Chapter 13 #2
Everything happened at once. Someone swung a metal rod. Dave ducked. Squirrel caught another man's wrist and twisted, sending the weapon clattering across the floor. Another came from the side, and Squirrel shoved him back.
There were too many of them. The narrow foyer became a blur of bodies, shouting and movement. Dave fought with controlled precision, blocking and pushing rather than wasting energy, while Squirrel was faster and more reckless, throwing himself into the chaos as though he had nothing left to lose.
“Go!” Dave shouted.
I didn't move. I couldn't. I was staring at Andy—the blood, her pale face, the way she was still struggling to stay upright.
“June!” Kai grabbed my arm. “Move!”
That finally broke through. I stumbled backward, and Squirrel appeared beside me, grabbing my arm and pulling me toward the car.
“Come on!”
He yanked open the front passenger door and pushed me inside. “Lock the door!”
My hands shook so badly I almost missed the handle. Behind me, I could still hear the shouting, fighting, and pounding footsteps, and somewhere among all that noise, Kai was still outside.
My heart stopped. “Kai—”
“Lock it!” Squirrel slammed the door.
Suddenly, I was alone inside the car. I did as I was told, but the moment the door locked, Squirrel disappeared from view.
Bodies surrounded him, kicking him and trying to pull him away from the car while hands grabbed at my door.
Someone tried the handle once, then twice.
I pressed myself against the seat, my heart hammering so hard it hurt.
Then the door on the other side flew open.
I turned and screamed.
The driver was dead. His head had fallen awkwardly against the seat, blood covering the front of his shirt, a deep cut across his throat. I couldn't look away until Kai reached through and dragged the body out.
“Get him!” Someone shouted behind him.
Sei Zai.
The same face. The same eyes. The same strange smile I'd seen outside the building.
“Watch out!” I screamed, but I was too late.
The machete came down, and I saw where it landed. It struck Kai across the back.
“Kai!”
He staggered forward, and for one terrifying second, I thought he'd fallen.
Then he turned, the pain disappearing beneath something colder.
He lunged at Sei Zai, driving his fingers toward the boy's eyes.
Sei Zai flinched and stumbled backward, and Kai kicked him hard enough to send him crashing against the side of the car.
Kai climbed inside. He barely had time to pull the door shut before he slammed his foot onto the accelerator. The car shot forward, throwing me sideways with every turn as we tore out of the car park.
“Kai.” He didn't answer. “Kai, stop here.”
“What?”
“We have to change cars.”
“No.” His hands tightened around the steering wheel. “Why?”
“They're going to catch up with us.” I looked behind us. I couldn't see them anymore, but that didn't mean they weren't there. “We can't outrun them in this.”
“We can.”
“No, we can't.” My voice rose. “Stop the car.”
He slammed on the brakes. The car jerked to a stop, and I was already opening the door.
“Come on.”
“What are you doing?”
“Getting us another car.”
He stared at me as though he couldn't understand why I was still functioning. Then I saw his face properly. He was pale. Too pale. Blood was dripping down his arm.
“Shit.” I grabbed his arm carefully. “Come on.”
We stumbled onto the pavement. I raised my hand and hailed the first taxi I saw. It stopped, and I pushed Kai inside before climbing in after him.
“Now what?” he asked, his voice weak.
“Shut up.” I pressed my hand against his back. “Just stay alive.”
I turned toward the window before he could see my face. I couldn't let him see how terrified I was.
I'd stood in front of patients and families and delivered the worst news of their lives while keeping my voice steady. I'd learned how to keep my face calm even when I wanted to cry with them.
So I did the same thing now.
Breathe. Think. Assess. Don't panic.
We reached Dannie's apartment without anyone following us, at least no one I could see.
We hurried inside, and I locked the elevator first, then the reinforced fire door.
Dannie had designed the building like a fortress, and for once, I was grateful for every ridiculous security feature I'd never understood before.
“Don't lie down.” I grabbed Kai before he could sink to the floor and dragged him toward the sofa. “I need to see your back.”
“Sit,” I demanded before disappearing into the adjoining room and returning with Dannie’s medical trolley. It was less a medical kit and more a miniature emergency department on wheels. I’d thought it was excessive when I first saw it.
Now, I was grateful for every ridiculous piece of it.
“Why here?” Kai whispered.
“Because it’s safe.”
“They’ll come.” His words came slowly, each one separated by a breath. “They will come.”
“Let them try.” I pulled the trolley closer.
I’d already activated the building’s lockdown system.
The elevator was disabled, the reinforced fire door was locked, and a secondary security grille had dropped into place behind it.
Even if someone forced their way through the first barrier, they’d still have another one to deal with.
It would take them hours, maybe longer, and if they resorted to explosives, they’d attract half of Hong Kong’s attention. They wouldn’t do that. Not here.
“How?” Kai asked.
“This building is basically a bunker.” I looked at him. “A very expensive bunker.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
He let out a breath. “Fine.”
I moved behind him. “Take off your jacket.”
He did, and I helped him pull off the heavy garment. The moment I saw his back, I stopped breathing. Blood. So much of it. His white shirt had turned almost entirely red, and my stomach twisted.
“How bad?”
I forced myself to look at the wound instead of the man attached to it. “You’ll live.” It was easier to lie when he couldn’t see my eyes.
The wound was long. Far too long. The cut ran across his back, deep enough that I knew this wasn’t something I could simply clean and cover. He needed proper medical care. Blood. A hospital. We couldn’t give him any of those things, so I did the only thing I could.
I worked.
I cleaned the wound, checked for deeper damage, stopped the bleeding as best I could, and then began stitching.
There was no local anaesthetic. Of course there wasn’t.
After everything this man had survived, somehow he’d stocked an emergency room without remembering that people might actually want pain relief.
“Stay still.”
“I am.” His voice was quiet.
I pushed the needle through his skin. He didn’t move. Not once. I counted because counting gave my mind something to do—something other than think about the blood, something other than imagine what would happen if I made a mistake.
Twenty. Twenty-one. Twenty-two.
My fingers began to ache. Thirty. Thirty-one. Still bleeding. I kept going.
Forty. Forty-one. Forty-two.
My eyes burned, but I refused to let the tears fall.
Forty-seven.
I tied off the final stitch, and my shoulders sagged. “All done.”
For a moment, neither of us spoke. Then I helped him carefully onto his side. “You need to rest.”
He nodded, his eyes already heavy. I started to stand when his hand suddenly closed around mine, and I froze.
He looked at me. Really looked at me. There was no anger in his eyes. No arrogance. No argument. Just exhaustion, and something else. Something I’d spent years trying not to see.
“I love you.”
The words were so quiet I wondered if I’d imagined them. My breath caught. “Oh, Kai…”
His fingers loosened around mine.
“In case I die.”
He smiled, a small, tired smile, then his eyes closed. Within seconds, his body went completely still.
“Kai?”
Nothing.
“Kai?”
I checked his breathing. Steady. Still there. He was unconscious, but alive. He was alive, and that should have been enough.
But the tears I’d been holding back all night finally broke free. I covered my mouth with one hand as they spilled down my face.
Because he had said it.
At the worst possible moment.
And I didn’t know whether to hate him for it or love him for it.