Page 64 of Shadowing You

Ethan’s shoulders dropped, and he shifted his attention to the phone on the counter. “We’re good to go.”

“Great. Car will be there in seven minutes.”

Michael ended the call, and the room suddenly felt quieter than it had before.

Ethan tucked the phone into his pocket, then held a hand out to her. When she took it, he drew her against him for one long moment without saying anything at all. She rested her cheek against his shirt and listened to his heart.

It was steadier than hers.

“Lord,” he said, “protect this woman.”

“And her husband,” Mei Lin added.

“Both of us. Help us get the evidence and escape without incident. And then get us out of China.”

“Amen.”

He held her a little tighter. Then he shifted, kissed the top of her head, and stepped back. “Let’s get our stuff together.”

She walked into the bedroom and grabbed her things.

He hadn’t slept away from her because he didn’t love her but because he wanted more than he thought she could give. That was all.

And if she’d seen anything else, it didn’t matter. She trusted her husband, and that was that.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Ethan hadn’t known what to expect of Fuyin. Before Mei Lin had gone missing, while they were still waiting for her visa to come through, she’d told him about the town where she’d worked for months, so he’d known it wouldn’t be anything like the enormous cities he’d visited in the last few days, with their impressive skylines and populations.

Fuyin didn’t have any massive high-rises, but he wouldn’t call it a village, either. The buildings they passed on the outskirts of town were four and five stories tall. Storefronts crowded the ground floors with hand-painted signs in red and gold. It was midafternoon, and despite the cold wind, the streets were crowded with people.

His wife had lived here.

It was such an odd thing, that the woman he loved had resided in a place during their marriage that he’d never seen. She’d shared an apartment with a roommate he’d never met, only returning to her parents’ village when she had a couple of days off in a row.

He tried to picture her in this place—jogging the trails she’d mentioned, ducking into one of these shops for noodles after a long shift. He couldn’t make the images form.

There was so much of what she’d endured that he didn’t understand. Not that his grief was even on the same level as what she’d gone through, but she didn’t know much about the life he’d lived in the last six years.

The thought brought a stab of guilt. He tamped it down with all the rest of the things he wasn’t letting himself think about.

They just needed to get through this and get out of China. Then he’d tell her everything.

Beside him, Mei Lin stared out the window, absentmindedly spinning the loose rings on her finger. She’d been eating better and sleeping better, but she still looked as if she’d been hollowed out from the inside.

The driver, Chin, hadn’t spoken since a rest stop a couple of hours back.

Ethan and Mei Lin hadn’t talked much, either. They didn’t want to discuss what they were about to do in front of the driver, in case he understood more English than he’d let on. What else was there to talk about? This wasn’t the time to discuss their separate pasts, and how could they plan for a future they might not have?

Chin eased the car to a stop just past a busy intersection. He said a few words, and Mei Lin turned to Ethan.

“This is where I get out.” Her voice was steady. “We’re about two kilometers from the hospital. Wait here for your translator.”

Ethan opened his mouth, but he couldn’t seem to make his voice work. What was he thinking, letting Mei Lin return to a place where she could be recognized—and where her enemy had friends? He wanted to grab her and hang on tight and yell at the driver to turn around and take them anywhere but here.

She watched him, head tilted to one side as if she were attempting to read his mind. And then, she angled to face him, placed her hands on either side of his face, and kissed him.

It was a soft kiss, not filled with desire, but love and tenderness.