Page 74 of Serpent King's Revenge

A part of me knew I should be thinking about what we had to do today, the risks, the plans. But right then, I didn't care. I just wanted to stay here, keep touching her, keep feeling her against me.

"More," she said, her voice low and needy.

"Anything," I replied, because it was true. Whatever she wanted, whatever she needed, I'd give it to her.

We were in this deep, and there was no going back.

Not that I'd ever want to.

And then she was coming, her pussy squeezing my cock so I came in her too, , her breath hitching as she threw her head back, saying--trying not to scream--my name.

She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my life.

She didn't move off right away, just stayed there on top of me, shifting ever so slightly. It was a moment suspended in time, like it was just us and nothing else. She leaned down, pressed her lips against me and smiled.

"Could do this all day," I murmured against her mouth, feeling the truth of it in every inch of my body.

"Work to do," she reminded me, her voice a whisper of regret.

"Right." I let out a sigh, wishing for more time.

We got up, finding our clothes scattered around the room. I pulled on my jeans and slipped into a t-shirt. Abby stepped into leggings, pulling a cozy sweater over her head. She looked good enough to eat, but the clock was ticking.

We left the room, and the warehouse hit us with its rush of life. The air buzzed with chatter, English and Mandarin mixing together into the soundtrack of the insurgents’ operation. People moved around us, each absorbed in their tasks, while we walked through them.

We spotted Knuckles at the money washing table, his fingers dancing over stacks of bills like he was playing piano. He looked up, caught sight of us, and waved us over with a wry smile.

"Morning, lovebirds. Was starting to think you'd spend all day in bed," he joked as we approached.

"Work first," I shot back, trying not to let him see that he wasn't far off the mark.

"Right. Come on, I've got stuff to show you."

He put down his work and gestured for us to follow, moving toward the room where I’d reunited with my family yesterday. I couldn’t tamp down the curiosity at what I was seeing here—an operation that had clearly been underway for years.

"Tell me," I urged, my curiosity piqued. “What am I looking at right now?”

Knuckles glanced back at us, then at the people milling around. "Years ago, this started small. Taking in folks who had nowhere else to go. Immigrants screwed over by the Serpents, people chewed up by the system," he explained.

“Immigrants?” Abby asked.

“Undocumented folks the Triad smuggles in,” I murmured. “It’s how we got set up in the first place, decades ago. Lost sight of the mission, though.”

“Well, your dad did,” Knuckles said. “Your mom, though? Evelyn…”

He paused, and I could see the pain in his eyes.

“Your mom’s family was old Triad,” he said. “She was interested in tradition. Knew how the game was played, but also knew our op could do some good. That’s what the Vipers were all about.”

“And you’ve been doing this…how long?”

“Ten years,” Knuckles said. "We're playing the long game here, Nathan. Just been biding our time until we can deal with Kenny for good."

"Taking out Kenny Zhou…" I mused, letting the weight of those words settle. There was a time when I would have gutted anyone for saying that about my father—but I wasn’t that man anymore. "It's about damn time."

The smell of coffee hit me first as Knuckles led us back through the maze of dimly lit corridors. We paused at a door that looked like all the others we had passed, save for the faint sounds of cutlery and low conversation seeping out from the edges.

"Before we go in," I said, catching him by the shoulder. "My mother…was she part of this Sisterhood thing from the start?"

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