The safe house was a concrete monolith tucked into the side of a mountain, three hours outside the city. It didn't have windows. It didn't have a garden. It looked like a bunker that had been decorated by a minimalist with a grudge.
Lu Sheng parked the car in an underground bay. The heavy steel door rolled shut behind us, sealing out the sound of the rain.
"Out," he said.
I grabbed my backpack, my muscles aching from the tension of the drive. The air in the garage smelled of ozone and filtered oxygen.
He led me through a series of reinforced doors, his thumbprint unlocking each one. He didn't look back to see if I was following. He knew I had nowhere else to go.
The main living area was cold. The furniture was bolted to the floor. Against the far wall sat a workstation that made my eyes widen despite the exhaustion. Four monitors, a liquid-cooled tower, and a dedicated satellite uplink.
"Your new office," Lu Sheng said.
I walked over to the desk, running my fingers over the mechanical keys. "You had this ready. This wasn't an improvisation."
"I don't improvise." He stood in the center of the room, shedding his jacket. Underneath, his holster was visible a dark leather strap across his white shirt. "I've been tracking your activity for six months, Lin Xiao. I knew you would hit the lottery tonight. I just didn't know if you'd be fast enough to succeed."
I froze. The pride I felt for my hack evaporated. "You watched me? You let me put a target on my back just so you could swoop in and take the prize?"
"I let you prove your worth." He walked to a small kitchenette and poured a glass of water. He didn't offer me one. "The Qin Group would have killed you. I gave you a career."
"A career as a slave?" I snapped, turning to face him.
Lu Sheng set the glass down. He moved toward me, his steps slow and deliberate. I backed up until the edge of the desk hit my waist. He didn't stop until he was inches away, his shadow covering me completely.
"A slave has no choice," he said, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous silk. "You have one. You can sit at that desk and work, or you can walk out that door. I won't stop you."
I looked toward the heavy steel entrance we'd just come through. "There are men with guns out there."
"Exactly." He leaned down, his face level with mine. The scent of rain still clung to him. "The world thinks you're a billion-dollar ghost. Out there, you're prey. In here, you're mine. Choose."
He was testing my obedience. He wanted me to admit that I needed his protection.
I looked at the workstation, then back at his cold, dark eyes. He wasn't offering safety; he was offering a different kind of peril. But the men outside didn't care if I lived or died. Lu Sheng, for some reason, did.
"I need the admin password for the uplink," I said, my voice tight.
A small, almost imperceptible smirk touched the corner of his mouth. He reached past me, his arm brushing my shoulder as he typed a string of characters into the main monitor.
"Don't try to ping the outside world, Lin Xiao. I've ghost-mapped every outgoing packet. If you try to signal for help, the terminal locks, and so does this room."
He pulled away, leaving a void of cold air where his heat had been.
"There's a bedroom through that door," he said, nodding toward the left. "Sleep. You start on the Qin Group's offshore ledgers at 06:00."
I watched him walk away. He didn't look back. He didn't need to. He had already won this round.
I sat in the high-back chair and looked at the screen. I was safe. I was warm. And I had never been more terrified in my life.