Page 3 of No Merciful Corruption

And definitely not my father.

My throat tightens and I expel a slow, shaky breath through my lips. What I saw before was nothing more than a figment of my imagination; a side-effect of the sedative I was given. Legs weak and unsteady, I force myself to stand despite the ache and protest in my body. Adrenaline propelled me forward before but as it fades, I become more aware of my own lethargy. Someone nearby spotted me which means the trees aren’t providing enough cover. I scour the man’s body in search of a weapon and find a gun tucked into his side. The magazine is missing a few bullets; was this the shot I heard earlier?

Lyss and Damiano and I got separated by a spray of gunfire. Lyss went south, Damiano fell somewhere in the snow, and I kept running.

Rian went to confront Li on his own at Bow Bridge but he doesn’t know it’s a trap. Li is desperate to get the pistol back but there’s no way anyone found it—it was too well hidden. Rian will attempt to negotiate with Li and use their lifelong friendship to do it. But what he doesn’t realize is that Li wants him dead.

I get to my feet and start running in the direction of the bridge. My path is sparingly lit by the moon and scattered lampposts in the distance, their bright, silvery haze filtering through snow-covered branches. Trudging through several inches of snow on top of layers of ice and frozen dirt is difficult and I begin losing sensation in my cheeks and fingers. A wave of dizziness washes over me and shadows cloud the peripheral of my vision but I power through until the bridge is finally insight.

Rian stands alone on the other end of the bridge. He looks out over the water before turning to inspect the line of trees surrounding him. I step into his line of sight and wave my arms.

“Ri—”

A hand covers my mouth from behind and the press of metal against my temple serves as a warning.

“Not a word,” Li’s mouth caresses my ear. “Walk.”

Fuck.

We step out of the trees and onto the asphalt path that leads to the bridge; Rian spots us in seconds.

He reaches for the weapon at his side and Li calls out, “Drop it, Ri, or I’ll blow her brains out.”

Rian and I make eye contact. Bow Bridge is long, nearly a hundred feet, making the distance between us feel insurmountable. Li lowers his hand from my mouth and wraps it around my neck, gripping my shoulder to keep his hold on me firm. With no other choice but to oblige, Rian lowers his weapon and kicks it across the icy bridge, out of reach.

“Li,” Rian calls out. “Just let her go. We can work this out.”

“Do you have what I asked for?”

Rian hesitates before answering. “Come closer and I’ll give it to you.”

“Not a chance. Do you have it or not?”

My eyes widen as I give my head a firm shake. There’s no way they found it…who would even think to look inside that particular book? It’s more likely they spent the last several hours tearing my bedroom upside down or the other hiding spots in my house. If by some miracle, Rian has the pistol and he hands it over to Li, it’s over. Li will kill all of us, destroy the only piece of evidence tying him to Amy Walsh’s murder, and never be brought to justice. He’ll frame Rian for fraud, inherit The Empress and all their shared businesses, and finally secure the capital he needs to expand his narcotics empire. Not to mention he’ll find a way to bring Narvaez Enterprises down just to spite me.

That pistol is the only thing standing between us and Li. We can’t just hand it over.

“Narvaez has it.” Rian answers finally. “I doubt he’ll feel inclined to hand it over if he finds out you put a bullet in his ex.”

“His ex?” Li laughs out loud and the sound grates against my eardrums like nails on a chalkboard. “God, you really do love to be taken for a fool.”

His grip around my throat tightens as he lowers his chin to the crook of my neck. He presses our cheeks together, his voice dripping with condescension. “Dahlia, sweetheart, how long have you been fucking Narvaez behind Rian’s back?”

“Fuck you!” I snap. “You sick son of a bitch.”

“Oh!” He chuckles. “Struck a nerve.”

I fight against his grasp but he jabs the barrel of his gun into my temple as a reminder of what’s at stake. “I am going to enjoy killing you, Li Huang.”

“Sweetheart,” he bangs the gun against my skull as if he’s knocking on a door. “Anyone home? I believe you’re the one about to catch a bullet.”

“Li!” Rian shouts. “Let her go!”

“I still don’t understand how you can defend her after all of this, I mean, Narvaez was here what? Not ten whole days before she opened her legs for him?” He sucks his teeth in disapproval. “And to think, you’d gone to check on her after that guy grabbed her ass at the bar. I’m glad I had one of my men following her.”

“You had someone following her?” Rian’s expression is indecipherable in the darkness. “For how long?”

“A few months. I could tell she wasn’t one of your usuals. Dahlia, she was…what’s the word I’m looking for?” Li drags the barrel of his gun down the side of my face and the column of my throat. “Enigmatic. I ruled out the possibility of her being undercover with the FBI rather quickly— too young. I had to rule out socialite as well. Aside from the fact no one knew her from a hole in the wall, a simple background check told me everything I needed to know. So then I thought high-class escort? Wrong again. Because you see, there was one thing her background check couldn’t tell me; an entire eighteen months completely wiped out save a few random bits of information and a school transcript. A gap that begins and ends with a flight to Barcelona.”