Page 2 of Eight Second Hearts

Laughing, I straighten and take my seat again. “So what are your plans for?—”

I don’t get to finish the sentence. There’s loud banging on the door that shakes the walls around it, like someone is hitting their fist against the worn wood.

“Hao Chen!” someone yells through the door, a man with a big, booming voice. “This is the Prescott Police Department! We have a warrant! Open the door or it will be opened for you!”

My eyes widen. “Dad?”

He looks over at the door, his expression souring. “Zhen shì de?They could have come at a different time. They’re interrupting our dinner.”

“You have three seconds!” the man calls through the door.

“Dad! What the fuck is going on?” I ask, standing up and backing away from the door. My eyes are wide with fear and confusion. Why the hell are the police here threatening to break down my dad’s door?

“Ai yo, shéi jiao ni de?”he says. “We don’t use that kind of word here.”

“Now isn’t the time for a lecture!” I grunt. “What did you do? What’s going on?”

“One!” comes through the door.

He sighs and stands calmly to face me. “I’d hoped this wouldn’t happen, but I’m not surprised.”

“Two!”

I press against the kitchen counter of my dad’s apartment, staring at the man I thought I knew, the same man who I’d been so proud of a few minutes ago. “What have you done?” I whisper.

He smiles, and despite the situation, it’s genuine. “I love you,Xin gan. I am so, so proud of you.”

“Three!”

The door explodes inward, and I scream, dropping to the floor and covering my head as men in riot gear come flooding into the small apartment.

“Get on the floor! Hands where we can see them! Get on the floor right now!” they scream.

Dad puts his hands behind his head, and they shove him roughly to the floor, manhandling him like he’s a criminal. Two of the men close in on me, guns pointed at my head.

“Hands where I can see them!” one shouts.

“Get those guns away from my daughter!” Dad snarls, jerking at the men on top of him trying to put cuffs on his wrists. “She has nothing to do with this!Zhen shì qi you ci li!”

The cops don’t seem to care about his shouting. They jerk me onto my stomach and twist my arms painfully behind my back until I cry out in pain. That sound only makes my dad fight harder against his bonds, the sounds and swears in his native tongue coming from his mouth nothing like the calm and gentle man I’ve known.

“If you hurt one hair on her head, I’ll murder your whole family!” he shouts, and the threat is so bloodthirsty, it gives me pause. I look over at him, fear in my eyes, not understanding what’s happening.

“Bà ba?” I rasp, and despite the shouting and sounds of the men clearing the rest of the small apartment, he hears me.

His eyes meet mine and soften. “I love you,Xin gan. More than anything in this world. Remember that.”

The cops jerk him to his feet, slamming him into the table as they do so. The sobriety coin skitters off the table onto the floor and rolls toward me. I watch as it spins on the tile like a top, the words nothing but a blur. The sounds around me fade into the background until all I hear is the spinning coin, until it slowly comes to a stop in front of me and lays flat.

To thine own self be true.

The words mock me as I’m jerked to my feet in cuffs and shoved out of the apartment after him.

Chapter 1

Indie

Thirteen Months Later

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