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West caved. Fuck not touching him.
He scooted closer and grabbed Jin’s hand, squeezing it until the man opened his eyes. “No one is going to hurt your brother, and no one is going to hurt you. I swear it. But it would make my job a hell of a lot easier if you would just cancel the contract. I’ll help you with the financial mess, but if we could just get rid of the assassins, that would be a tremendous weight off my shoulders.”
Dark, wet eyes watched him for a second before Jin sighed. “This financial predicament is not yours to worry about. I was seeking a coward’s way out. I was ashamed that I had allowed this to happen to my people, and I was trying to barter my life for a quick fix that wouldn’t save us in the end. I told myself the temporary benefit outweighed the pain that I would bring to my family and country.”
Everything within West cried out to scoop Jin up and place him in his lap the same way he’d held him early in the morning after the encounter with the assassin. But he was pretty sure the leader of an entire country didn’t want to be cuddled like that.
“I admire your wish for your people to not struggle and go through rough times, particularly after all they’ve already survived, but they need you now more than ever. They worry about their emperor and their future. They need you to be strong for them.”
Jin nodded and pushed to his feet. West rose with him, releasing his hold on Jin’s arm.
“I’ll get my laptop.”
West grunted in agreement but still trailed after the prince, not letting the man out of his sight. It had been hard enough to leave him that morning following the closet incident. Even now, he was itching to crawl through every inch of these rooms to make sure they were alone and no one was waiting to spring out.
But he didn’t.
Maybe later. Before he left.
Jin grabbed his laptop off the bed and brought it into the parlor, where he placed it on the low table. West sat at the far end of the sofa, careful to keep his eyes away from the screen so he couldn’t peek at any of Jin’s passwords.
After a few minutes, he logged into the dark web. Jin turned the laptop just enough so that West could see him pulling up that evil contract and marking it closed. Two seconds later, his phone vibrated. He grabbed it and tapped the notification that alerted him that the contract he’d been watching was now closed.
“It’s official,” West announced. He looked up to see Jin logging out and closing the secure VPN session. “Anyone who was watching the contract or had claimed it was notified that the contract has been closed. I’ll reach out to my contacts later and have them check over things again to make sure there’s no additional chatter. You and your brother should be safe now.”
Jin closed the laptop with a soft click and left the tips of his fingers resting on the cover, his expression blank as he stared at some distant spot.
“Dianxia? Is there something else?” West inquired.
“No. I guess not.” Jin pulled his hands back into his lap and balled them into fists. When he looked up at West, his smile was stiff and forced. “The contract is closed. The assassins will leave now because there’s no one to pay them for killing me, right?”
“Yes. I would imagine they’ll be heading out of the country in the next day or two, moving on to their next contract.” West watched him, noticing how the corner of Jin’s mouth gave a tiny twitch. Something was wrong, but he didn’t know what. The contract was closed. He’d watched Jin do it. Even received the notification.
“Then you’ll be leaving as well.” Jin said the words briskly and almost breathlessly as he launched to his feet and picked up his laptop. He walked toward his bedroom and West followed, stopping just outside the doorway as the prince dropped the device onto the mattress with a small bounce. “You’ll be off to help your next person in need.”
West frowned as his stomach knotted up and a hand gripped his heart. “I was thinking I would remain in town for at least a few days just to make sure there are no more problems.” He paused and swallowed against the sudden lump in his throat. “Unless Dianxia would prefer it if I left his country.”
The change in Jin’s mood was instantaneous. He swung around to face West, his expression alight with new energy. He closed the distance between them in a few quick steps. “No! No, of course not!”
“I would understand if you didn’t want someone like me within your borders,” West hedged, retreating a step when Jin was near.
