Page 40 of Shadowing You

“There are two, I think.”

“Right.” He’d forgotten. He held her gaze one more beat, half hoping she’d ask him to stay.

Okay, not half.

He made himself get up and walk away.

A cold shower sounded like a very good plan.

He was drying off when the other shower turned on. He dressed and carried the burner phone into the kitchen, where a laminated packet listed nearby restaurants in multiple languages. He found a breakfast place and ordered congee—traditional Chinese rice porridge—scallion pancakes, and egg tarts.

He was finalizing the payment when his burner buzzed.

It was Michael.

His stomach swooped as he answered. “Everything okay?”

“Yup.” Michael’s voice was brisk. “How’s your wife?”

“Better today.” It was odd, chatting with this total stranger who was his cousin—and also had saved his life.

“I’m glad to hear it. I owe you an update. You asked how they found you in Changsha.”

Ethan braced himself. “And?”

“I think it was the taxi driver.”

Ethan took that in. “I flagged him down. I didn’t use an app or anything.”

“But cameras picked it up. I watched the footage of him after he dropped you at the apartment. Nothing interesting happened that night, but the next morning, he was parked near the hotel where you’d stayed. A guy approached him. They had a short conversation, and then money changed hands. An hour later, that same guy was in one of the cars that pulled up outside your building.”

“The taxi driver told him where he took us?”

“Yup.”

“I’m an idiot.”

“Not an idiot,” Michael said. “Just not a pro, that’s all.”

“How’d you know they were coming?”

“I didn’t know for sure, but we were watching cameras in the area and saw a group of guys a few blocks away. They looked like they were planning something. I guessed they were coming after you and Mei Lin. By the time I was dialing your number, they were moving.”

“Wow. Thank you. That’s… How are you doing that? Watching?”

A low chuckle came from the other end of the phone. “My cousin… Well, your half sister, Alyssa.”

The name had Ethan’s stomach swooping a second time in two minutes. It did that whenever he thought about his sisters—because the thought always brought him back to the restaurant where they’d discovered Ethan and Gavin eating lunch. None of them had reached out to Ethan in the months since they’d learned their father’s secret, not even Delaney, not that he blamed her.

“What about Alyssa?” Ethan asked.

“She’s got mad hacking skills.”

“Are you saying she hacked the Chinese surveillance system?”

“I’m not saying that. I’m saying she has mad hacking skills, and also, I happen to have access to the Chinese surveillance system.”

“But…why? Did she know it was for me?”