New beginning: Billionaire love story

Chapter 448 The Chase Begins

Adrian paced around Matthew's small, chaotic workstation, his expensive leather shoes echoing faintly on the tile floor. "How exactly are we supposed to find Claire?" he asked, rubbing his temple. Panic was beginning to edge his voice, though he tried to keep his cool. "It's not like she left a trail of breadcrumbs."

Matthew, hunched over his desk, barely spared Adrian a glance. "Easy," he said, cracking his knuckles. "Every car Claire owns has a tracker."

Adrian blinked, surprised. "What?"

"Yep," Matthew replied, his tone casual as he started typing furiously on his keyboard. His fingers flew across the keys like they had a life of their own. "You know, just in case something like this happens. She knows about it. It's a safety thing. And honestly, if whoever's got her hasn't found the tracker yet, that'll be a piece of cake."

"That's... unexpected or should I say smart? I mean, Claire's a tech genius, for sure, she'd think of something like that," Adrian said, watching the screen flash with lines of code and maps. "But you? I didn't peg you as the hacker type."

Matthew paused just long enough to flash a smug grin. "You'd be surprised. Claire taught me a thing or two back in the day. She said I needed to 'up my game' if I wanted to survive in her world."

"Well," Adrian admitted, leaning closer to the screen, "it's impressive. Not the tracking part-bit creepy-but the skills? I can respect that."

"Thanks," Matthew said, his tone dripping with faux modesty. "What can I say? I had a good teacher."

Adrian couldn't help but grin. "Humble much?"

"Never," Matthew quipped.

Suddenly, a red dot pinged onto the screen. Matthew's grin disappeared, replaced by a frown.

"What?" Adrian asked, alarmed. "What is it?"

"The location," Matthew muttered, squinting at the map. "It's... familiar."

raised an eyebrow. "Familiar

his jaw tightening. "Because I had been there before. You know,

at him, his jaw dropping

shrugged like it was no big deal. "Wish I was. Long

was testing the limits of her patience and her wrists. The ropes digging into her skin weren't exactly comfy, but she

sessions with Matthew. They'd been bored one weekend and decided to see who could free themselves from various bindings

and that. The ropes were tight, but she knew the trick: wiggle, loosen, pull. It was slow going, and

pain was a problem

rope finally gave way. "Yes!" she whispered fiercely, immediately moving

the soreness in her wrists. Now came the hard part:

barely gave Adrian a chance to buckle up before he

glanced at him and then raised his brows. "You are

Adrian asked, gripping the door handle as if his life

an emergency," Matthew replied, weaving through traffic with

least pretend to

of London. It's

sped through the outskirts

the warehouse district Adrian, who had long since given up trying to reason with Matthew's driving, focused on the task ahead.

clipped. "Not my favorite spot in London, if I'm honest." "Great," Adrian muttered.

obvious choice, but

a loose board, even a rusty nail. But before she could make a move, a

voice came from a speaker mounted high on the wall. It was

people manage to get out

thanks for the compliment. I'm