Page 49 of Shadowing You

He chuckled. “Operation?” She so rarely struggled with English, but when she got confused, it always amused him.

Her eyes flashed, though not with true anger. “Do not laugh at me.”

“Who’s laughing?”

She reached across the table and smacked his shoulder. “You’re mean to me, after so much time apart.” She shoved her lower lip out in a pout, and he had the almost irresistible desire to kiss it.

He swallowed. “I’m enjoying the fact that you can’t hurt me. I’m sure you’ll get back into CrossFit, and then your playful little smacks will leave a mark.”

“Hmm. A goal worth fighting for.”

As much as he loved sparring with his wife… “You think Lu Feng has a big surgery now?”

“Shut up.” Her smile didn’t last. “He must have, no? To find me on the train, and then to find us⁠—”

“Wait. The train?”

“I didn’t tell you? I was on the train to meet you, but at one of the stops, he was on the platform. He was looking for me. If I hadn’t gotten off, he’d have boarded and found me. I barely escaped.”

“You were in Changsha?” That explained why she’d gotten off early.

“Yes. The next morning—the morning you found me—he tracked me to a church.” She explained how a kindly minister had let her sleep. He’d been the one to provide the delivery-driver uniform and scooter. “And then Lu Feng found us again yesterday. His operation is large. And the women must be smuggled out of the country, at least I think, where they would be worth more money. So that means he has connections outside of China. And if that’s the case, then he’ll find me. Or he’ll tell someone else to find me.”

“Maybe.”

She sat back and folded her arms. “I don’t want to take him to America with us. I must get the information to use against him so he can’t destroy our lives.”

She wasn’t wrong. Taking down Lu Feng was a goal worth fighting for.

Which meant… “We have to get into the hospital.”

“Yes.”

“Where you worked for years. People will recognize you.”

She considered that, then nodded. “Yes.”

“Where everyone knows your face. And the face they remember is a healthy woman, so any one of them who took a second look would⁠—”

“Yes.” Her jaw set. “I understand the risk.”

He ran it through every angle his tired brain could find, and there was only one solution.

He’d have to leave Mei Lin here and go on to Fuyin alone. He hated to let her out of his sight, but there was no way she was going anywhere near that hospital.

Outside, the sky had turned dark blue over the distant mountains. It was going to be a beautiful day in Zhangjiajie. If only he could spend the day here with his bride instead of trekking deeper into China alone.

Ethan took a breath, picked up the burner, and called Michael.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Mei Lin chose a pair of leggings and a sweater from the bag of clothes Ethan had bought for her, along with a thick pair of socks. She would never take thick socks and warm feet for granted again.

She was returning to the living room when Ethan’s phone rang.

Ethan scooped it off the coffee table and looked at the screen. “It’s Michael.” He explained that to her before he answered and pressed the speaker icon.

“Sorry about my brothers.” Unlike Ethan, who spoke with a lilting Southern accent she loved, his cousin’s accent was rougher, his tone more abrupt. “Derrick and Jasmine were here when I was texting you. We married sisters, so I have to see him a lot.” He sounded part-frustrated and part-pleased by that last bit. “The idiot grabbed my phone before it locked. They think they’re being supportive.”