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.

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

him, his jaw dropping slightly. "Kidnapped?!

big deal. "Wish I

her wrists. The

from various bindings the fastest. At the time, it had been more of a joke than anything serious. But

The ropes were tight, but she knew the trick: wiggle, loosen, pull. It was slow going, and the rope burned against her skin,

a

like an eternity, the rope finally gave way. "Yes!" she whispered fiercely, immediately moving to untie her legs. Her fingers were cramping, but

soreness in her wrists. Now came the hard part: figuring out how to get out of this

Matthew's car was waiting. Sliding into the driver's seat, Matthew barely gave Adrian a chance to buckle up before he slammed his foot on

glanced at him and then raised

gripping the door handle as if his life depended on

it's an emergency," Matthew replied, weaving through traffic

groaned. "Can you at least pretend to care about

the outskirts of London. It's a long drive, and I don't plan on wasting

sped through

city lights fading as they approached the warehouse district Adrian, who had long since given up trying to reason with Matthew's driving, focused on the

my favorite spot in London, if I'm honest." "Great," Adrian

routes. The front exit seemed like the obvious choice, but it also

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

froze, her heart sinking. The voice came from a speaker mounted

and mocking. "Not many people manage to

with dry humor. "ow, thanks for the compliment. I'm flattered. I'll be sure to add