Liu Xingyu just kept staring. He was half-kneeling in front of Liu Baiyan’s desk, like he was prepared to start running if he needed to, and Xiaokai could see a small earpiece tucked into his left ear, the other side of which was probably connected to that Zhang Weiran. He looked like he was having some kind of epiphany, or was perhaps viewing the thrilling climax of a horror movie.

“Get out of here in the next five minutes,” Xiaokai said. He closed one eye and looked into the mouth of his coffee cup, but it was unfortunately very empty. He shouldn’t have been surprised. It was his third cup of coffee today so far and he would need more—he hadn’t been able to get to sleep after waking up last night, and the caffeine was marginally helping with the nausea.

“Five—” Liu Xingyu’s voice was faint. “Why?”

“The janitor likes to come up here for his fifteen-minute since it’s the nicest floor. He’ll spot you for sure.”

“X—Xiao-Xiao—”

“I’ll contact you,” Xiaokai said.

“What?” Liu Xingyu’s hand stuttered to his ear, probably subconsciously trying to silence the flurry of questions Zhang Weiran was no doubt screaming into his ear.

“You have five minutes, so you can go ahead and enter the passwords and get whatever information you can before you head out of here. But I would recommend you head out of here now. The janitor sometimes comes a little early.”

“Xiao-Xiao, what do you know about the—”

“As I said, I’ll contact you. We can set up a meeting, the three of us.”

“The three—?”

“Don’t play stupid, Xingyu. It’s never been a good look for you. Tell Zhang Weiran to go to room five-two-zero. When I give you the time to meet, he can take you where you need to go.”

“How would he—?”

“Four minutes now,” Xiaokai told him. He had to admit—he liked seeing Xingyu like this, frozen still and eyes wide, completely at Xiaokai’s mercy. Helpless. But he needed to get out of here first, before anyone noticed his absence. “I’ll see if I can stall him before he heads up. Maybe I’ll buy him coffee.” He needed some more for himself, anyway.

12

THE DEAL

THE HOTEL LOOKED precisely how Weiran remembered it, which was terrible for his nerves. Just stepping in was enough to make him remember Xiaokai coming out of the bathroom in that open robe—the line of his waist curving into his hip—

Weiran shook his head a little too hard. Xingyu glanced at him.

“Are you okay?”

“Uh—yeah, fine. I’m just…” He looked Xingyu up and down. He was going to be in that hotel room, and with Xingyu this time. Well, Xingyu and Xiaokai. He didn’t know if that was better or worse.

Xingyu jabbed the elevator button with his finger. “Just what?”