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“Everything is good. Quiet. The problem settled.” He winced. That sounded forced, but he didn’t want Kairo or anyone from the team to worry about him.
“Actually, you’ve got a big problem, and it’s growing bigger by the day.”
West stopped walking before he reached the door to leave the dining room. His feet refused to carry him another step. “What do you mean?”
“There’s a contract on the prince’s head.”
His heart and his brain stopped working at the same time only to race off. This didn’t make sense. “No, there’s not.”
“There is. I’m looking at it right now, West.”
“No,” he snapped. Switching to a harsh whisper, he continued, “I watched him close it. I checked, and it’s gone.”
Kairo gave a frustrated sigh. “Yes. My bad. The original contract is gone. I saw it get marked closed two days ago, and it never reopened. However, a new contract went up within twelve hours of the old one closing. This one is fucking legit, and the bounty on the head of Crown Prince Jin Long Wei is fifteen million euros.”
“What?” West shrieked. He twisted to see both Jin and Ming Tao staring at him in surprise. He needed to take this call elsewhere, but there was no way in hell he was leaving this room. As long as that contract was active, Jin could not leave his sight.
“Could he have…put a new one on himself?” Kairo asked.
“No! Absolutely not.” And it wasn’t just because Jin had zero chance to do such a thing, because West or someone else was with him every second of the day. Jin wouldn’t risk doing anything that would put his brother in danger.
“Sorry! Sorry! Take a freaking breath. I had to check.”
“Yeah, no. I’m sorry. I get it.” He scrubbed a hand across his face and paced to the far side of the room. The servants had stepped away, leaving West alone with the two Jins and the crown prince’s assistant, Qin. He stared at the man for a moment as he stood a short distance from the table, typing on his tablet.
Could it be Qin? It was unlikely. Qin was well-paid, but there was no way he was sitting on fifteen million euros. Unless he came from a rich family.
He didn’t want to believe it to be true. Jin had known Qin for years, trusted him implicitly, but Qin also knew the crown prince’s schedule better than anyone else. Maybe he was angry after years of service. He felt betrayed by some slight. Or maybe someone had gotten to him and bought him.
Fuck!
“K, I need you to check someone out for me. Qin Hong Yi,” West ordered in a harsh whisper.
“You think he’s the contract holder?”
“Honestly, no. He’s the prince’s assistant, which means he gets damn close to him all day. I need you to clear him. He needs to be squeaky clean.” He liked Qin. The guy was sarcastic, snarky, and dedicated to his job. West wanted him to be clean. But if he wasn’t, he’d pop him now to keep Jin and Ming Tao safe.
“I’m on it.” There was a soft clatter of keys in the background. “What about the brother?”
West squeezed his eyes shut, wanting to block out that question. What about Ming Tao? Everything in his soul screamed no. His gut said no. “Do it.”
He didn’t believe it, wouldn’t believe it even if Kairo returned with solid evidence, but he knew he’d never be able to sleep if he didn’t take every step to protect Jin.
“This is a good start, West, but we need more. We’ve got to get together and come up with a solid fucking plan. The contract is open, which means Gaoxing is getting loaded with assassins right now. Not to mention that the fucker who put up the contract included things from the prince’s regular schedule. I think this guy is an insider. You’ve got to watch who you trust right now. Be wary of anyone who gets close to him.”
West straightened and turned to the table so he could stare at Jin. He needed to see him with his own eyes, to know he was safe. “Thanks for the heads-up.”
“No problem. I know the timing is bad, but when can you sneak away to meet with the team?”
“I—what?” he choked out. “You’re here? In town? Now?”
Kairo cackled, and the brothers were watching at him with wide eyes, looking as if they were both going to climb to their feet and check on him. Even Qin was regarding him as though he’d lost his mind.
“Oh, I saw the pics the tabloids and news reporters got of you dressed all dapper as the prince’s new rumored boyfriend. We don’t want to invade your little love nest, but yeah, we’re all here. Well, the primary team. The Colorado annex of Alexei’s uncles is doing some digging with Marilyn in the States, but they’re prepared to jump on a plane.”
