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His big body lay unmoving. The bruises on his face had faded to a sickly yellow.
I clutched his hand and promptly burst into tears.
“Sorry to cry like this, but I just…I just miss you, and I miss my sister, and I don’t know what to do. Hannah’s being so tough. I talked to her again. You would be proud—she’s been standing up to the guards.” I squeezed his hand. “I’m actually mad at her about i
t, but she’s holding her own. So that’s…that’s good, right?”
It probably wasn’t fair of me to cry all over Wesley, but I couldn’t stop.
“I need to get everything back to normal,” I continued, babbling. “For my sake, yours, Hannah’s—and for Gabe. I know that sounds crazy with everything else going on, but I’m worried about him. He’s having a hard time.”
It felt good to release some of what I’d been holding inside. I squeezed Wes’s hand again, hoping he’d understand that I was falling apart. “Gabe’s trying to hold it together for me, but I know this is killing him. He’s used to being in control. He’s worked hard his whole life to make things right, and he can’t…he can’t make this right.”
I laid my forehead on the bed, holding on to Wes for dear life. “He cares about you so much, you know? And Hannah. He just wants us all back together and safe. But now I have to sell the company, and Li Na wants me to exchange myself for Hannah…”
I took a deep, shuddery breath. “I can’t lose Hannah. It’s me Li Na wants. I’ll find a way to come back—but I can’t let her hurt my baby sister. I’ve taken care of Hannah my whole life, and this isn’t any different. You understand, don’t you?”
I waited for a sign from him, but nothing came.
I stayed for a few minutes longer, listening to the sounds of the machines. I forced myself to calm down so I could leave Wes with some positive energy instead of my hysterics.
I dried my eyes and straightened my shoulders. “I’ll be back tomorrow. Maybe I’ll have some good news.” That sounded like a lie, but I had to try to stay positive—for both Wes’s and my own sanity’s sake.
I hustled back to the lobby, motioning for Timmy to follow. We headed back to my company—or rather, what was left of my company. On the surface, things looked the same at Paragon, but I still shivered as I strode through the doors. How many more mornings did I have left here? Stephanie greeted me as I headed into my office. She’d worked for me for six years, since Paragon’s inception—as had most of my employees. What was life going to be like for all of us after this was over?
And would I even be here to find out?
Inside my office, Bethany was already set up at a table, buried in a stack of paperwork. “Good morning. I hope you didn’t get into too much trouble with Gabe last night. What was that about, anyway?”
“The text Li Na sent me yesterday. I didn’t tell you everything she said.”
“I thought you weren’t telling me something. What’s going on?”
I put down my bag and faced my attorney, one of the few people I counted as a friend. “Li Na wants me to exchange myself for Hannah as soon as this round of documents is finalized.”
Bethany frowned. “What’re you going to do?”
“I have no idea,” I admitted. “I’m hoping Levi can deliver on his promise to get Hannah back and somehow keep me safe.”
Bethany tapped her pen against her stack of papers. “I can mess around with these numbers, which would make the revisions take longer. Do you want me to do that, just to buy us some time?”
“No. Getting Hannah back is the priority. We need to do exactly what Li Na wants, how she wants it. My sister’s in bad shape. I feel like we’re running out of time.”
Bethany went back to work without another word—she could tell I’d made up my mind.
Stephanie buzzed in a little while later. “I have an Agent Marks on the line for you.”
“Thank you.” I waited until the line clicked over. “Agent Marks? Do you have news for me?”
“Unfortunately, no. But I spoke with Levi earlier—he informed me that you’d had another conversation with Zhao. Care to fill me in?”
I scribbled furiously on a Post-it and shoved it in front of Bethany. Do I have to tell him everything? I didn’t want to compromise the agreement I had with Li Na, in case it adversely impacted Hannah.
She shook her head no. Not unless he can help us, she mouthed.
I doubted that he had more information than we did. “I really don’t know much. We just talked about the sale. I’m in the process of finalizing the documents to transfer Paragon to one of Li Na’s companies. Once I do that, she said we could talk about my sister’s release.”
“Will you please keep me informed about what’s going on? I’m only getting monosyllabic answers from Levi.”
