Weiran, unable to look away from meeting his gaze, glowered at him. He wanted to just sprint the fifteen feet separating them and wrap his hands around his awful neck, wanted to beat his skull in with his fists. Wanted to open that car door they were standing next to and slam it closed around his head.

“Liu Baiyan,” the older man said.

Liu Baiyan tilted his head at Weiran a moment longer, and then he looked back at his companion. “Yes, I’m sorry. Please.” He gestured to the car, that tempting door of which the bodyguard pulled open so they could both climbed inside.

“Mr. Zhang, your table is ready.”

Weiran turned and went inside.

“DON’T. YOU KNOW how much of a bad idea this is.”

“His loyalty is in question. We need to.”

“I don’t—”

“You’re too soft.”

“He’s loyal. You know that.”

“We have to check.”

19

THE LOVER

XIAOKAI WOKE UP in darkness.

This was not typical for him. In his bedroom, he had a small nightlight plugged in on either side of the bed, providing just enough of a glow for him to avoid furniture and make it to the bathroom even in the middle of the night. But this time, there was absolutely no light at all, and it took a long moment for Xiaokai to realize that it was because he had a blindfold on, and then another moment later he realized that his hands and legs were bound too—not so tight that it would bruise, but tight enough that he couldn’t move at all.

“Hello?” At least he didn’t have a gag—at least he could still speak—but he also understood that, if he didn’t have a gag, that probably mean that he was in a place isolated enough that it didn’t matter whether he was gagged. “Who’s there? What is this?” Whoever had taken him was definitely ballsy—Liu Xingyu had been gone long enough and had been back for a short enough time that a person might mistake him for a run-of-the-mill fu’erdai, but Liu Xiaokai was not in the same boat at all. Everybody in the city knew his face. He was the most eligible bachelor, whatever that meant. If someone kidnapped Liu Xiaokai, they knew exactly who he was and exactly what they were doing.

He tried to use his logic, narrow down who this might be.

Were they a part of the List? Perhaps they’d found out what Liu Xiaokai had been up to with Liu Xingyu and Zhang Weiran. Perhaps they’d noticed him acting suspicious and were snatching up the first person they were able to put their hands on.

Or maybe they weren’t a part of the List.