Reborn Heiress: Escaping My Contract Marriage with the Cold CEO Chapter 53: Grandpa Got Kidnapped by a Raine, Dear

GRANDPA BELMONT

"Who are you?" I asked the young man currently carrying fireman-style over his shoulder.

"My na’s Raine. I’ll be your kidnapper today."

"I’m not a kid."

"Your elder-napper then." He carefully put into the backseat of a Rolls Royce and then walked to the other side and joined in the back seat. "Would you like so water?"

"You’re very polite for an elder-napper," I said. He twisted the cap on the water bottle. I heard the snick. So, the bottle hadn’t been opened before. I accepted the water, but I didn’t drink. "This isn’t my first rodeo, sonnie. I know you can inject poison or lt sleepyti ds into a weak little plastic bottle."

Raine took the water, opened it, poured a little in the cap, and then chucked it into his mouth. "See? I’m willing to drink it."

"Fine. But only because I’m parched. It’s not like I got a lot of years left."

"That’s the spirit," said Raine.

"So where are we going?" I asked. I took a swig of water.

"I’m taking you to see my grandmother. Her na is Nettie Drop."

"Nope." I imdiately grabbed the door handle. I would throw myself out of the car currently speeding down the highway rather than see Nettie "Break Your Legs" Drop again.

"Child locks," said Raine.

"Do you think the edge of the lid is sharp enough to cut my wrists? I probably have ti to bleed out before we get to Nettie’s house."

"You can’t. And you don’t."

The Rolls Royce humd along the highway, smooth as silk, but my insides were churning like a washing machine full of rocks. The young man beside had the nerve to look calm, like he wasn’t currently committing a felony.

I took another sip of the water, eyeing him over the rim of the bottle. "You know, if you’re going to the trouble of kidnapping soone, you should at least provide snacks."

Raine chuckled. "Noted. I’ll put ’get snacks’ on my kidnapper’s checklist."

I leaned against the leather seat, staring out the window. Ash City was behind us now. Scenery blurred past. No landmarks I recognized. A lot of trees, though. "Where is she these days?"

"Still in the old house. The one by the lake."

I stiffened. That house had history. The kind that left scars.

Raine must’ve noticed my reaction because he added, "She’s had it renovated."

"You can’t renovate the mories," I responded.

Silence settled between us. Not exactly comfortable but not hostile either. After a while, Raine cleared his throat. "She’s sick."

My fingers tightened around the water bottle, making the plastic crackle. "How sick?"

"Sick enough that she asked to bring you."

"That doesn’t an anything. Nettie’s always been dramatic."

Raine’s expression softened. "She’s got six months."

The words hit like a sucker punch to the gut. Six months. Half a year. A blink, in the grand sche of life.

I swallowed hard. "What’s it matter if I see her or not? We haven’t spoken in fifty years."

"Fifty-three," Raine corrected.

I shot him a glare. "You counting?"

"She is."

I rubbed my face, suddenly exhausted. "Why now? After all this ti?"

Raine hesitated, then reached into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a small, worn photograph and handed it to .

It was old. Faded at the edges. But the image was clear— and Nettie, standing on the dock by the lake, young and stupid and smiling like the world couldn’t touch us.

I stared at it for a long ti. "She kept this?"

"She’s dying, Mr. Belmont." His voice cracked, just a little. "And she wants to speak to you before she leaves this life."

***|***|***|***|***

NATHAN JANG

"Who would steal soone’s grandfather?" asked Vanessa. "Seriously!"

I put my arm around her shoulders and squeezed. "When was he last seen?"

"After the ceremony," said Malone. "Parking lot caras show Mr. Belmont headed toward a white rcedes parked near the east exit."

"Wait. He drove? Oh, sweet hell. He doesn’t even have a driver’s license," said Vanessa.

"He gone," said Malone. "But his car’s still there."

Vanessa made a small, wounded noise. "He wouldn’t just disappear."

No. He wouldn’t. Belmont was stubborn as hell, but he’d never bail without a word. Not on Vanessa’s wedding day.

I turned to Malone. "Pull every cara within a mile radius. Track every guest, every staff mber who left after him. I want to know if anyone so much as looked at him wrong."

Malone nodded and vanished into the crowd, barking orders into his radio.

"We better tell Mom and Dad," said Vanessa, looking worried. "We should be able to track his cell phone, right?"

"Don’t worry," I told my wife. "We’ll find him."

The security feed was grainy, but the tistamp was clear: 4:17 PM. Belmont, scowling in his wrinkled suit, stalking toward the parking lot. Then—

"There." Vanessa jabbed the screen. A sleek black Rolls Royce glided into fra, blocking the cara’s view for three seconds.

Three seconds. That’s all it took.

When the car moved, Belmont was gone.

Malone cursed. "Professional."

My phone buzzed. Unknown number. I swiped open the call. "Talk."

A smooth, unfamiliar voice answered. "Please don’t worry about Mr. Belmont."

Ice slid down my spine. "Where’s is he?"

"Safe." A pause. "Don’t try to find him."

Vanessa snatched the phone. "If you hurt my—"

"Vanessa." The voice ward, almost fond. "I can’t wait to et you."

The line went dead.

***|***|***|***|***

GRANDPA BELMONT

The Rolls Royce rolled to a stop.

I didn’t wait for Raine. I shoved the door open the second the locks disengaged, my shoes crunching on gravel. The lake house lood ahead, its windows glowing gold in the dusk.

Raine stepped beside . "You two were only together for a year."

"A year is a long ti to make mories," I said. "This place ... sotis I still dream about it."

"What about Nettie? Do you dream about her?"

I shook my head. "No. I dream about my Mary. My wife. She’s the one who cos to visit at night."

A breeze stirred the trees. Sowhere, a bird cried.

I took a step forward.

The front door swung open.

And there, frad in the light, stood Nettie Drop.

Her hair was silver now, her face lined with age, but her smile was the sa—sharp as a blade. Nettie had been the opposite of Mary. A woman who wore a dagger on her thigh, smoked like a chimney, and skinny-dipped in the lake. She did what she wanted, to hell with anybody else.

I’d be lying if I said the year we’d had together was bad. It was exciting. Crazy. But not sustainable. I was the Belmont heir. She was the illegitimate daughter of the Xia Family. They never recognized her. I didn’t care. But in the end, I didn’t love her. Not enough to fight for her place by my side.

A place that had always belonged to my childhood sweetheart, Mary Lu.

When Mary returned from her studies abroad, I left. Well, more like Nettie tossed to the curb. She was the dumper, not the dumpee.

"Hello, Daniel," she said. "Miss ?"

The air outside was thick with the scent of pine and damp earth. The kind of sll that clung to mories, whether you wanted it to or not.

Nettie Drop.

Raine shifted beside , patient but tense. "She’s waiting."

"She’s been waiting fifty-three years. What’s a few more minutes?"

But my feet moved anyway, carrying toward the house like a man walking against a current. Every step felt heavier than the last.

Nettie leaned on a cane, her free hand gripping the doorfra like she needed the support. Her eyes—still that sa unsettling shade of green—locked onto mine.

"Took you long enough," she said.

My throat tightened. "You sent a damn kidnapper."

"You’re not a kid," she said. "You’re a stubborn old goat."

"Aren’t kids baby goats?" asked Raine.

Nettie and I both said, "Shut up!"

Raine cleared his throat. "I’ll give you two so space." He took out cigarettes and a lighter from his inner jacket pocket and then left us alone on the porch.

"You got six months, huh?"

She shrugged. "Give or take." Nettie stepped back, gesturing inside. "You gonna stand out here all night, or are you coming in?"

I hesitated. Walking through that door felt like surrendering. Like stepping back into a past I’d spent decades burying. But the alternative—walking away now—was sohow worse.

I entered the house.

The interior was different, but the layout was the sa. The fireplace still dominated the living room, though the mantel now held frad photos instead of the old, water-stained maps we’d once pinned there. My gaze snagged on one—a black-and-white shot of two of us young idiots standing on the dock, grinning happily.

I looked away.

Nettie limped to the couch, lowering herself with a wince. I sat on the couch, my joints protesting. Getting old sucked.

She studied . "You look good for an old man."

"You look like hell."

She laughed. "Cancer’ll do that."

"I’m sorry."

"For what? Cancer? Pointless. For the end of our relationship? I’m the one who left." She reached for the water pitcher on the table and poured a glass. After taking a sip, she said, "Your heart was never mine. It always belonged to Mary."

"Did you bring here to reminiscence? Because I’d rather not go down mory Lane with you."

She sighed, leaning back. "I’m dying. I owe you the truth before I go."

"What truth?"

She opened her mouth, presumably to tell the answer, but BAM! The front door burst open.

My only granddaughter Vanessa Belmont Jang stood there, her wedding dress still on, her face flushed. Behind her, Nathan and Malone looked ready for war.

"Grandpa!" She rushed forward, grabbing my arms. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

I blinked. "Vanessa? What the hell—"

Then I saw Raine behind them, hands raised in surrender. "I told them you were fine."

Nettie sighed. "Well. This is awkward."