Page 101 of The Bait

At least he wasn’t freaking out.

Not outwardly, anyway.

“And you, Asher?” Yunho asked quietly, nervously. “Are you okay?”

Asher sat on the side of the bed and reached out, taking Yunho’s hand. “I’m fine. The least injured of all of us.”

Yunho nodded, scrubbing a tear from his not-swollen cheek. “I’m just so sorry,” he began. “Words cannot convey how sorry I am.”

“You were taken,” Asher said. “We saw the footage. We saw Narong’s body. And Aranya.”

Yunho nodded, crying fresh tears. “That poor, sweet girl.”

They were all quiet for a moment.

“I knew you would come,” Yunho said. “I tried to tell you not to, I didn’t want to involve you, but I knew you wouldn’t listen.”

“Radovic sent men to kill us in Tallowwood,” Asher explained. “We were already involved.”

Yunho gasped, his hand to his heart. “What? I didn’t know, I swear.”

“No. It was that young kid, Yixing. He hacked into your system or something. I don’t understand all that.” Asher sighed. “He was actually pretty smart. For a kid.”

“Not too smart though,” Yunho said.

“You used some kind of trip key? Or location key? That’s what I heard, anyway.”

“Yes, when he accessed what he thought was my finances, it tripped the satellite tracker.”

“You called Istomin the bait,” Asher said. “Before Harry and the rescue team arrived. You told him he was the bait.”

Yunho nodded. “To bring them down. The plan was, originally, to send in one of the Milvus teams to bring him down. Before he could plant his men in the senate, and not just in his own government; he had men all over. But them kidnapping us changed the plans. Objectives change, you know this, Asher. When things go sideways, you have to adapt. But the goal never changed. To bring down Istomin. He thought capturing me was the ultimate plan to lure you in. And it worked, but Asher, you have to believe me, you were never supposed to be there. But when he found out that Radovic had you, after the press conference, he came in. He knew he could use you. His friend, SergeyVolkov, we eliminated him a few years ago. He was not a good man. He and Istomin were setting up for war. I don’t know if you remember Volkov?—”

“I remember,” Asher said. Asher hadn’t been too concerned with the whys of it all back then. Maybe he’d been wrong for trusting so blindly. Like Harry had been with the orders he was given by his ‘government’ all those years.

“But Istomin was the bait all along,” Yunho said. “He was our target. Istomin and his drive for war and money.”

“A new cold war,” Asher whispered.

Yunho nodded. “Political unrest and fascism is never far under the surface, Asher. He got way too close.”

Harry wasn’t sure what he believed. Everything Yunho was saying made sense, and as crazy as it sounded, Harry knew it was possible.

Asher did too.

He nodded slowly. “Was I the bait?” Asher asked. “In all the years I’ve known you, did you ever use me as bait?”

“No.”

“But you did this time,” Asher whispered. “To further your ties with the Australian government, with Lucas and MI6. You did use me. And I can live with that. But you used Harry, like he was a fucking pawn in some fucked-up game,” Asher said, his voice a little shaky. “And I’m not sure that’s something I can ever forgive.”

Oh god. Harry didn’t want to be the reason Asher pushed Yunho away.

“Asher,” Harry murmured.

Before Asher could say anything, Yunho shook his head. “I did itforyou,” he replied. “For both of you.”

“Bullshit,” Asher replied sharply. “What did you get in return? What did they agree to for your help, Yunho? Didyou have a price? How much was I worth?” Then he spoke through clenched teeth. “How much was Harry worth?”

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