Page 81 of Billionaire’s Ruin

Or… did he tell me and I just didn’t hear him? Didn’t want to hear him?

Questions fired through me like bullets, ricocheting too fast to catch. I’d been so consumed with worrying about Dannie, so buried in the chaos that kept hitting me from every side, that I hadn’t asked a single real question about Kai. I’d just assumed he was safe. That whatever had happened was minor.

Temporary.

God. How naïve could I be?

At one point, I’d even convinced myself that maybe Kai was just trying to get my attention. That this was some dramatic, messed-up, Li-family way of pulling me out of hiding.

Andy hesitated before answering, her expression softening with something dangerously close to pity. “It happened about three weeks ago,” she said gently. “He was in the ICU for a week. It was bad. Really bad. Once he stabilized, they moved him back to his family’s home. A private medical team was brought in to monitor him around the clock.”

The air left my lungs in a slow, painful collapse. “His family home…”

Andy nodded. “Yes. And as far as we knew, Mrs. Li was under house arrest before the accident—confined, supervised. After what she did…” Her voice drifted, eyes flicking toward me, checking if I could handle more.

“Go on,” I forced out, even though my throat felt like it was closing.

She drew a shaky breath. “Those were Mr. Li’s orders. But something went wrong. Her people managed to turn the tables.”

Lincoln’s fists clenched on the table, the crack of tension loud as a slap.

“No one is allowed near the house now,” Andy said, her voice trembling despite her best effort to keep it steady. “Clare and I both tried, but they’ve completely shut us out. They won’t want anyone seeing his condition.”

None of it made sense.

Kai… putting his mother under house arrest?

It was twisted.

Dark.

And yet—some broken, bruised part of me felt a surge of vindication.

After what she did to me?

After she stabbed me?

A shiver crawled up my spine. I didn’t know if it was guilt or some darker emotion curling itself around my ribs.

Then it struck me—something was missing.

I scanned the room. “Where’s Clare?”

Andy opened her mouth, but Dave answered first. “Clare’s not here,” he said. “Clare and a small team are watching the apartment. Just in case.”

But it was the flicker in Andy’s eyes—a tiny, guilty hesitation—that made my stomach knot.

“What is it?” I demanded. “You’re not telling me everything. Andy, tell me.”

Andy let out a slow breath, and her gaze dropped to the floor. “There was… a division. When it happened. People didn’t know what to do.”

A cold weight settled in my chest. “What do you mean?”

“Half the employees didn’t know whose side to take,” she said quietly. “Some pretended to be sick just to avoid choosing. It became a matter of loyalty. Either you stood with Mr. Li…” Andy swallowed hard.

“Or with his mother.”

I stared at her, struggling to piece it together—the betrayal, the fear, the sheer instability of the situation.