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June

I didn’t think I was capable of something like this. I stared at the printout of two business class tickets to Shanghai, one for me and the other one for Dave, Kai’s personal bodyguard. All of this in the name of love. Just because the crush of my life finally kissed me then fucked me.

Our sex was ordinary. Not to say it wasn’t great, it was just…ordinary.

Kai had a reputation in the sex department and what I had with him was clearly the more vanilla side of things. Nothing special. Just ordinary sex. No kink. No whips, no bondage, no blood. None of the stuff that he was known for.

But.

He was hungry for me. Like he had been waiting for me all his life and he wanted to treat me like the finest bone china. Unless it was all a clever illusion that he created to confuse me.

Naturally, I wanted more of him. In the meantime, I was scared the good times wouldn’t last. It’s like finally getting a piece of the best tiramisu in town, the one that’s always sold out by the time you order it.

There was no denying it—I had to track him down. Rescue him if need be.

Nobody really knew what had happened to Kai. He was just in trouble. Again.

Although in comparison, his cousin Jenny seemed to be the one who was most likely to attract trouble than him. That woman didn’t seem to be able to have a single peaceful day in her life. This whole situation was a rather eye-opening experience for me.

My big brother warned me about Kai’s dark past. His family was on the rich list of China. People wanted things from them. Connections. Favors. The stubborn ones didn’t play nice, causing mayhem until they got what they wanted from Kai or his family.

Kidnapping. Threatening. Blackmailing. Those were only a few of the things my brother was comfortable telling me about. There were more, he’d said, but he didn’t want to overwhelm me with too much information.

As a doctor, I wouldn’t wish harm on anyone. But when it comes to my loved ones? I would do that a thousand times over. I wanted those who hurt him or who brought him pain to pay for what they did.

I sat at the back of the getaway van feeling a little sick. A young man had booked two tickets for the next flight, and printed all the documents needed with a portable printer within ten minutes of us picking him up. One for Dave. One for me.

Kai had said many times that Dave was the best bodyguard he ever had. Now, with a glimpse of how he operated, with the help of his assistant, and his team, I had begun to understand what Kai meant.

The van finally stopped swaying. We parked outside of a no-parking zone at the airport. Without a word between us, we dashed out of the van and into the airport before the authorities had a chance to approach us.

Navigating around the airport seemed a little challenging today. It appeared to be more chaotic than usual. Perhaps it was the car sickness caused by the fast and furious driving.

Or, as much as I wanted to deny it — the concussion from the car crash I’d caused on purpose to draw Kai out.

Dave handed me my passport as I checked the information board for our check-in desk.

“How the hell…”

“I stole it.” He answered. His reply was straight and punchy. I opened my mouth to protest but nothing came out.

I flipped to the picture page, and it was indeed my passport.

I tried to remember where I’d left my passport, but I couldn’t recall when I’d last seen it. When did Dave decide to take my passport? What else did he and his team go through at my home? Did they go through my personal belongings? My lingerie drawer?

My stomach lurched as I stared at Dave. Had he seen my toys?

We were actually a little early and that meant we could check in first and grab a few items from the duty free. Except we kept getting an error message at the check in machine. It wanted us to go straight to the desk.

I thought not having any baggage would save us time, but apparently not.

Dave picked up the phone his assistant handed him and spat something in Chinese.

Dave gripped my upper arm just under my armpit, dragging me off my feet. “We have to go.” Dave hissed, his voice extremely low, but unmistakably clear.

“What’s going on?” I knew he wasn’t going to tell me anything, but I had to try.

Only one of my feet touched the ground, and my arm began to hurt.

“Ma’am, are you okay?” A lady in a security uniform asked. I realized how bad this looked.

I nodded.

“Do you need help?” The fat nosy woman raised her volume.

“I’m okay.” I said, trying to sound as calm as I could.

“Put me down.” I hissed at Dave, giving him a side glance letting him know that we were attracting unwanted attention.

“You don’t look okay, girl. Do you know this man?” The woman wouldn’t let it go. I hated how she felt like she had the right to police the airport. But then, I guess she did. The way Dave was manhandling me didn’t help the situation.

“Yes, I, uh, I, um, injured my ankle earlier. He’s just helping me.” I heard it as soon as I said it. It sounded like a lie.

I pretended to walk as funny as I could, limping here and there. But her droopy brown eyes narrowed and she saw right through me. “Your ankle looks okay to me.”

Must she be so blunt?

“Go away.” Dave growled, like a mad dog protecting his territory.

“Excuse me?”

Oh no. I could sense the coming confrontation before it even started—like it was my superpower. Maybe it was because I hated conflict so much.

The concerned expression on her face disappeared, replaced by the mean, nasty one that all school principals seemed to possess. She planted her fists on her waist sending a nervous shiver down my back.

This thing with this nosy woman had gone on for far too long.

Whatever matter that was on Dave’s mind must have been important and urgent. And I had underestimated how much Kai’s disappearance would affect Dave.

“Excuse my friend … he didn’t mean it.” I said slowly, with my calm doctor voice.

“I’m going to call the police.” She declared at the top of her lungs, causing passers-by to stop and stare.

“No, no need to call the police.” I yanked Dave’s hand off of me.

“Ma’am, you’re in danger. I can tell.”

“No, no, no. I’m not in danger.” I shook my head and chuckled lightly as I tried to explain. Dave’s assistant was poking furiously on his phone — he better be calling back up right about now.

“You are if you don’t let us go now.”

A statement.

A dare.

This was bad news.

“Shut. Up.” I grumbled under my breath.

I would come up with creative and unpleasant names to call him, if I wasn’t so scared of confrontation, conflict, and making a scene.

“Are you threatening me?” The woman asked then pointed at Dave’s assistant then back at him. “You. Are you with him? What are you doing on your phone?”

“Of course not.” I said, interrupting what looked like it was going to be the next viral video in the making. “He’s not. They are not. I don’t know them.”

Words tumbled out of my mouth, no longer making sense.

Dave’s hand was back on me, this time on my shoulder, urging me away from the situation.

Whether he knew it or not, I wanted to get out of here as much as him.

“Call for backup.” The woman yelled at her walking talkie next to her shoulder.

“Don’t call for backup.” What backup? Who was this woman other than a rent-a-cop? Who else was with her?

“We go now.” Dave’s assistant moved swiftly next to me and put his hand on my other shoulder. Any minute now, I would have no say in where I was going.

“Ma’am, I work for the airport security. You’re safe with me.”

My stomach twisted, like it was reacting to a bad lunch.

“We really have to go.” Dave’s words hung in the air, but they did nothing to change the fact that we were still trapped here.

Though I knew it was coming, a scream still escaped my mouth as two pairs of hands hoisted me off the floor.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Needless to say, she was angry now. A pair of cuffs appeared from her back.

“No.” Dave’s roar was so loud. My head snapped to my shoulder, instinctively shielding my ear.

“Sorry, assholes, you’re not going anywhere.”

One second, we were on our feet, then all three of us hit the floor hard. No question about it: we’d been tackled.

“Mack got out.” Dave half-grunted, half-whispered in my ear. “You need to run.”

How was that possible? Was that why Dave was acting so strange?

I had so many questions, but now wasn’t the time to ask them—not while we were still pressed to the ground, trapped inside the cave of attackers.

When I was finally pulled back to my feet, I saw that Dave and his man were hand cuffed.

Each of them was retrained by two large men wearing the same uniform as the mean bitch who had confronted us.

Dave shook his head, mouthing a few words at me—I couldn’t make them out—but I knew it could only mean one thing.

Feeling the cold touch of metal against my wrist, I panicked. Shoving the guy next to me, I ran as fast as I could without looking back. They were after me—I knew that much. If they were just concerned about of a woman possibly being abused, why would they bother cuffing me? Who cuffs the victim?

Outside, I spotted a car that had just dropped off a passenger and jumped in without hesitation. “Go, go, go!”

“Get the fuck out!” the driver barked in his thick accent.

“Twenty thousand dollars if you drive me to Myrtle Beach!” The words blurted out of my mouth before I had a chance to stop them. I couldn’t believe how much I sounded like my mother—trying to solve my problems by throwing money at them.

“Thirty.”

Seriously? Did he have no morals? Who haggles with a distressed woman?

“Fine,” I wasn’t going to win this haggling game, and he knew it.

“Fifty.”

What a greedy piece of shit!

“Go, go, go!” I screamed as I spotted the men approaching the car.

He grunted something in a foreign language. Finally, he hit the gas, peeling away from the curb.