Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 88487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Naturally, a sleek black sedan from the royal motor pool pulled up as they exited the park. The driver jumped out and opened the rear door for Jin, but John tightened his hold on him.
“Do you recognize the driver?” he whispered in his ear.
“Y-yes. I know him.” Unfortunately, the way John’s hot breath was skimming along his ear was making him unable to remember the man’s name.
“Okay. Hurry.”
John escorted him to the car and stood behind him, protecting his back as he climbed into the car. As he settled in the seat, he saw John speak to Qin before retreating. He lifted one hand in good-bye and then he turned toward the park, entering it a second time.
And that was it. He didn’t get to tell him good-bye or thank him for the interesting afternoon. Nothing. He’d probably never see him again. Pain gripped his heart and his throat tightened, but it was silly. What was he expecting? How could they see each other?
“What did he say to you?” Jin asked Qin when they were riding to the palace.
“He asked me to not let you leave the palace and to keep you safe.” Qin tightened his grip on his phone with both hands. “Do you…do you think someone was really trying to hurt you?”
Jin forced a smile onto his lips, but it felt brittle and fragile. “I’m sure it was nothing.”
But his mind was screaming, Please, no. Not yet…
5
WESTIN ST. JAMES
This was wrong.
West leaned on the wall, his arms folded over his chest as the darkness swallowed him whole while he watched the crown prince of Gaoxing sleep.
He was in the prince’s bedroom.
And getting in there had been stupidly easy.
The past thirteen hours had been a shit show. The one bright spot had been the walk through the park with Crown Prince Jin, but even that left him cursing himself. He should have been paying better attention. If he’d not caught sight of the assassin’s sniper scope glinting in the sun at the last second, Jin would be dead right now.
After seeing the crown prince ensconced in his car, he’d returned to the park and tracked down the cowardly bastard who’d dared to take a shot at Jin while there were two witnesses in plain sight. More so, the fucker had done it in front of him.
Alexei was right. This assassin was a dumb shit.
West had found Norman Chris in less than an hour and chased him to a tiny, cheap motel. He’d then spent the next four hours peeling little fragments of information out of the man—but got nothing useful. He was never in contact with the person who issued the contract on the prince’s life. In fact, he was only there for bragging rights. The fucker had no grudge against the monarchy, Crown Prince Jin Long Wei, or even the country of Gaoxing.
Ending his life had felt as though he were doing a favor to the human race.
After disposing of the body and getting rid of any physical evidence that Chris had stayed in Gaoxing, West focused on getting access to Jin. The crown prince needed to be warned that someone wanted him dead. There was another assassin lurking around the royal city, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
It had occurred to him to approach Jin during the day, through proper channels, but he was worried authorities would brush off his concerns as ridiculous. Sneaking into the crown prince’s bedroom in the dead of night would make a memorable impression. The crown prince would take him seriously.
But it also meant this was the last time they’d ever talk. Jin would never want to see him again after this scare. Not that West could blame him.
That was okay. He could watch over Jin from afar until he eliminated the last assassin and the contract on his life was closed.
All of this made sense in his head, and yet he was still standing there in the dark, watching Jin sleep like some pervy stalker. He couldn’t look away. Never in his life had he encountered someone as beautiful as Jin Long Wei.
Pale moonlight ghosted into the room through a break in the curtains, providing just enough light to reveal the prince curled under a pile of blankets. His breathing was soft and steady as he lay on his side, head curled on his pillow. And his hair…
Oh God, such long hair!
It spilled down his pillow like a waterfall of black ink and slipped beneath the covers. The two times he’d met the prince in public, all of his hair had been pulled up into a topknot and wrapped in an elegant but simple headdress called a xiaoguan.1 He’d even dug it up online to find that in Gaoxing, only the royal family grew their hair out to their traditionally long length and wore a xiaoguan instead of a crown. The emperor wore the most elaborate ones made of gold and gems, while the sons of the emperor wore more simple ones of silver with only a few gemstone accents.