Chapter 27
Zhen
My law-abiding wife drove like a bat out of hell, putting any NASCAR driver to shame. I didn’t blame her one bit. If my brother was being held hostage by some psycho, I’d be breaking every traffic law, too.
I was just as worried, in a way. I considered Charlotte my little sister, and I didn’t like her in danger.
At all. Unlike Kris, she wasn’t trained for an attacker, wouldn’t know how to respond.
How to fight her way out or barricade herself in until help arrived.
I also didn’t like that she was at the building where my grandmother was, because that was two possible victims for Luna’s insanity.
Ants crawled up my skin, the urge to move shaking my bones.
But I couldn’t go any faster than the car.
Much as my instincts wanted to protest otherwise.
While Kris drove like a maniac, I called Romero.
She picked up promptly. “Now what?”
“Romero, meet us at my grandmother’s business, STAT. Luna Martin is there now, holding Kris’s sister at knife point.”
“Goddammit!”
I could hear the siren flick to life, the screech of tires, and knew Romero had just done an insane U-turn and was speeding herself now. I really liked this woman. She was quick to come to our aid, and in moments like this where I couldn’t kill the problematic thing, that was a godsend.
“I’ll get squad cars on that location. Hang up with me, but call me again if you beat me there.”
“Got it.”
I hung up and rubbed my temples. Unfortunately, all our friends had left for home or other jobs.
I couldn’t call anyone else except my dad, and he was too far out.
The situation would likely be resolved before he could even get there.
I was ten minutes away, he was thirty, and this was one of those damned situations where timing was everything.
I lowered a window and called out, “GUO!”
He ran alongside us, expression grim. “We can’t move.”
He’d anticipated my question. “Too dangerous?”
“Yes. Two are waiting, lurking in shadow, ready to spring at her. But the knife is too close to Charlotte’s throat. We do not dare move.”
“Fuck.” Kris said, voice hoarse.
“Where’s my grandmother?”
“Not in the building,” he answered promptly. “Jun Hie guards her.”
The fist clenching my heart loosened, if only just a hair. Jun Hie wouldn’t let anything happen to her, that was for sure.
Casting a glance at my best friend in the backseat, I gauged Jo Jo’s feelings on the matter.
From his deathly calm expression and flashing hazel eyes, murder was absolutely on the table.
He and Charlotte hadn’t been dating long, not even a proper week, but his protective instincts ran as high as mine.
Luna had just lit a fuse under him. Right now, he was likely coming out of his skin, willing to do about anything to get her safely out of there but stuck in the back seat of a car.
Like me, if running was a faster option, he’d have climbed out the window by now.
I tried to give him something, even though I didn’t feel like I had the right words. “She’s operating with the confidence of a raccoon in a gated community, bro, but we’ll take Luna down. You know we will. Charlotte will be shaken up but fine.”
Jo Jo managed a tight smile. “I knew when we met that we’d be friends because we have the same enemies. I just didn’t know delusional ex-girlfriends would be a mutual enemy.”
“Life does like to give us plot twists, doesn’t it?”
“It’s not even one of your ex-girlfriends,” Kris muttered, barely slowing as she got off the freeway. “Which makes this situation even stranger.”
She made a very good point. Also, hey, Kris had unlocked Morbid Humor.
She could now deflect highly stressful situations with questionable humor.
But we needed a game plan. “Remember, guys, as mad and as scared as you are right now, do not rush for the door. We will enter slowly, show we are not a threat.” I turned to Kris, who gripped the steering wheel so tightly I was surprised it didn’t bend under the force.
“Kris, I promise you this: We will get Charlotte out of there unharmed. I swear it on my life.”
Kris didn’t look my way, but I knew she heard me. Her micro nod confirmed she was putting her trust in my words.
Now I just had to deliver.
Kris slowed before we gained the front parking lot, pulling in with precise, slow movements to make our arrival as non-threatening as possible.
Through the picture windows, we could see Luna was here, all right, and looking like a hot mess on steroids.
She was dressed up, like she’d anticipated a date, but her mascara ran down her cheeks in ugly black trails, and there was this wild look about her.
A cornered animal denied the one thing it wanted.
All while holding a very sharp-looking butcher knife to Charlotte’s neck.
Charlotte, needless to say, wasn’t handling the situation well.
She stood stock-still, tears also streaming down her cheeks, visibly shaking.
This was probably the first time she’d ever been in danger, and she wasn’t made of the same stock as Kris.
Kris would punch a motherfucker. Charlotte would shut down and cry.
Which meant it really was on us to get her out of there.
Although the desk barring our way made things tricky as hell.
I gave rapid instructions to the other two. “Remember the plan. We do this calmly, okay? Don’t barrel in, just walk in, hands in the open, try to de-escalate the situation. Kris, your priority is pulling Charlotte out of harm’s way the second we can tackle Luna.”
“Got it.” A tear trailed down her cheek, but she hastily wiped it away, putting on a brave face. I so badly wanted to comfort her, but right now wasn’t the time. She needed demon-slayer Zhen, not loving-husband Zhen, by her side.
“You packing?”
“I’ve got my Glock on my back.”
“Use it with prejudice if you see an opening, but focus on Charlotte.”
She gave me a nod.
I too was armed—dirks and a small handgun also in a holster at my back—but let’s not use those unless we had to. Too much chance of friendly fire, and if Charlotte died in the process of us trying to save her, I’d never forgive myself.
With a low, stressed-out breath, I calmed myself.
Well, on the outside I did. Then I opened the car door, hands up, and tried to walk with measured steps toward the front of the building, ever so slowly reaching for the door to announce every movement.
I inched inside, hands always visible. Luna’s eyes darted to each of us in rapid succession, the hand holding the knife trembling slightly.
One slow footfall at a time, I moved as close to the front desk as I could without setting her off. I had to get around that desk.
“Luna,” I said very calmly, “I cannot explain with words how bad of an idea that knife is.”
“Yer givin’ ’im to me,” she hissed, mad light in her eyes. “Yer givin’ ’im back to me!”
“Yan Yichen, you mean?”
“YES!”
I paused next to the opening of the desk, keeping eye contact with Luna. “If I craft another spirit doll, summon him into it, will you give my sister-in-law back?”
She paused, really looking at me, then her eyes flitted to Kris, who stood a few feet behind me. “Yer married to ’er?”
“I am.”
Her blue eyes filled with tears. “’e said ’e wouldn’t marry me. I thought it was because I’m not Chinese, that ’is family wouldn’t approve of me, but she got to marry ya! Why is she different!”
Oh boy. I’d bet Yan Yichen hadn’t broken up with her for that reason, but unhinged people made up their own narrative on shit. Apparently she’d decided that was the real reason Yichen wouldn’t have her. Forget pot-stirrer, this one operated a full-drama cauldron.
Jo Jo attempted to get her back on track, voice soothing. “Sounds like you have a lot to say to Yan Yichen. How about we do that spirit doll, yeah? Then you can talk to him, and I can have my girlfriend back. That cool?”
She gave a tentative nod. “Yeah. Yeah, but ya ’ave to summon ’im in front of me.”
“Sure we will, that way you can see for yourself when he’s back in the doll.”
Kris didn’t need me to say a word to her.
She silently scooted past to the storage supply room, back in a minute flat with everything we needed.
I leaned over the desk, angled so I could keep an eye on Luna.
I quickly drew on eyes and mouth, slapdash in the extreme, because it wouldn’t matter in a minute what this looked like.
I caught Jo Jo’s eyes and silently conveyed the plan with a minute tilt of my head toward her. He gave me a minuscule nod in return.
Jo Jo and I, we’d been through so many situations, ranging from stupid to life-threatening, that after twenty-five years of knowing this man, we didn’t need to spell every little thing out. Our rapport had been forged in blood.
He knew what to do just from that signal from me.
I stuck head on doll and drew some random Hanzi on the back so she thought I was spelling out Yichen’s name. “All right, time to summon him. Oops!” Then I “fumbled” the doll, knocking it clear off the desk.
Luna gasped and dove, dropping her knife in the process, a cry of dismay erupting from her lips.
Jo Jo was speed itself, launching himself over the desk, catching Luna from the side and throwing her without mercy straight to the ground. He had her pinned under him in seconds. I was impressed.
I kicked the knife farther away, then turned, checking on Charlotte. Not even a nick on her throat, thankfully. Kris was quick to pull her shaking sister to her, giving her a much-needed hug.
“You—your grandmother went o-out to lunch with your m-mother,” Charlotte sobbed out, tears rolling down her cheek. “They left about f-five minutes before L-Luna walked in. They’re both safe.”
I already knew Grandma was safe, but for Charlotte to relay no harm had come to her while still so distraught? My heart softened at her kindness.