigue hitting me.
Daniel turned around.
“You should get some sleep.”I shook my head, but my body felt leaden. I was already sitting on the soft mattress, and I must have drifted off without even realising it.
When I woke, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Sebastian was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding my hand.
The moment he saw I was awake, he shot to his feet. His lips parted, and then, in a raw, hoarse voice, he said, ” I’m so sorry, Elean. I should never have let this happen.”The guilt in his voice was palpable, and beneath it, I felt his sheer devastation. Thugged him fightly, refusing to let go, half-convinced it was all a dream. It was only the steady beep of machines, the sterile smell of antiseptic, and the solid warmth of him that finally convinced me it was real I pulled back slightly and glanced around.
“Are we in a hospital?”
Sebastian nodded.
“You’re back in Skyline.”I don’t remember anything,” I said, frowning.
You were asleep when I found you in the room.”I looked at him properly then-his bloodshot eyes, the new hollows in his cheeks, the dark stubble shadowing his jaw-and my heart ached.
I leaned into his embrace, breathing in his familiar scent. It was so good to be back.
“Daniel… where is he?” I asked.
Sebastian’s body stiffened instantly.
“He’s gone home. He’s fine.”I nodded.
A sudden wave of nausea rolled through me. Sebastian pressed the call button by the bed, and I lay back, waiting for the sickness to pass. My eyelids grew heavy again.
Someone entered the room.
“Doctor, how is she?” Sebastian asked, his voice tight.
I heard the doctor’s reply, “The test results are back. She’s pregnant. Symptoms like drowsiness and nausea are perfectly normal in her condition.”There was a long, heavy silence before Sebastian spoke.
“Pregnant? You’re certain?”
“Yes, quite sure. But I’d recommend a full check-up with gynaecology.”Sebastian said something else, but the words faded into a blur.
Pregnant? Was that the reason for the relentless fatigue, the endless sleep, the way my stomach turned at the smell of food?
I didn’t know how to feel.
A flicker of excitement, maybe, but it was dwarfed by uncertainty and confusion.
I hadn’t planned for this. I never imagined it would happen now, of all times, right after being kidnapped.
How did Sebastian feel? Would he be happy?
I wanted to ask him, to search his face for an answer, but exhaustion pulled me under before I could.
When I woke again, Sebastian was still there, but the look on his face told me something was terribly wrong.
“What is it?” asked.
He seemed to have reached a decision. There’s something you need to see.
What?
He glanced towards the door. Harry walked in, carrying a laptop. He opened it and started a video.
Daniel’s face filled the screen.
Or rather, I guessed it was Daniel from the familiar bone structure, but anyone else might have struggled to recognise him. His eyes were bloodshot, his right one nearly swollen shut. His hair was a mess, and a thin trail of blood had dried on his temple. He was tied to a chair, his usually pristine suit torn in several places. He’d been badly beaten.
“What is this?” I asked Sebastian, my stomach clenching.
“Just watch,” was all he said.
A man’s voice, off-camera, spoke.
“Start from the beginning. Tell it again. And don’t lie.”Daniel lifted his head weakly, found the camera lens, and smiled into it.
For a dizzying second, I thought he was smiling directly at me. He licked his cracked lips and began to speak.
And then I heard it all.
Daniel and Frank were in this together. They were the ones who had me kidnapped, Frank wanted the money, and Daniel wanted me.
Their plan was to snatch me, rough me up just enough, then have Daniel swoop in as the hero. Frank’s men would stage a chase, forcing Daniel and me into hiding. They were betting that if I spent enough time alone with him, scared and vulnerable, I’d eventually fall for him.
Once that happened, the plan was for Daniel to get me pregnant. I’d have to marry him then, and as my husband, he’d have a legal claim to my inheritance.
Then, an “unfortunate accident” would be arranged. After my death, Daniel, the grieving widower, would conveniently bump into Frank. Feeling responsible for his late wife’s father, he’d generously grant him a portion of my fortune.
The whole scheme was mapped out over two or three years, starting with the kidnapping and ending with my death after I’d given birth.
They had almost pulled it off.
The woman at the bed and breakfast was working for them, and the phone call to Sebastian had been part of their plan, designed to give me hope and make me believe the kidnapping was real, that rescue was imminent.
After I made the call, Daniel gave me a glass of water. It was drugged, just like all the water he had given me since we went on the run. It was meant to keep me docile, to drain my energy so I couldn’t fight back or question what was happening. The fatigue, the nausea, the dizziness-they weren’t all just symptoms of pregnancy.
Daniel and Frank were going to move me to another city, to put me on a plane out of the country after I lost consciousness. When I woke, they were going to feed me a story about being discovered by the kidnappers, forced to flee and relocate.
Daniel was going to plant clues suggesting Genevieve had orchestrated everything. With time and the steady influence of the drugs, he was confident he could make me believe that Sebastian hadn’t tried very hard to find me because he knew it was Genevieve and wanted to protect her, even at the cost of my safety.
But Sebastian arrived much faster than they had anticipated. Before they could transfer my unconscious body from the bed and breakfast, his men stormed the place. Sebastian took me away while his team seized Daniel.
“Frank Vance has fled the country,” Sebastian said as the video finished playing.
“My men are actively looking for him.”I barely heard him. I just hit replay and watched the video again. And again.
The truth washed over me, it punched me in the gut and slapped me in the face, over and over, until it finally started to feel real, until I had no choice but to believe it.
I didn’t know what Sebastian’s people had done to Daniel to make him talk, nor where he was being held now. But I found I no longer cared.
I didn’t even care if he was alive or dead.
So it had all been a lie. The caring Daniel, the one who would supposedly risk his life for me, the one who kept showing up demanding a second chance, the one who warned me that my father was out of prison and seeking revenge.
How long had he been plotting this?
A fresh wave of nausea hit me. I rushed into the bathroom and was sick. This time, I knew it had nothing to do with the pregnancy.
Sebastian stayed quietly by my side throughout the following week. He never brought up Daniel or Frank again, and I followed his lead.
Sometimes, after jolting awake from a nightmare, I found myself wishing my father had really died in prison.
Sometimes, the sceptic in me questioned Daniel’s story. Was everything he said the truth? What about the masked man who hit me, the one who alluded to a woman losing a baby? That had made me think of Genevieve. Was that just another part of Daniel’s fabricated narrative?
Sebastian told me he had Genevieve’s whereabouts checked for the time I was kidnapped, and she was nowhere near the place. But did that definitively mean she had nothing to do with it?
My brain ached from thinking about these things, the same questions looping endlessly in my head until I had to actively distract myself.
And I was soon confronted with something else, something much more immediate: my pregnancy.
It seemed I was experiencing every possible complication-nausea, morning sickness, bloating, a complete lack of appetite, and violent mood swings.
Soon, I no longer had the energy to spare for Daniel or Frank.
I was moved to the gynaecology wing and given a private room. The doctor recommended I stay for another two weeks under observation, just as a precaution.
He didn’t specify what they were precautioning against, but I could read between the lines.
Sebastian came to see me whenever he could get away from work. He posted two guards outside my room, though I doubted Frank would be coming for me again. I didn’t know what instructions Sebastian had given them, but they must have left out any mention of Genevieve, because one morning, she sauntered straight into my room and the guards didn’t stop her.
I was sitting up in bed, scrolling through the latest issue of The Carat Standard.
“I came to see how you’re doing,” she said pre-emptively when she saw me look up.
“Don’t throw me out.”I set the tablet down.
“I’m fine. Thanks for visiting. You can go now.”Genevieve settled into the visitor’s chair.
“Don’t be so rude. I brought you a fruit basket.”I just stared at her.
She looked paler than before, and thinner, but her eyes burned brighter, as if she had found a new purpose in life.
“You’re pregnant.” Her eyes dropped to my barely noticeable bump.
I instinctively moved a hand to my belly.