Chapter 7

The torrential rain hammered against the glass dome of the abandoned aquarium. Jiang Zhinan clutched a soaked paper slip, hiding behind the whale shark model. The dizziness from her pregnancy churned her stomach, but the silver chain on her wrist vibrated faintly — it was the “anti-lost bracelet” Jiang Xingzhi had given her, equipped with a heart rate monitor that now blinked red in sync with her racing heartbeat.

“Here?”
A hoarse male voice mixed with the sound of raindrops. A man wearing a fox mask stepped out of the shadows, water dripping from his black trench coat pooling on the ground into strange symbols. Jiang Zhinan recognized the footsteps — they were Jiang Xingzhi’s old fighting moves from the black market arena. His old ankle injury throbbed faintly in the rainy weather.

“Who are you?” She pressed her hand to her belly and stepped back half a step, bumping into the cold glass wall. The man removed his mask, revealing a scar at the corner of his left eye — a scar she once stitched with silver thread using an embroidery hoop. At the time, he bit her fingertip and said, “Zhinan’s stitches are much finer than any fight ring doctor’s.”

“I’m Ah Lin.” The man took off his mask, showing the scar at his left eye again — he was the bodyguard who had his leg broken by Jiang Xingzhi three years ago while protecting her. “He never told you, did he? The ‘Night Fox’ of the black market fighting ring came from the same martial arts training camp as him.”

Jiang Zhinan’s nails dug into her palm. She recalled the row of fighting trophies in Jiang Xingzhi’s study, one base engraved with “J.X.” Ah Lin’s full name was Jiang Lin.

“The coordinates on the note…” Her words were cut off by a sudden alarm. The aquarium’s emergency lights flickered on, bathing the place in blue-green light. Ah Lin pulled her into the coral tunnel. Outside the acrylic panel overhead, a few mechanical fish swam by, their eyes embedded with miniature cameras.

“He’s monitoring all the old bases.” Ah Lin took a USB drive from inside his coat pocket. “This is the record of his transactions with overseas arms dealers, and evidence that your father is under house arrest in a Swiss sanatorium. The charity gala on Sunday—”

Before he finished, footsteps echoed at the tunnel’s end. Jiang Zhinan’s blood froze. Those were Jiang Xingzhi’s distinctive crocodile leather Oxford shoes — each step like stepping on her nerves. Ah Lin suddenly grabbed her shoulder, pushing her into a nearby maintenance passage while he faced the light source alone.

“Jiang Xingzhi, you knew I was going to take her away all along.” Ah Lin’s voice was ruthless, as if he had nothing to lose. “You should have expected this the day you threw me to the underground loan sharks, maimed and broken.”

Jiang Zhinan covered her mouth, hiding in the pipe. Through the rusty gap, she saw Jiang Xingzhi in a tailored suit, his left hand in his pocket, his right playing with the cufflinks she had given him. Behind him stood four armed bodyguards, while beneath Ah Lin’s trench coat, the outline of a detonator was faintly visible.

“Planning to die together?” Jiang Xingzhi chuckled lightly, his shoe toe grinding against Ah Lin’s foot. “Too bad you forgot, Zhinan is carrying my child now. The smell of gunpowder makes her vomit — don’t believe me? Watch.”

He suddenly turned, his gaze piercing directly toward Jiang Zhinan’s hiding place. She shivered all over, suddenly recalling that the bracelet had a scent sensor. Jiang Xingzhi stepped slowly toward her, each step pressing on her heart like a weight. His shoe toe appeared in her view, the pant leg still stained with the marks of her morning sickness from earlier.

“Come out.” He crouched down, tapping the pipe wall with his fingertips. “Don’t make me tear this place apart looking for you. Don’t scare our child.”

Jiang Zhinan trembled as she crawled out, only to be pulled instantly into an embrace filled with the smell of gunpowder. Jiang Xingzhi held the back of her neck, forcing her to look at Alin—who was being pinned against a coral model by bodyguards. The detonator had been taken away, but cold sweat seeped from the scarred skin beneath his eye.

“Tell her why you betrayed me,” Jiang Xingzhi’s voice was gentle, yet it made Alin tremble all over.

“Because you’re crazy!” Alin suddenly lifted his head to look at Jiang Zhinan. “He’s not your brother at all! Three years ago, I saw with my own eyes how he tampered with the paternity test—”

“Bang!”

The gunshot thundered deafeningly. Jiang Zhinan screamed as she was pressed into the suit, smelling the pungent scent of blood. Jiang Xingzhi’s heartbeat was unnervingly steady, his fingertips stroking her hair as if soothing a frightened young beast.

“Shh—” he softly hummed the lullaby she once taught him. “Just a wild dog barking wildly, Sister Zhinan, don’t be afraid.”

Jiang Zhinan trembled all over, seeing Alin’s blood dripping through the gaps in the coral model, pooling on the floor in a twisted “X” shape. Jiang Xingzhi suddenly grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up. His lips and teeth burned with the scent of gunpowder: “Remember, anyone who tries to take you away from me will only find a dead end—including the little life in your belly, if he dares to hurt you.”

At that moment, the torrential rain reached its peak. Jiang Xingzhi carried her out of the aquarium, clutching the USB drive Alin had left behind in his pocket. Jiang Zhinan heard him order through his earpiece, “Turn this place into a children’s playground. I want our child to see right after birth what becomes of traitors.”

By the time they returned to the villa, it was already 4 a.m. Jiang Zhinan was placed in a bathtub filled with rose petals. Jiang Xingzhi personally washed her hair, his fingertips tracing the skin on the back of her neck, where a micro-tracker had been implanted unbeknownst to her.

“Do you know why I chose the aquarium?” he suddenly said, dripping rose essential oil on her shoulder. “Because a fish’s memory lasts only seven seconds, so you won’t remember the things that upset me.”

Jiang Zhinan closed her eyes, letting his fingers wander over her body. She recalled Alin’s last words and the paternity report in Jiang Xingzhi’s safe. From the start to the end, there was no blood relation between them. What existed was only his pathological possessiveness since childhood.

“Xingzhi,” she whispered, “are we really not blood-related?”

The man’s movements stopped. Only the sound of flowing water remained in the bathroom. Jiang Xingzhi suddenly laughed, a hint of madness in his voice. He cupped her face and pressed a kiss on her lips, tinged with the smell of blood.

“Does it matter?” he said softly. “You’ve been mine since you stuffed that candy wrapper into my hand when you were six. Whether or not we share blood, you can only be mine, forever.”

Jiang Zhinan looked at the man before her and suddenly felt a wave of despair. She knew she could never escape—neither now nor in the future. In this prison filled with twisted love, she was like a fish trapped in a cage, never to swim out of this dark ocean.