Her blood ran cold.
(Please save .... Save ....)
That was it. Short and precise. No na, no address, no context. Just that desperate plea.
She sat down on the carpet, her mind imdiately shifting gears. Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she began tracking the email’s IP address and origin point. In her past life, she’d been one of the best hackers in the business. This was child’s play compared to corporate espionage and governnt databases she had handled.
"What are you working on again?" Huo Ting Cheng asked, leaning back in his office seat. He watched her fingers move across the keys with practiced speed, and sothing about the movent seed... professional. thodical. Like she’d done this a thousand tis before.
Since when did she know how to hack? He must be overthinking it.
"Aashh! I just realized the kids sent a ga last night and I hadn’t checked it yet," she said absently, her attention focused on the streams of code appearing on her screen.
Huo Qi and Huo Zhen, standing nearby, watched the code cascading down the laptop screen. They exchanged knowing glances but said nothing, both recognizing that what they were witnessing was far more sophisticated than checking a ga.
After what felt like a minute but was probably closer to thirty seconds, Tang Fei had the location. Her photographic mory cataloged the coordinates instantly: an hour’s drive from the city to an abandoned governnt land on the outskirts.
Her heart sank as recognition hit.
The underground brothel. She’d gone there once in her previous life, for reasons she’d rather not rember. It was a place where laws didn’t exist and human life was cheap. Dangerous didn’t even begin to cover it.
Was this soone genuinely asking for help? Or soone trying to trap her?
She didn’t know. But she couldn’t ignore it.
"Honey, I will go out for a few minutes," she said, standing and closing the laptop. She packed it away into her handbag with deliberate casualness. "You can head ho or wait for here..."
"Going? Where are you going?" Huo Ting Cheng was imdiately on his feet, crossing the distance between them in three strides and pulling her into his arms.
"I just want to pass by the Mart to get a few female necessities. It won’t take long..." She found the excuse easily, turning around to gaze up at him.
He kissed her forehead, his eyes searching hers. "We can get those things tomorrow. You don’t have to go out this late...."
"But what if...."
"There’s no ’what ifs,’" he interrupted, his blue eyes imdiately darkening as he squinted at her. His tone left no room for argunt.
"Tsk..." She nudged him away, annoyed. "You’re too controlling! Can’t I just go to the Mart like all other girls do?"
This man was sothing else. They couldn’t stick together like this forever, could they?
"I know that..." He stood there, unmoved, his arms folded. "Write a list of what you want, and I’ll tell Huo Qi to get them for you."
He had decided on this and was completely immovable.
"Geez! I want to have so privacy! Not everything needs to be purchased by them..." She was about to continue arguing when Twilight walked into the office.
"It has always been like this," Huo Ting Cheng said patiently, as if explaining to a child. "Everything is supplied and you only have to use it. Since when did things change? All right... Let’s go ho."
He held her waist and simply picked her up, carrying her toward the door while Huo Qi and Huo Wu grabbed their briefcases and followed them toward the elevator.
"All right... All right... Put down!" Tang Fei protested, genuinely annoyed now. "I want to go to the washroom, geez!"
What was with him clinging to her like this?
"I will take you..." he said, completely serious.
He didn’t know why, but he felt like he had to accompany her everywhere. Sothing in his gut was warning him not to let her out of his sight.
"Ting Cheng... Let go of ..."
"No..."
"Ting Cheng..." She wiggled more insistently, and finally, reluctantly, he placed her back on her feet. "What kind of life is this?"
She felt like he was choking her. It was okay to stick together, but not like this. Not to the point where she couldn’t even use the bathroom alone.
"All right..." He noticed he was being extre, which would only make her suspicious or truly make her feel suffocated. "I will wait for you downstairs..."
He got into the elevator with the guards. Huo Qi and Huo Zhen rode down with him, but Huo Wu was left behind with several other guards and Twilight.
The mont the elevator doors closed, Tang Fei’s expression shifted from annoyed to deadly serious.
"Momma... What’s the matter?" Twilight asked, imdiately recognizing the change. She was surprised, this was the woman who’d wanted to cling to Huo Ting Cheng all evening, suddenly desperate to get away from him.
"Do you rember that underground brothel we went to a few years back?" Tang Fei whispered urgently as they walked toward the washrooms. "I got an anonymous email requesting help, and that’s the location..."
"That’s like a thirty-minute race or an hour’s normal drive!" Twilight hissed back. "How do we get there?"
Huo Wu was trailing behind them, close enough to provide security but far enough to give them the illusion of privacy.
"I don’t know..." Tang Fei truly didn’t know. They were on the 50th floor, Huo Ting Cheng’s private level, and security was absolute. Every elevator required authorization. Every stairwell was monitored.
Damn. This was one of the most difficult situations she’d ever been in.
"Huo Wu..." They reached the washroom doors, Tang Fei turned suddenly, and Huo Wu stepped closer to check what the problem was.
The mont he was close enough, Tang Fei moved. She took a step toward him, her voice dropping to sothing cold and absolutely serious.
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