Chapter 18 Decisions #2
But beneath all that refinement…
I smelled unease.
The instant he sensed me, his shoulders tensed before he turned, rearranging his features into a rehearsed smile. Too soft at the corners. Too careful. Too afraid.
“Hei Mo,” he greeted, his voice was smooth but seemed slightly unsteady. “You made good time.”
I gave him nothing but a slight nod of my head. I had learned long ago that less was more. His gaze flickered to my face, then down to my hands, as though expecting blood that was not there.
“I trust the last assignment is complete.”
I said nothing more as I opened the black folder, scanning the details for only a few seconds before closing it again.
I didn’t need longer. The target had already been dealt with the night I met Alora in that alleyway.
The only job that felt like it had true purpose as it meant saving her before that fucker could hurt her.
I tossed the folder onto his desk with a careless flick of my wrist, the papers sliding across the polished wood.
“It is done,” I said, my voice flat, offering him nothing else. He cleared his throat and attempted to smooth the shock from his expression.
“Any complications?”
“No,” I stated, and I didn’t elaborate. I never did. My answers were short and clipped, minimal enough to make men like him sweat. Xue Long was no exception. He hesitated, then asked the question he should not have asked.
“And witnesses?”
My jaw tightened a fraction, but I kept my tone even.
“No.”
His gaze sharpened, the false calm slipping around the edges as he studied my face a little too long. He thought he was clever. He thought he could read me. He never had before, yet tonight, arrogance pried at him like a loose tooth he could not leave alone.
“So there was no girl,” he said lightly, almost conversational, but the implication behind his words was a lock snapping shut.
The world inside me went silent.
Then the demon roared.
The sound crashed through my skull like thunder, instinct and fury colliding so violently that I moved before thought caught up.
I was across the room in a second as my hand snapped out, fisting the front of Xue’s shirt.
My actions were swift as I slammed him back against the wall hard enough to rattle the frames hanging there.
His breath stuttered, eyes going wide as he stared up at me.
“You are mistaken,” I growled, voice low and vibrating with the demon’s rage. “There was no girl.”
His pulse jumped wildly at his throat. I felt it under my fingers, a rapid flutter begging to be crushed.
“But I heard…”
“If you think otherwise…” I snarled, leaning in until my shadow swallowed his face, “…then we will have problems.”
The demon pressed up against my skin, urging me to break him.
‘Spill blood.
To erase the threat.’
“And trust me…” I finished quietly, dangerously, “…you do not want me as a problem, Xue.”
Xue trembled, his hands lifting in a slow, pacifying gesture.
“Hei Mo… I meant no disrespect. Only rumors reached me. I assumed—”
“You assumed wrong.”
I released him abruptly. He stumbled but caught the desk to steady himself, eyes darting anywhere but at mine. The smell of fear thawed the last of my restraint. Good. He should fear. He should never speak of her existence again.
Because the moment he mentioned a girl, even vaguely, even by accident, every instinct in me screamed the same truth.
She is a weakness they can use.
The demon prowled inside my skull, furious and restless.
‘We must protect her.
Take her.
Hide her.
Now. Now. Now!’
Not now, I told it, dragging in a slow breath. But soon.
Xue smoothed his jacket with shaking hands, pretending to have a composure he couldn’t possibly feel.
“Our business is concluded then,” he murmured, and I turned for the door without another word. But my thoughts were no longer in this room. Not in this club. Not even in this city. No, they were back with her.
With her soft laugh and her fragile hope. With her bravery despite the fear she tried to hide. With her smile when she read my messages and her soft, flyaway hair.
I had wanted to see her again tomorrow.
Craved it.
Needed it.
But now… for her sake, I had no choice.
If Xue even suspected there was a girl in my orbit, if word spread, if anyone connected to this life learned she existed at all… she would be used against me.
They would hunt her. They would follow her. They would take her from me before she ever had a chance to belong to herself again. So I told myself the only thing that could possibly keep her alive.
I had to stay away from her.
At least until I could make a plan.
At least until I could remove every threat.
At least until I could take her somewhere far away from this world.
Somewhere no one could ever hurt her again. Somewhere she would be mine. Which was why when I stepped out into the night, the club’s noise fading behind me, I felt the decision settle over my shoulders like a cloak woven from darkness itself.
If I wanted her safe…
If I wanted her at all…
I would have to kidnap her.