Chapter 15 #2
Lincoln’s fists clenched on the table, the crack of tension loud as a slap.
“No one is allowed near the house now,” Andy said, her voice trembling despite her best effort to keep it steady. “Clare and I both tried, but they’ve completely shut us out. They won’t want anyone seeing his condition.”
None of it made sense.
Kai… putting his mother under house arrest?
It was twisted.
Dark.
And yet—some broken, bruised part of me felt a surge of vindication.
After what she did to me?
After she stabbed me?
A shiver crawled up my spine. I didn’t know if it was guilt or some darker emotion curling itself around my ribs.
Then it struck me—something was missing.
I scanned the room. “Where’s Clare?”
Andy opened her mouth, but Dave answered first. “Clare’s not here,” he said. “Clare and a small team are watching the apartment. Just in case.”
But it was the flicker in Andy’s eyes—a tiny, guilty hesitation—that made my stomach knot.
“What is it?” I demanded. “You’re not telling me everything. Andy, tell me.”
Andy let out a slow breath, and her gaze dropped to the floor. “There was… a division. When it happened. People didn’t know what to do.”
A cold weight settled in my chest. “What do you mean?”
“Half the employees didn’t know whose side to take,” she said quietly. “Some pretended to be sick just to avoid choosing. It became a matter of loyalty. Either you stood with Mr. Li…” Andy swallowed hard.
“Or with his mother.”
I stared at her, struggling to piece it together—the betrayal, the fear, the sheer instability of the situation.
Andy shook her head, frustration tightening her voice.
“I kept reminding them—Mr. Li pays their salaries. Their loyalty should be with him. None of them listened. Cowards, the lot of them. No one wanted to be caught in the middle. Even the housekeeping team refused to come upstairs. Wouldn’t even clean the house. ”
Her words hit harder than I expected. I pictured Kai trapped in that house—weak, drugged, surrounded by staff too terrified or too apathetic to help him. People who’d rather hide in their rooms than stand beside him.
A shiver crawled down my spine.
“That’s where I came in,” Lincoln said, his voice low, edged with anger he wasn’t bothering to hide.
“Yes.” Andy nodded, glancing toward him. “I didn’t know what else to do. And Dave suggested we ask Mr. Young for help.”
“Great idea,” I murmured—even though my chest tightened at the thought of Lincoln being dragged back into this hell because of me. Because of Kai.
My brother’s jaw flexed. “I thought about letting him rot in that mess he created. After how he treated you.” The words came out like venom, his eyes burning with resentment and something else—something that looked too close to pain.
Lincoln and Kai had been best friends since forever. And sometimes I wondered how all these billionaire men kept finding themselves kidnapped, hunted, or hospitalized. Maybe it was an occupational hazard. Or maybe rich men were simply magnets for danger.
Last time, it had been Lincoln tied to a chair in some warehouse—and Kai and his men were the ones who pulled him out. So maybe Lincoln wasn’t just helping.
Maybe he owned him.
Brotherhood. Loyalty. Debt paid in blood.
Lincoln’s mouth curved, but it wasn’t a smile. “He pulled me out once,” he said quietly. “Guess it’s my turn now.”
Something in his tone made me study him longer. It wasn’t just obligation. It was guilt.
And that guilt, I realized, wasn’t for Kai—it was for me.
A sudden thought struck—had what happened between Kai and me damaged their friendship. Whether I’d put a crack between them that neither of them knew how to fix.
“Lincoln,” I said softly, meeting his eyes. “It was the right thing to do. I’m glad you came.”
His jaw ticked like he wanted to argue, but he stayed silent.
“We’re going to drag that stubborn idiot out of there,” he muttered instead, anger simmering beneath every word. “I brought my own team. And I refuse to believe I could be outsmarted by some old witch.”
“Lincoln! Watch your mouth!” The reprimand erupted before I could stop it. No matter how monstrous she was—no matter what she’d done—the Asian daughter in me recoiled at hearing him spit insults at an elder. Respect for age was bone-deep, instinctual, and hearing him shred it felt… wrong.
Lincoln’s glare snapped to me, sharp and disbelieving. “You’re defending her? After everything she’s done?”
“I’m not—” I began, but he cut across me.
“Do you even know what she’s done to her own son?”
A chill slid down my spine. “What do you mean?”
“I found Lucy,” he said, each word tight and jagged. “She was a mess. Barely functioning. She didn’t even know how to help us—but she told me everything.”
My stomach twisted. “Everything… what?”
He slammed his hand on the table, sending papers fluttering like startled birds. “Mrs. Li has been drugging him, June. Keeping him doped up like some broken puppet.”
My body went still.
”And some days—” He swallowed hard, fury shaking his voice. “Some days Mrs. Li forced Lucy to do it. Forced her to inject him. If Lucy didn’t obey, she’d be next.”
Breath stalled in my lungs. My hands went cold and the room tilted for a moment.
“Oh my God…”
Lincoln nodded once, jaw carved from stone. “That woman turned her son’s fiancée into her little pawn. Just so she could keep control. Tell me again why I shouldn’t call her a witch.”
The word hit me like a slap.
Fiancée.
For a heartbeat, I forgot how to breathe. The word sliced through everything—the fear, the anger, the panic—cutting straight to the truth I’d been running from since the moment I got on that plane.
Lucy.
Kai still had his fiancée.
And here I was, standing in his apartment, acting like this was about helping Lincoln, about doing what was right. Pretending I came because I cared about justice or safety or duty.
But I knew better.
I came because I couldn’t stay away.
Because even after everything—after he broke me, after I swore I’d never look back—I still obsessed over him. I still ached for him.
A tight knot formed in my throat. Blinking hard, I forced the tears to stay put. “Lucy… she must’ve been terrified,” I whispered, my voice barely holding together. “Kai’s mother always knew how to control people. Lucy… maybe the poor girl didn’t have a choice.”
Lincoln scoffed, dragging a hand across his forehead. “Maybe. But choice or not, Kai’s the one suffering for all this.”
A part of me wanted to defend Lucy. I wanted to say she wasn’t the villain here.
But the words stuck in my throat.
Because part of me—an ugly, selfish part—didn’t want her absolved.
Not yet.
Not when she still had what I’d lost.
Andy cleared her throat softly, cutting through the tension.
“If I may,” she said, voice gentle but solid—the voice of someone who knew how to bring order to chaos. “We’ve already started mapping out a plan. His mother’s security detail has doubled since last week. They’ve replaced most of the household staff.”
Lincoln straightened. “Which means we can’t just walk in.”
“Exactly,” Andy said. “We’ll need a diversion. Something big enough to pull guards away from the west wing, where Mr. Li is most likely being held.”
“The west wing,” Lincoln muttered, almost to himself. “Figures.”
Andy continued, “The problem is, we don’t have a fixed time. We move when Lucy next visits.”
My stomach lurched.
“Visits,” I repeated, the word tasting bitter.
“Lucy promised to take the injection,” Andy said. “If Lucy makes the visit look routine, there’s a chance he won’t be heavily sedated that day. He might be awake when we get him out. But there’s no guarantee.”
Lincoln’s fingers drummed against the table—sharp, restless taps. “No guarantee,” he echoed. “So we prepared for every outcome.”
Dave nodded. “Precise timing. Diversion to the west wing. Medical”—his eyes flicked to me—“ready to counter whatever they’re pumping into Kai.”
I inhaled sharply. It felt reckless. Dangerous.
Exactly the kind of plan we’d have to make.
Dave leaned forward. His voice softened, but the intensity behind it didn’t. “Were you seen at the airport? Any chance you were followed coming in?”
My stomach dropped.
“I—I don’t know. I used someone else’s ticket. Same name… I’ll explain later.”
He exchanged a heavy look with Andy. “Mrs. Li’s people know exactly what to look for. They’re watching arrivals, drivers, anyone with access. We can’t confirm they saw you—but if they did, they’ll tighten their grip on Kai immediately.”
Lincoln’s voice dropped into a quiet growl. “If you were tailed, we need to know now.”
Suddenly, the room felt too big—shrinking me into something small. “I don’t think so,” I said—and hated how fragile it sounded. The truth was, I hadn’t been careful. I hadn’t even thought about being careful. I’d been too desperate to get here. Too desperate to be close.
And now the thought of my face triggering another security sweep made my blood run cold.
Andy’s stiffened. “Then you need to lay low,” she said firmly. “Don’t leave the apartment unless one of us is with you. Change your appearance. Avoid all public places. If Mrs. Li’s people spotted you, your presence could alert them, and tighten security—or worse, put Clare and Lucy in danger.”
The room fell silent, the weight of her words settling over all of us.
A slow nod, a hard swallow—the only response I could manage.
Staying invisible was the only thing I knew how to do.
And maybe the only thing I could do to keep the people I cared about alive.