Page 26 of Serpent King's Revenge

This was trouble.

Instinctively, my hand darted to my hip for the gun that wasn't there. My FBI-issued piece was stashed away, not meant for these eyes.

"Hide!" I hissed, lunging to my feet. An unexpected knock could spell disaster--and someone knocking here was really bad.

But before we could scatter, the unmistakable beep of the key code being entered echoed through the tense air. The door swung open.

“Alex?” Justin said, incredulous.

I had never actually met Nathan’s brother before; Nathan had me in captivity in the days before Alex ran off, and from then on I’d only seen pictures. It was strange…I felt so connected to this family, but I wasn’t even sure if Alex knew what I looked like.

That became even clearer when he strode in like he was the oldest Zhou sibling, flanked by Jack and two other men–and he looked at me like I was the stranger here. I recognized the other two men from the picture at Venom Custom Motors: Alex’s best friends, Neon Nelson and Javier Alvarez. They didn’t look nearly as gungho about this whole thing as Alex did…but they were here, and that’s what mattered.

“You could have answered the door,” Alex said, scowling at Lily. “We were worried you guys were dead or something.”

Lily, who had been perched on the edge of the couch, held up her winning Uno card with a smirk. "Great timing. Just as I was about to claim victory."

Alex smiled at her. “You mean ‘wow, I’m so glad to see that you’re alive’?”

"No, I mean 'Great timing. Just as I was about to claim victory,'" Lily rebutted. A ripple of laughter echoed around the room, softening the hard edges of what had been a tense situation. Then she added, "But yeah, glad to see you're not dead."

“For now. And also hi?” I said tentatively, getting up. “I thought you’d be in San Diego by now. Or like–ideally not even in the country.”

“And you are…?” Alex said, narrowing his eyes at me.

“This is Abby,” Justin cut in, stepping up beside me and gripping my shoulder. “Nathan’s fiancee and the girl who saved all our lives. Cut the attitude, Alex.”

I could tell there was tension between the siblings–fuck, of course there was. From what Nathan had told me, Alex had always been a bit of a loose cannon, reckless and putting others in danger. If anything, he was the one most likely to want to take on his father’s legacy.

It suddenly occurred to me that he might not be an asset here. He could be a liability…or even an enemy.

Jack should have kept him away from San Francisco.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, asserting myself before Alex could start to think he was the one in charge. “Jack, I thought we’d agreed it was best to go into hiding, ideally not all in the same place. If Kenny finds out Alex is here…”

“I'm here to help get Nathan back," Alex declared.

“Easy, tiger,” Jack cut in. “We’re here to help get Nathan back. And sorry, Abby…I couldn’t stop him.”

“You’re an idiot, Alex,” Lily said. “We had this covered on our own.”

“Yeah, that’s what it looks like,” Alex said. “Because playing Uno is going to get Nathan out of prison.”

“Fuck off, Alex.”

“You fuck off, Lily.”

They glared at each other, and I wondered again if him being here was about to get us all killed…

But then Lily stood up and practically flew into her brother’s arms.

For a long moment, they just hugged, with Lily burying her face in Alex's chest and his arms wrapping around her protectively. The sight eased some of the tension that had coiled in my gut.

Alex then turned his gaze to me. It was cool, calculating, like he was assessing my worth for a mission. He neither liked nor trusted me, and I couldn't really blame him. After all, I was an FBI agent infiltrating his family's crime syndicate. Nathan must have told him that much.

But then his gaze softened, gentling around the edges. "I heard you're engaged," he said evenly. "Congratulations."

"Thank you," I replied, meeting his gaze steadily. The words felt alien on my tongue. Who would have thought that those simple words would hold so many complications?

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