the
er in the mirror. "Miss,
he car.
out into the rain, and stood on the pavement with her bag clutched against her chest and the ph
ngy
per, not in a dream she was willing to admit. Her own name, typed b
. Someone knew
awnings, the cars parked bumper to bumper beneath the streetlamps. Her apartment building stood at the end o
every light of
glass, tall and unhu
art hammered so hard that it hurt. Five minutes. Ten. The rain thickened into a drumm
turned his head to scan the street, and t
opped b
d Q
n't
and closed around her elbow, firm and warm through
voice said. "Don't ru
with water. Shen Yuhan stood in the dark mouth of the alley with one hand on
arm free. "You
. Wa
fire escape, to a long black car with its engine idling. He opened the passenger door. She st
e said. "You kn
the car,
ll me that. Three years. Three years I thought... I thought...
the cold mask of his face, something raw and weary. "There is a man across the street with a crow
m. Then, jaw clenched
rove without speaking for three long blocks, and Qingyue sat with her arms wrapped around
?" she ask
e road. "You hid your left hand in your sleeve when Jiahao spoke. You
d me at fami
ed gears. "Three years ago, I thought you were at the bottom of a river. Then Hartwell & Zhao sent me a résu
y you insis
t is
.." Her voice broke. She turned her face to the window and pressed her knuckles to her tee
e, his voice was lower t
me in that room, you wo
s roughly. "Who wa
saw
d Qin works for Aunt Mei. She told me she would have the login traced, and
a cro
on't kn
rrying a duffel bag." Yuhan's voice remained perfectly calm. "I am not asking y
opened her mouth and closed it. The login.
" she said, but the words came
st time. "Then it will cost her nothing f
old and rain. Qingyue stared at her hands, at the pale scar on h
d finally, very quietly. "In the share
ut the air inside it cha
the one who b
s. She only said, "A warning
a safer channel." He was silent for a moment. "Someone else is watching yo
e who wants
r t
nd her hand flew to her collar.
re is
ot look at him. Sh
offense, but approval. "Good. Keep it that way
m properly, this cold, beautiful, infuriating man who had saved her life twice a
red. "Your family was ruined by mine.
not answer. When he spoke, his eyes were on the
ur grandfather, and not one person in that crowd moved." A muscl
's breat
a pair of headlights fla
t had not been there a moment ago. Yuhan's eyes flicked to the
belt,"
n," Qingyu
ed into a narrow lane between warehouses, and killed his headlights, and the car became a shadow among shadows.
ngers dug into the seat. The SUV
it mov
eath, and for the first
ng it off the fading taillights.
ed at him
ssib
out of the lane, and Qingyue sat very still with her cold hands in her lap, thinking of a woman w
self, for the fifth time t
ad stopped s
uiet road near the river. The rain had thinned to a f
ill sleep at a hotel tonight, under my name,
t want y
s seat to face her, and the ghost of a streetlight carve
Wh
held hers. "Your grandfather's study has been sealed for three years. No one has
urch. The crane. The scroll above the ch
softly, "at midnight, I am going i
eyed, her breath fogging
our grandfather left behind, you are
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