Page 30 of Shadowing You

Ethan worked for an easy smile. “You need a restroom before we get back on the road?”

“Yes. Please.”

“Five minutes,” he said to the driver. “We’ll be right back.”

They headed toward a glass walkway that connected the garage to the hospital, but they didn’t cross. He aimed for the space between a parked SUV and a concrete wall before turning to her. “What’s up?”

“I can’t leave China.”

He opened his mouth, but he couldn’t think of any response. What was she talking about?

“I need to go to Fuyin,” she said. “To the hospital where I used to work.”

“No.” The word came out too loud, and she reared back as if he’d hurt her. He flashed back to the fear he’d seen on her face that morning. He needed to be kind, but also… What in the world?

Two people pushed through the hospital doors and walked past, neither sparing Ethan and Mei Lin a glance.

Ethan waited until their voices faded. “Explain, please.”

“The story is long. There is evidence. The man following me, his name is Lu Feng, and he’s a doctor I used to work with. I discovered something he was involved in, and I was gathering proof against him. He found out, and he won’t stop until he silences me. We will only be free when he is in prison.”

Was this what she’d been doing for the last six years?

She’d let him believe she was dead for six years. And she’d been—what? Protecting evidence? Playing hero? Sacrificing their marriage, their life together, for what? To stop one small-town doctor from…what? Embezzling? Selling drugs? What could he have been doing that would be worth what it had cost Mei Lin—and Ethan?

He made himself breathe. He made himself find the voice he used in the ER when a patient was bleeding out and he only had seconds to issue orders and save a life.

“We’ll figure it out when we’re safe.”

“We’ll never be safe.” She shook her head quickly. “I’ll never be safe. If you want to leave⁠—”

“Do you think I’d do that?” He whispered, afraid that if he gave voice to the words, they’d come out as a shout. “Do you honestly think I’d—” He stopped himself, pulling in all his frustration. “You’re my wife.”

Something in her face eased.

Eased, as if she hadn’t been sure of him. As if he were the one who’d betrayed their marriage.

He wanted to shake her.

He wanted to hold her until she believed in him.

“I’m not leaving without the evidence,” she said. “But I know I am too much trouble and⁠—”

“Don’t put words in my mouth.”

She clamped her lips shut.

He had to change her mind. Short of that, he’d just throw her over his shoulder and take her against her will. Was it kidnapping if the victim was your wife and you were saving her from some…criminal?

The man… Lu Feng, she’d said. He might be small-town, but he’d proved that morning that he had big-time resources. All the more reason for Ethan to get her out of China today.

He grabbed her hand and started walking.

“We will go to Fuyin?”

“I’ll figure it out.” Translation… They were going to Hong Kong and getting on a flight, ASAP.

He’d figure it out from the air, or the US, or…anywhere else.