Page 38 of Shadowing You

“No. And no.”

“I don’t understand. Why would anybody…?” His words faded, and by the way his expression hardened, he was putting it together. “Was it that man, Lu Feng? Did he…orchestrate it?”

“I think so.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. Bribery. Money. I’m out because the new warden couldn’t find any paperwork on me. She said without paperwork, she couldn’t keep me.”

“Just like that.”

Mei Lin nodded.

“Did they even apologize?”

“This is not America. Officials don’t apologize to people like me.”

A thousand more questions lingered behind his eyes. Rather than ask them, he held her against his chest. “You’re safe. You’re here. For now, that’s all that matters.”

“Yes.” Except she had a question too. She leaned back to see his face. “Where did you think I was?”

His throat worked. “They told us…” He took a breath and started again. “They told us you were in quarantine.”

“For six years?” That didn’t even make sense.

His head shook slowly. He swallowed again. “About a month later, they told us you were dead.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The morning before, Ethan had watched his wife sleep because he’d been worried for her health. Today, he knew why Mei Lin looked like she hadn’t eaten a decent meal or gotten a decent night’s sleep in years—and no treatment would fix it.

She’d been in prison.

Prison.

All night, that thought had turned his stomach like contaminated fish. He hadn’t been able to stop himself from imagining the unimaginable. Six years of…of what? He had no context, no idea what it would have been like. Were Chinese prisons like American prisons? Concrete floors, metal bars, and dangerous people? American prisons had some standards, at least. The prisoners were well fed, whereas Mei Lin definitely hadn’t been.

Ethan hadn’t wanted to believe the report that she was dead, but Gavin, with all his foreign resources, hadn’t been able to disprove it. After a while, after she never got in contact with him or her parents, he’d had no choice but to accept the truth and move on.

While his wife had languished in prison, he’d been dating.

He squeezed his eyes shut. He owed Holly a call or a text, but he didn’t have his phone, and he’d never bothered to memorize her phone number.

Mei Lin said something in her sleep, and Ethan’s eyes popped open, watching to see if she’d wake up.

This was all Lu Feng’s fault.

Ethan’s anger was no more helpful than his horror had been. He needed a plan.

Outside the apartment, the sky over Zhangjiajie had gone from black to pale gray to a fleeting gold. Two crows argued in a tree. Heat whirred.

Mei Lin slept.

The smudges under her eyes had faded a degree, maybe. She was still too thin, but her cheeks had a little more color than they’d had the afternoon before. Even her hair seemed less dull.

Her hand was curled on the pillow, her diamond ring loose on her finger. He’d had it sized for a healthy woman, one who could lift weights and do burpees.

He reached out to brush a lock of hair out of her face, then let his hand drop back to the sheet.