That message had arrived around 10 PM last night. And there was another one from early in the morning.

“Seriously? You’re not answering? You had better fucking be dead. This isn’t how we do shit.”

No, it wasn’t. He fired off a group text that he’d be home in less than an hour. He needed to shower, and they could all drive down to New York to meet with Kuang.

He didn’t wait for their reply. Just muted the phone and concentrated on driving as fast as he could without catching the attention of any highway cops.

It wasn’t that far of a trek. This was what he hadn’t told Dawn. When they decided to settle in the United States, Phantom, Han, and he had determined that Westerhaven, Rhode Island was as good a place as any to park—both a few million dollars and themselves. The coastal community was close enough to the territories they managed but far enough away that their enemies would be required to put in some effort to get to them. Also, the spreads out here weren’t nearly as dense as the ones in New York City. Their gated property sat on five acres. They could both meet with their friend and kill their enemies here in secret.

He made it back to their shingle-style house overlooking the Atlantic Ocean without any further incident. As soon as he drove through the gates, though, he realized that not checking his text messages had been a mistake.

Kuang was here. His contingent of cars, three high-end Nakamura Legends, were parked in a row at the top of their circular driveway.

He wouldn’t call Kuang paranoid—at least not directly to his face. But the 24K Dragon didn’t travel anywhere with less than eight guards.

Victor didn’t bother to check the text messages he had ignored. Two of Kuang’s guards stood stationed outside their front door. It wouldn’t do to have them report back to their boss that Victor had taken his sweet time getting out of the car, even stopped to check his messages.

He slipped his wedding ring into the pocket of his waistcoat and quickly emerged from his Audi.

Han came out just as Victor was approaching the house’s stone steps.

His brother’s expression was impassive, but Victor was sure that wasn’t an accurate reflection of how he felt. He was most likely pissed but too loyal to let it show in front of Kuang’s guards.

In any case, Victor didn’t have to break his stride. Han fell into step beside him and immediately started signing to update Victor on the situation.